Under the Covers, Into Herself

Under the covers, a girl curls herself around a paperback like it’s a lifeline. The quilt was too heavy for summer, but she pulled it up anyway - a shield against the creaking hallway and the rules she never agreed to. One hand held the flashlight. The other clutched a dog-eared paperback, borrowed from a friend and hidden between algebra notes. The kind of book she’s not supposed to read. The kind where girls want things. Say no. Say yes. Kiss who they want. Ask for more.

Years later, that same girl would grow up, fall in love, become a mother and drive a red van heralded as Between the Covers. A bookstore on wheels dedicated to healing, sensuality, and the sacred act of taking your story back. Inside the van, every shelf is stocked with romance and fantasy titles that celebrate pleasure, power, and the kind of healing that starts with being seen. She built a bookstore on wheels for the kids who had to whisper, the adults still untangling shame, and where every body - queer, fat, BIPOC, disabled - is worthy of being the main character.

If you’re anywhere near Sea Girt on June 7–8, you can step inside yourself! Alyssa and Between the Covers will be parked at Shore Pour Specialty Coffee for the NJ Book Crawl, offering reads that just might rewrite your relationship with pleasure, power, and your own damn body.

Now, keep your voice down. We’re going under the covers.

The Girl Under the Covers

The house was quiet, but not the kind of quiet that felt peaceful. It was a careful quiet. A “don’t ask, don’t tell” kind of quiet.

Alyssa grew up in a world where purity was the goal, and questions were dangerous. Conversations about sex were off-limits. Self-exploration was discouraged. Everything intimate - every whisper of want, every flicker of desire - was tucked away in shame. So she learned early how to hide the parts of herself that didn’t fit.

But in secret, she read.

It started with fantasy and dystopian books - girls with steel in their spine and knives in their boots, charging into war or rebellion or both. Characters who broke rules and changed outcomes. They gave her language for things she hadn’t yet lived through. Gave her a sense of possibility, a glimpse of a future where she could be the one writing the rules.

I truly used reading as a means to escape during my childhood. Fantasy and dystopian books with strong main characters gave me a quiet confidence.

It was a lifeline, those books. Not just because they were exciting, but because they made her feel seen. Or at least, possible.

And then came the romances.

At first, she wasn't sure she was allowed to love them. They were often whispered about, judged, tossed into the “trashy” pile by adults who had no idea what was inside. But when Alyssa cracked them open, what she found wasn’t scandal, it was safety. Characters who communicated. Who asked before touching. Who respected no as much as they celebrated yes.

Seeing healthy, consensual relationships with relatable characters felt like a safe space for me to explore my sensuality without the usual shame.

The more she read, the more she began to understand something quietly revolutionary:

Her body was hers.

Her pleasure wasn’t a problem.

Her voice could be trusted.

Her “no” mattered and so did her “yes.”

Reading became a reclamation. Even before she had the words for what she’d been through, even before she could name the ways trauma had shaped her, books gave her a way to feel things safely. They helped her imagine a world where intimacy wasn’t something to fear, but something to honor. A place where love could be soft. Safe. Consensual. Hot, even. But never harmful.

These stories actively helped me heal from trauma…our nervous system receives a ‘safe exposure’ to what healthy desire and connection can feel like.

For Alyssa, fiction wasn’t just fantasy. It was a dress rehearsal for the life she wanted to live. The kind of love she wanted to accept. The kind of woman she was learning to become.

And so under blankets and behind closed doors, she read.

Not to escape, but to return to herself.

Healing is Hot

There’s something sacred about the first time you read a scene that makes your whole body exhale. Not because it’s steamy - though yes, that too - but because it’s safe. Because someone says “Do you want this?” and someone else says “Yes.” And no one flinches. No one shames. No one punishes anyone for wanting.

For Alyssa, that kind of writing was revelatory.

She had spent years learning how to stay small - how to soften her voice, cross her legs, apologize for her body before anyone else could. But in these stories? Desire wasn’t dirty. It wasn’t something to hide, negotiate, or earn. It was present. It was powerful. And it was treated with tenderness.

Words have always deeply resonated with me…there’s something so affirming about reading about flawed but relatable characters who’ve experienced some of the same traumas as me.

These “hot books” were healing manuals dressed in velvet. They offered what trauma so often steals - a sense of agency. Alyssa began to understand what her body had always deserved: to feel safe, to feel wanted, to feel in control.

And slowly, she started to talk about it.

With her partner. With friends. With strangers on the internet who whispered back, me too.

I gush to my husband about everything I’m reading - it often sparks intimate discussions that bring us closer emotionally…sometimes physically too.

The stories became a bridge between her past and her future, what she’d been taught and what she was claiming. It was also a bridge between the girl who hid her books, and the woman bold enough to build a business around them.

Of course, not everyone approved. There were businesses who didn’t want to be associated with open-door romance. Rejections that reopened old wounds. Shame that tried, just for a moment, to creep back in.

This time though, Alyssa had receipts. She had stories. She had a community. She had herself.

