A book truck called The Fleuria is bringing romance to Southern California readers

If you’ve attended a pop-up event or market in the South Bay recently, you may have noticed among the vendors a shiny vintage Volkswagen truck with the words “The Fleuria” stenciled on the driver and passenger doors. 

Once folded down, the sides of the truck bed reveal built-in bookshelves filled with romance novels of every category, from just-published contemporary fiction to romantasy bestsellers. The displays showcase authors like Abby Jimenez, Emily Henry and BookTok favorite Carissa Broadbent.

Running this bookshop on wheels is owner Stephanie Pao, 37, a lifelong reader and lover of romance novels. The mission? Build the romance community across Southern California “one swoony read at a time.” 

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“Since the pandemic, I feel like people really want to connect in person again, and whenever I’m around book people, the energy is so fun,” Pao said. “We just have so much to talk about that’s not work or our jobs. I wanted to show up for the romance community, and also be a part of making it bigger.” 

And while the romance book truck has only been in operation for slightly less than two months, the response has been immensely gratifying for Pao.

“Even though people loved the idea on social media, I wasn’t sure if it would be enough to get them to visit,” she said. “But since launching, I’ve been doing events at different places every weekend, and at every event there’s just more and more people who come out to see the truck, buy books and talk about romances.”

Finding fulfillment

Now living in Redondo Beach, Pao grew up in Torrance, the daughter of Taiwanese immigrants. Her romance novel reading habit began in high school.

“I was sneaking books that I don’t know if high school kids should be reading – those fun, mass-market Harlequin books,” she said. “I think the first romance book that I read was a historical pirate romance, with a fun cover…you know the ones I mean.”

Pao worked full-time in digital marketing for beauty and wellness brands until deciding to go freelance three years ago. The idea for The Fleuria was born out of “the desire to do something that was fulfilling to my soul,” she said.

She took a business course geared towards booksellers and began making romance book content on Instagram and TikTok. But she couldn’t seem to pull the lever on leasing a physical store.

“Between high rent for space in LA and the not-amazing margins on book sales, it just seemed like it would be a really, really big commitment,” Pao said. 

Upon researching alternatives, she found examples of bookstores on wheels in other parts of the country: trucks, trailers and even a green school bus in North Carolina, all selling romance novels. 

She checked nearby vehicle listings and fell in love with the first truck she visited in person: a classic silver Volkswagen with vintage rounded edges and a cargo bed with drop-down sides. The seller was so enthusiastic about his truck taking on a second life as a bookshop, he offered to help design and install the shelves as a bonus. 

It was a sign, Pao felt, even though she didn’t know how to drive the truck at first. So she got a driving teacher “to basically yell at me until I learned how to drive stick shift.” 

That hurdle cleared, it was just a matter of making the website, filling the bookshelves with inventory, and planning The Fleuria’s first public appearance. A regular volunteer with the Hermosa Beach Friends of the Library nonprofit organization, Pao ended up unveiling the book truck as a featured guest at their Romance Author Roundtable on March 27. 

Since then, The Fleuria has been making the rounds at various night markets and festivals, and popping up at South Bay coffee shops, breweries and the Magical Blooms flower store in Redondo Beach. Pao credits shop owner Jenny Barker, also known as “The Flower Doctor,” with helping raise her confidence to partner with other vendors and organizations.

“She was the first person who said yes to booking me,” Pao said. “She has a ton of followers on Instagram and, like, the most popular flower shop in this area. I had not even done a single event when she agreed to host me. That was very, very generous of her.”

Growing the romance community

When Pao received the first shipment of Emily Henry’s latest book, “Great Big Beautiful Life,” she woke up early and spent the day delivering pre-orders to the South Bay customers of her online store. It was important to her, she said, to make sure that the books got to those readers the very day they arrived.  

She plans to build out the subgenres she carries in her online shop, including historical fiction and LGBTQ+ romance, of which there’s a growing demand among her social media followers as well as those she meets in person.

“I have been pleasantly surprised that I’ve gotten so many requests for queer romance,” she said. “It’s really exciting to me that people are open to reading outside of their own view and experience.”

Before launching The Fleuria, Pao would organize romance-themed events, like book swaps and Galentine’s Day high teas. That element of community-building is something she intends to start doing again.

“As a reader, it sometimes feels harder to meet friends because reading itself is solitary, but also L.A. just makes it more challenging because it’s so big,” Pao said. “But even if the truck can’t go to every event, I think people would show up just to meet each other, make friends and bond over this passion we all have.

“Historically, romance is the top-selling genre,” she added. “There’s so, so many of us who have this base to connect with each other.”