Our Story
Once upon a time, two friends decided that life is too short to not be continually surrounded by books.
Well, that’s part of the story, anyway.
We’re Kendra and Natalie: longtime friends, distant cousins, and now business partners. After earning bachelor’s and master’s degrees in English and Creative Writing & Publishing, we both entered the workforce only to realize that it wasn’t the lifestyle either of us wanted. After years of joking about starting an independent bookstore, we finally decided to take a leap of faith in July 2023 and dove head-first into a novel world.
Today, the word “novel” is synonymous with prose fiction. But of course, it has another meaning—one that embodies things that aren’t just new, but striking.
Kendra and Natalie in Good Omens cosplay at The Last Bookstore in LA. Kendra’s favorite book is The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien, and Natalie’s favorite series is The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis. It’s not lost on us that “Tollers” and “Jack” were good friends, too!
That is the essence we hope to capture with Something Novel Booksellers.
By creating a bookstore that 1) blurs the boundaries between classic and modern, 2) combines the aesthetic appeal of brick & mortar with the convenience of online shopping, and 3) reminds every type of reader that books are (in the words of Stephen King) a “uniquely portable magic,” we are seeking to personify what it means to be novel. We’d love to take you along for the ride.
Meet Moonshine, our Patron Cat. Moonie was Natalie’s companion for 13 years. He passed away on June 19, 2023. He loved sitting on all of Natalie’s books and papers, and we know he would have made an excellent bookstore cat.