These stories can be powerful…and the work I’m doing will reach the right people, even if it ruffles some feathers.

Healing isn’t linear. Desire isn’t dirty. And sometimes, the most rebellious thing you can do is admit you want more (and believe you deserve it).

Romance on Wheels

The idea didn’t come in a boardroom. It didn’t start with a business plan. It started at a Silent Book Club - a space where introverts could read together without small talk, where nobody needed to perform, and everyone just existed with their stories.

That’s where Alyssa realized something big.

She wasn’t just reading, she was curating. Guiding friends toward the stories they didn’t even know they needed. And they listened. Again and again, people told her: I trust your taste. That book changed something for me.

So she built something that could carry that magic further - literally.

Enter: Between the Covers, a red mobile bookstore rolling through New Jersey with its windows full of sexiness, softness, and self-discovery. Picture twinkle lights, sensual signage, and stacks of romance and fantasy titles handpicked to make you feel held, hot, and heard.

After attending a few book events, I realized I truly loved connecting others with books that they might like…the mobile business idea kind of just snowballed from there.

Every book on the truck has been deeply vetted. Alyssa researches each author - their other works, their politics, their publishing ethics. She watches review videos. Cross-checks content warnings. As a woman of color and a queer entrepreneur, she’s not here to amplify voices that harm her community.

We want people to be able to pick up a book with a main character who looks like them, loves like them, dreams like them.

You won’t find a single book in this van that romanticizes non-consensual power dynamics or erases marginalized identities in the name of “spice.” You will find queer joy, fat protagonists, disabled main characters, and Black and brown love stories written with care and heat. You’ll find books where yes means hell yes - and no means always honored.

Between the Covers is a curated intimacy experience built for survivors, seekers, and soft-hearted rebels who know that pleasure can be political.

Many of the selections are written by BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, and other marginalized authors…representation matters not just in identity, but in how desire and agency are portrayed.

The Bookstore Crawl is On

Speaking of underrepresented groups…independent bookstores are still out here fighting giants like Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

If you’re ready to show up for them? Mark your calendars, charge your phone, and clear out your trunk - the New Jersey Bookstore Crawl is happening June 7–8, and Between the Covers is rolling in hot.

The statewide celebration brings together dozens of indie bookstores for a choose-your-own-adventure-style literary pilgrimage. All you need is a printed or digital crawl guide (download it here) and a deep love of local booksellers. Each store you visit earns you an entry to win one of several dreamy prize bundles - no purchase necessary, but let’s be real, you’re definitely leaving with a book (or five).

Alyssa and her van will be parked at Shore Pour Specialty Coffee in Sea Girt both days, serving up queer joy, open-door romance, and hot drinks with hotter paperbacks.

Expect special hours, exclusive promos, and the electric joy of meeting fellow readers in the wild. Whether you hit three shops or thirty, this weekend is all about celebrating stories and the spaces that hold them like a red van that turned healing into a highway.

Yes, It’s Spicy. Yes, It’s Sacred.

There’s something deeply annoying about the way people reduce romance novels to fluff. Like a story can’t be both hot and healing. Like tenderness can’t be transformative. Like women - especially queer, fat, disabled, and BIPOC women - can’t be the main character and the fantasy.

Alyssa knows better.

She built Between the Covers around that truth: that desire is powerful, and pleasure is not the opposite of depth. In fact, for many of her readers, especially survivors, it's the pathway to it.

Spicy books aren’t just about sex. They’re about safety, healing, and reclamation.

The kind of books that come with content warnings and annotated bookmarks and maybe even a glass of wine on the side. But the heat isn’t there for shock value. It’s there to teach, mirror, and affirm that yes, you can say no. And yes, you can say yes. Loudly, softly, with trembling hands or with your whole chest.

For people learning to reconnect with their own body and desire, these stories can be a lifeline.

When your trauma has taught you to shrink, a book where someone like you is chosen, wanted, held? That’s not fluff. That’s revolution.

Alyssa curates with this in mind. She picks titles that center enthusiastic consent, mutual respect, and deep emotional resonance even in kink-forward or power dynamic-heavy plots. Safety isn’t about avoiding heat, it’s about knowing you can leave the flame whenever you want.

And it matters who is telling the story.

We prioritize books by authors from BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, and other marginalized communities…representation matters not just in identity, but in how desire and agency are portrayed.

For most of Alyssa’s customers, this is the first time they’ve seen a fat heroine worshipped or a trans character romanced. For many, a Black love story not built around pain. It’s the kind of visibility that doesn’t just expand the genre, it expands what people believe is possible for themselves.

These books help us remember we are not broken. That our bodies, our wants, our softness - all of it is worthy of being held with care.

So yes, it’s spicy…but it’s also sacred.

Pleasure isn’t a detour from healing. Sometimes, it is the way home.

Radical Softness as Resistance

Running a business rooted in softness sounds lovely until you realize how many people are deeply uncomfortable with it. Especially when that softness involves queerness, kink, or open-door sex scenes where no one dies for loving too much.

