A small independent LGBTQ+ bookstore located on Main Street in Southington. Staff are friendly and…read morewelcoming. Inventory includes all genres but with LGBTQ+ characters and/or authors as well as some book themed gifts and art. Selection includes books and authors not always carried by the big, box stores. Books, gifts, and art were all affordable. Recommend parking in the lot behind the building as street parking is limited.

The Enchanted Violet is a small gem of a store located in a multi-purpose building. There is a sign…read moreoutside with some directions (down the hall of the building and to the right!) to get to the shop itself. I stopped by while doing some shopping in the area after my friend and I had seen a sign for it in a local coffee shop. I'm glad we did! We were greeted kindly by the bookseller, and we got to chat all about books and upcoming local events for a while. We got recommendations and had an incredibly pleasant conversation!The books are catered towards being LGBTQ+ friendly, and focus on romance and romantasy, as well as offering a selection of manga. The store had a variety of deals ongoing and many options were 20% off! There was a section where you could select a mystery bag for a piece of jewelry. I got the cutest earrings from my bag! Speaking of jewelry, this bookshop offers a variety of jewelry as well as clothing and some posters/cards/art/stickers. There were so many fun things to choose from! Super cute, I'll have to check out some of their community events sometime for sure. Definitely worth a browse!

My wife and I are driving around Connecticut (we grew up here, but many many years ago) and are…read morehitting up some local book shops while in the area. We were making our way through West Hartford when we stumbled across the River Bend Bookshop and just had to check it out. This shop is super cool looking because it's basically just inside of a small apartment. The shop itself has a cozy New England vibe and has a small to large section of pretty much every genre. Sadly, the horror section seems to be one of the smaller sections but hey, I don't live here, so clearly they know what their customers are looking for. Near the cash registers they have a nice selection of merch for the shop (sadly, no River Bend Bookshop Magnet) and a cool section dedicated to local authors and stuff like that. Overall, River Bend Bookshop is a super nice little book shop for the area and definitely a place worth checking out. Sadly, I didn't make a purchase on this trip because I can only fly back to LA with so much stuff, but I very much enjoyed checking this place out.

This is one of those places I wish I had growing up in CT. I make it a point to try and stop in…read morewhenever I'm back. This place just has that cozy, local charm that you won't find at other bookstores. The selection is great, the prices are fair, and their selection of bookmarks is pretty amazing. Could'a left with ten, but I need to cut back.

Great independent book store on Main Street in Middletown near Wesleyan. They have a wide…read moreselection of Wesleyan merch and of course a great book selection. I've always had terrific service and they do a good job of curating kids' books. On more than one occasion, my son picked out a book to later discover that it was an author-signed copy. My favorite Hartford area coffee shop Story & Soil took over the cafe space. The pairing of S&S and RJ has great potential.

I'm spending a few days in Middletown with friends and the second I saw the Wesleyan RJ Julia…read moreBookstore I knew it was a place I needed to scope out. This massive bookstore is located right in downtown Middletown and has a massive selection of fiction, non-fiction, romance, horror, and every other genre you can possibly want at a book store. Downstairs seems to be pretty much only Wesleyan merch which doesn't exactly interest me, but is a cool spot to have as a student or even just downtown who lives in the area. The design of this store is big open floor and it's very nicely decorated. The best part? The haunted Connecticut section that we just had to get something out of. Overall, the Wesleyan RJ Julia Bookstore is the perfect book store for downtown Middletown. The store has a massive selection, a ton of parking thanks to the downtown parking setup, and a solid staff to help with whatever questions you may have. Great spot.

Quaint bookstore located off the town square in Colchester. Provides a selection of adult, young…read moreadult and children's books along with a range of book themed gifts. Staff was polite and engaging and available for assistance as needed. A great independent and affordable bookstore. A great way to support local businesses.

What a fantastic new little bookshop. Author owned, I immediately fell in love with how cozy it is…read moreinside. There's lots of cute little kitschy type gifts you can buy, and I found and bought a fantastic CT cutting board as well as a New England road tripping book. I can't wait to see what they do during the upcoming holiday seasons with their book options!

This is such a cute and cozy bookstore! The River Bend Bookshop is set inside a refurbished old…read morehouse in downtown Gastonbury. It's an adorable New England town that looks like it was plucked straight from a movie. When you go inside, the store is so cozy. It's packed full of books and bookish merch, but so well set, there is plenty of room to explore. There are books in every nook and cranny, sorted by genre, with bookseller recommendations and plenty of signed copies. The booksellers are very knowledgeable and helpful too. If you are looking for a gift for an avid reader, they will definitely be able to help you find the perfect present. This is going to be a permanent stop for me every time I head through Connecticut.

We happened upon this delightful independent bookstore after enjoying a late lunch at the…read moreMediterranean restaurant next door. It's brightly lit and beautifully arranged by theme, with lots of staff pick summaries/comments posted all around. Friendly staff and welcoming vibe. Great book selection of books!

I love me a good used bookstore! What a wonderful way to spend an afternoon. Cozy corners, piles of…read morepages -- that's my kind of bookstore. Bill, the owner, is an amazingly kind and patient person who shares a love of books and is pretty much everything anyone could ever want in a used bookstore owner. The only thing that could have made the trip better is if I had more time to explore. I also wouldn't turn up my nose at a cozy, rainy day and a large cup of coffee in hand, but that's all just icing on the cake.

Explored this place as a random Yelp find. It certainly takes a minute or two to find being in the…read moreart space multi building parking lot, and figuring out how to get buzzed in by calling, however, there's some really good book hunting here in the decent sized space, particularly if you're a fan of old books. The owner was very friendly and chatty to me and I had a pleasant experience, found a few old reads, and would return. Thanks!

I had books to sell and it was very convenient to do business with her at her new location in…read moreCollinsville. She is very pleasant and paid more than I expected. A great experience!

Small location, almost like a large living ro to an old house stuffed with book. Call ahead for…read morehours since they aren't posted. A lot of older harder to find items. Not the place if you want lame romance paperbacks or 100's of Harry Potter novels. Looked like they had some earlier or 1st edition novels, and books for people who want to research or read more thoughtful subjects. Worth a look if you're in the area, but again, it's not strands in NYC with aisles and aisles of books. It's a small, intimate, dead quite place with the true book lover in mind.

It's a wonderful place for pretty much everything here, not just books!…read more There's a nice lady who runs the bookstore in weekends. They sell everything from books to board games to puzzles and many more. There's a whole section dedicated to anime and graphic novels as well. They also carry movies on DVD. They also have shelves exclusive to paperbacks as well. They also have books on nonfiction, Sci-Fi, Mysteries and Thrillers. They sell books at thrifty prices and they give you store credit if you're loyal to this small business shop. We support bookstores and small businesses!

This place was SO COOL! The books occupied one half of the store and then the games were the other…read moreright-most half. The store is run by a husband and wife duo who were both there when I stopped by. She handles the non fiction books and he handles the fiction. All books are 3$ and they accept donations (if you have any books bopping around your home that you mine want to part with)! If you're looking for something particular, you can provide them the details and then they mentioned they have 10,000 more books at their home. I can't wait to come back! Great value and easy to spend an hour + going through all the titles. Thank you!