🥵📚 Gen Z likes their books SPICY

It’s Tuesday, Boston.

🍕 Doing V-Day on a budget? Here’s the plan. Step 1: Get your Valentine a $6 DunKings meal deal for breakfast (a sausage, egg, and cheese, hash browns, and a coffee). Step 2: Nab this sweet $9.99 Papa Gino’s heart-shaped pizza for dinner. You’re welcome.

👀 What’s on tap today:

• Gov. Healey is going for round two

• City Hall Plaza’s free hockey bash

• DunKings: The sequel

Up first…

ARTS & CULTURE

The rise of romance

Romance books are having a renaissance. The genre’s print sales grew by 52% in 2022, taking over The New York Times bestseller list, social media, and local book scenes.

And it’s happening in our own backyard:

👨‍❤️‍💋‍👨 The facts don’t lie: Readers want something steamy. Since 2023, at least a dozen romance-specific bookstores have opened across the country (including our very own Lovestruck in Harvard Square). Existing bookstores have also beefed up their spicy offerings. Back in 2018, Brookline Booksmith had no designated romance section. Today, there’s a large romance display at the front of the store. Porter Square Books: Boston Edition only had four or five shelves dedicated to the genre after opening in 2021. Today, it has 16.

🫂 Why are folks reading? Romance can be a roadmap in times of crisis. For one thing “you have a guaranteed happily ever after,” said Lovestruck’s owner Rachel Kanter. “A lot of people, especially post-pandemic, they found that really reassuring.” CUNY professor Dr. Jayashree Kamblé takes it a step further: Romance “is deeply about introspection,” she said. When it feels like the world is crumbling, romance can help us find our way back to interpersonal connection, agency, or finding happiness with a “gender that does not seem to have our best intentions at heart.”

📲 Aaaaand a little thing called BookTok. A.k.a. the wildly popular TikTok community that’s turning unknown books into NYT bestsellers. But according to Kamblé, online communities around romance aren't new. They “have existed since the internet, just in different forms,” like in chatrooms or around fanfiction (which, BTW, has birthed some of today’s most popular romance). 

🧑🏾‍🤝‍🧑🏽 The genre is changing to meet its new audience where they are. Romance authors and book characters that have been historically elevated by publishers are straight, cis, able-bodied white women (in 2023, only 10.2% of romance authors were BIPOC, and in 2021, 4% of books featured LGBTQ+ characters). But as young people seek out more diverse stories and initiatives — like Read My Lips: Boston — more folks are able to find a home in romance.

💌 As for old stigmas around romance? We’re getting there. You don’t have to look far in the past to see a time when romance was widely thought of as low-brow or embarrassing, said Katherine Nazzaro, manager of Porter Square Books: Boston Edition. And while Kamblé thinks we’ve moved away from romance being covered as “the butt of jokes,” there’s still room to grow. “I would like to see people actually look at individual authors and look at individual novels and review them on their own grounds,” she said.

CITY

Quick & dirty headlines

🗳️ We can count Gov. Maura Healey in for seeking reelection. After dodging questions for weeks, Gov. Healey shared her plans to run for another term in 2026 on GBH’s Boston Public Radio last week. She framed her decision as a desire to keep delivering on her promises, as “there’s a lot more to do,” she said. So far, no other Democrats have formally stepped up to primary her, but the Mass. GOP, which has been ramping up its Healey criticism lately, is currently weighing its options.

🧪 A local judge blocked President Trump’s NIH budget cuts (for now). ICYMI: Trump announced cuts to billions of dollars from the National Institutes of Health for “indirect” research costs (like electricity, maintenance staff, or the lab space). Trump’s admin claims they’re superfluous, but in Mass., the country’s third-biggest recipient of NIH money, the projected local impacts on medical research were looking dire. Twenty-one states, including Mass., quickly sued, and on Monday a Mass. federal judge temporarily blocked the effort with a hearing set for Feb. 21. 

❄️ It might not seem like it, but Mass. is still in a drought. Yes, even with our current wintry weather, much of Mass. (including Boston) is still considered to be in “critical” drought condition. According to WBUR, despite all the snow we see now, January clocked in as a below-average precipitation month. And besides, the snow can’t help much since the ground is still frozen, making it tough for any moisture to be absorbed. The good news: Since we use less water in the winter, state officials aren’t recommending any restrictions right now.

🏒 City Hall Plaza is hosting a FREE, three-day hockey bash. Remember the 4 Nations Face Off? You know, the tournament between NHL players from the United States, Canada, Finland, and Sweden that’s partially hosted in Boston and kicks off tomorrow? Well, Mayor Michelle Wu just announced a Fan Village festival on City Hall Plaza from Feb. 15 to 17 to celebrate. You can expect 4 Nations Face Off watch parties, hockey-themed programming and activations, photo ops with the Stanley Cup, plus food. Check it out here.

GIVEAWAY

Together with Candlelight Concerts

Enter to win two tickets to any Candlelight® concert in Boston valid until March 31, 2025. To enter, just refer a friend and have them accept your invite by the end of the day on Feb. 13. If you’ve already referred a friend to B-Side (and they’ve accepted), you're eligible! Full details below*

18+. NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. Limit one entry per person. See Official Rules & an additional entry option here.

QUICK QUESTION!

🍩 Who’s your favorite DunKing?

ONE LAST THING

The DunKings: The sequel

The Pats might not have been in Sunday’s Super Bowl, but the DunKings sure were. And this time, they brought a host of new friends, including Bill Belichick and his 24-year-old gf, Jordon Hudson.

Maybe you saw the one-minute Super Bowl ad, which chronicles a battle between Dunkin’ and spoofy rival coffee shops (most definitely Starbucks). It was a solid hoot, but in our humble opinion, the DunKings are truly at their best in the seven-minute extended cut. 

Yes, it’s worth watching the first four minutes of nonstop cameos, Belichick’s subpar acting, AND Ben and Casey's goofy coffee-themed banter, to see the crown jewel: Jeremy Strong’s incredible Paul Revere-inspired Dunkin’ speech. 

Here’s a taste: “On the road to Medford, to the Dunkin’ there, then to the Lexington Dunkin’ drive-thru, ‘twas a warm summer’s night, I had ridden a lot-a, and the refreshment I sought was a coffee Coolatta.” No notes.

— Written by Gia Orsino and Emily Schario

☕ Thanks for reading! Who do we need to talk to to get more “Succession” and Dunkin’ collabs?

👭 The results are in: It looks like B-Siders are super down to share food. A whopping 91% of readers said they’re pro-sharing food with their S/O. One reader said: “I date so that I can try twice as much food!” 

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