Alyssa’s brand is bold. Not loud in a capitalist, billboard kind of way, but in the way a boundary is bold.

As a woman of color and a member of the LGBTQIA+ community, I was nervous I’d be putting myself or my family in uncomfortable situations.

She knew not everyone would clap. Not all publishers, not all readers. Some bookstores politely declined to collaborate. Some authors - the so-called “heavy hitters” of romance - were left off her shelves because they perpetuate harm, erase identities, or play into tropes that have never been safe for marginalized readers.

Many readers don’t like to view their beloved stories as political. But not everyone has the luxury to not view them that way.

Alyssa refuses to platform voices that diminish her community. She isn’t neutral. She’s not here to cater to comfort zones. She’s here to make real space for stories that heal, stretch, and set people free.

Does it ruffle feathers? Absolutely.

Does she care?

I’ll be damned if someone who believes not everyone deserves basic human rights tells me what the hell to do.

Some groups won’t understand this…but when your existence is already politicized, your joy becomes resistance. Your pleasure becomes a form of protest. Your red van becomes a war cry wrapped in twinkle lights and poetry.

And every single time someone walks in and says “I’ve never seen myself on a cover before” - she knows exactly why she started.

Love, Dirt, and Dreamscapes

For all the boldness Alyssa brings to Between the Covers, her strength doesn’t come from volume. It comes from devotion to her partner, to her healing, and to the quiet rituals that keep her grounded when the mission feels heavy.

It makes sense too - holding space for other people’s tenderness while unpacking your own? That’s sacred work and it’s exhausting. Some days, the inbox is full of book requests and trauma stories. Other days, she’s staring down bills, backorders, or the latest news cycle trying to ban the very books she stocks.

Thankfully Alyssa has anchors and one of them is her husband.

My partnership with my husband has been one of the most profound teachers in my life.

She talks about him the way some people talk about their favorite novels - with awe, affection, and a deep sense of having been transformed. Their connection didn’t just survive her healing process, it grew through it. From the conversations sparked by book scenes to the intimacy built around emotional safety, their relationship has become a mirror of everything she’s curating in her van.

When you're loved truly and deeply, it pours into every part of your life. It shifts how you see yourself..and how you reclaim joy.

And then, there’s the garden. Not metaphorically - an actual garden.

It’s where Alyssa goes when she needs to unplug from the algorithms and re-plug into something ancient. She gets her hands in the dirt. Listens. Waters. Waits. It’s messy (and quiet), but it reminds her that all things - including people - bloom in their own time.

Gardening is a form of meditation for me. It proves to me that all things are connected, and that good things take time and hard work.

She doesn’t try to be the loudest voice in the room. She just tends her plot - her books, her community, her relationships - with care.

Healing doesn’t happen in a straight line and Alyssa doesn’t want perfection anyway.

She wants to plant something that lasts.

Plot Twists & Future Pages

For someone who once had to hide her books under a blanket, Alyssa’s dreams have gotten loud and we’re not just talking about the open-door kind.

When asked where she sees Between the Covers in two years, her answer isn’t about scaling, franchising, or cutting a deal with Amazon.

I’d love to develop this into an organization for sexual empowerment…retreats would be really cool. Maybe I’ll become a sex therapist. Who knows.

She dreams of garden-lined reading retreats. Of community-led healing spaces. Of a future where every book on her shelves is from an indie author being paid what they’re actually worth. She wants to cut out the middleman. She wants to center voices the industry sidelines. She wants to hand people the kind of stories that don’t just make you feel something, they make you remember who you are.

The path is still unfolding, but one thing’s for sure: she’s not asking for permission anymore.

For now, I think the biggest goal is to stock 100% indie authors…so the authors can get paid what they’re truly owed.

Her focus isn't on building an empire, it's on building a bookshelf that feels like a safe space for others.

This Is Not Just a Van

Between the Covers is a rolling, glitter-dusted act of resistance.

A place where big girls, queer kids, and trauma survivors can step inside and breathe - maybe for the first time.

Alyssa didn’t start this to sell paperbacks. She started it to make sure no one else had to learn about desire in the dark. She started it because someone needed to say:

You are not too much. You are not too broken. You are allowed to want.

And you are allowed to be wanted.

It doesn’t matter if you’re grabbing a book, sipping a latte, or just standing there wondering why your chest suddenly feels warm…just stay a while. There’s something sacred happening here.

And if you find yourself in Sea Girt this June 7–8?

You’ll know exactly where to go.

Just look for the pink van that’s rewriting the ending - one spicy paperback at a time.

Or hey…maybe you call it a red van because you’re a little color blind like moi…

And that’s totally okay with Alyssa too.

📍 Where to Find the Van

Between the Covers Co. is always on the move but you can track the van, browse books, and get updates here:

• 🛻 Website: https://www.betweenthecovers.shop/

• 📚 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/betweenthecoversco/

• ☕ Catch Her Live: June 7–8 at Shore Pour Specialty Coffee in Sea Girt as part of the NJ Bookstore Crawl