The 2025 Love Y'all Romance Book Fest was held in Decatur, Georgia on February 14-16. With over 80 authors and keynote addresses by Sonora Reyes, Julian Winters, Amalie Howard, and Ali Hazelwood, Love Y'all is one of the largest romance-dedicated book festivals in the country. Now in its second year, it is also a festival founded and run by a team of indie booksellers from the Atlanta area. Festival founder Preet Singh of Eagle Eye Books talks about why they decided they needed a Romance book festival:

"I spent two decades traveling the country to meet authors and readers who wrote, read, and loved romance." says Singh, whose bio says she discovered romances when she was 10 and her love for the genre is still going strong. In January 2023, Georgia indie booksellers held a meeting at Read it Again where they all agreed there was a lack of genre fiction events, especially romance, and they decided to do something about it.

"While our primary focus is always to create a safe space for EVERYONE to celebrate romance," notes Singh, "we also wanted to ensure our local community was supported too, with four indie booksellers handling all book sales. We're a diverse group of organizers-PoC, Immigrants, Queer, Allies, Neurospicy, and more. Highlights from 2025 include our opening and closing keynotes, Truth or Dare on Sunday morning, and hearing from authors and attendees they had a wonderful time. It felt like a moment out of time, while the administration makes moves to erase us."

Singh acknowledges that balancing roles of organizer and bookseller is challenging. It means longer hours, both mentally and physically, and is a labor of love. "I am very lucky to have an amazing group of people to organize Love Y'all with," she said. "Vania from Brave + Kind, Hannah (former B+K & Bookish Atlanta bookseller, now a literary agent), and Jo (formerly employed in publishing) and another wonderful group at Eagle Eye who support me and the festival. I have seen the romance community blossom in Atlanta, and it brings me so much joy to see it flourish. Love Y'all will return in 2026."