During the week, Cameron Lagrone works a typical 9-to-5 as a government auditor. But every Friday at 3pm, she unlocks the door to a weekend in romance reader’s paradise where pink curtains line the windows and stories from elaborate love affairs to unhinged erotica line the walls.
Finney’s Books (3823 Airport), named after Lagrone’s dog and only co-worker, Finney, is one of 36 local, independent bookstores across the greater Austin area participating in the third annual Austin Texas Book Trail. A citywide, volunteer-run bookstore crawl dedicated to celebrating indie book shopping and the local literary spirit, the event will take place this Saturday and Sunday and feature opening and closing celebrations, exclusive discounts, prizes, and pop-ups.
Opening just three months ago in December, Finney’s is among the newest shops to join the trail and represents the kind of hyperlocal, community-driven charm you won’t find at a chain. Exclusively selling romance with an emphasis on queer stories, Lagrone invites her customers to stay, chat, and read a while.
“It’s just so much more fun to have people to discuss the books that you’re reading with and connect with people over these things that we all love, these stories we love,” Lagrone said. “So it’s been a fun space to do that.”
Oftentimes, romance books are considered “lower-tier literature,” Lagrone said. But when she first joined her online book club – a small group of women that she found on Reddit – she finally felt free to obsess over books in ways she never felt comfortable doing before. With Finney’s, Lagrone wanted to embody this spirit and create a cozy, welcoming space where people can read and enjoy romance, no matter how sophisticated, without judgment.
“I think that having a space where [judgment’s] not part of the discussion, and you don’t have to justify what you’re reading or why you’re reading it, has made me realize that that type of safe space is worth having and is something that people are looking for,” she said. “[You can] just read what you want to read because it makes you happy.”
With her shop located on the Eastside, Lagrone said she is grateful for a customer base that values queer stories as much as she does.
“It makes it feel very authentic to me,” she said. “It’s what I’m reading; it’s what I want to talk about; it’s what I want to share. So that’s been nice to be able to push into that and then have the customer base [here] that wants that as well.”
Lagrone said she hopes the Book Trail will be an opportunity to reach readers who don’t typically go for romance and help them find a home within the genre.
“Hopefully some folks who maybe saw that I opened [and] love a local bookstore, but thought ‘I don’t need a romance bookstore. I don’t really read romance,’ maybe they’ll come in and see that we can find anything for you,” Lagrone said. “I can find you a book, even if romance isn’t really your main genre.”
Finney’s will be hosting author and vendor pop-ups all weekend, welcoming the Austin community into its little corner of romance literature heaven. But beyond the trail, Lagrone will continue to greet her customers with free coffee and tea, a comfy place to sit, and an ear to talk to.
“I love it when people can come and actually sit and hang out and talk to me,” she said. “I’m there because I love to talk about books. Engage with me and talk with me, and I’ll sit down and chat with you also.”
This article appears in April 3 • 2026.