Bookish Babes & Brews
Stony Creek Fife & Drum Corps
Branford
Dec. 14, 2025
When I met Caroline Shelton, I had just gone through a devastating breakup, and she prescribed a book to me that she said changed her brain chemistry.
Yes, it’s exactly as it sounds. She recommended a book – Single: Living a Complete Life on Your Own Terms by Nicola Slawson – that she felt would heal me like medicine. And do you know that it did? The book laid out all the ways in which women of a certain age could lead fulfilling lives while being single. I remember sitting on a beach devouring it and thinking, ‘I am a girl who is going to be OK.’
Shelton and her friend and business partner Alyssa Korzon have a knack for looking at a person and deciphering the types of books they would like. Dubbed “literary matchmakers,” they run the Shoreline-based Bookish Babes & Brews, a “blind date with a book” business. Their brand started on Instagram where Shelton and Korzon would document their “buddy reads” (reading a book simultaneously with a friend) during quarantine. Realizing they had books on their shelves that they wanted to “give a second life to,” they began their business in 2023.
Though they were not the first to conceive of blind dates with books, they have taken this idea and run with it, hosting their brand at pop-ups at coffee shops, breweries and markets all over the state. They also sell a variety of book accessories including sleeves, bookmarks, and stickers, as well as merch like hoodies, t-shirts and sweatshirts.
This is how Bookish Babes & Brews works. Korzon and Shelton wrap the secondhand books in brown construction paper, tie them with twine and imprint them with colorful, personalized Bookish Babes & Brews wax seals. Each book also gets a bookmark, fun stickers and a blurb that spells out the genre and gives hints about the plot. I can attest to the fact that unwrapping these mystery books is an experience.
They have gotten lots of positive reactions from both avid readers and people getting back into reading. When people encounter them, there are often squeals of, “Oh! There are books!”
“It’s really kind of hope inducing to see people enjoying books again,” said Shelton.
While shopping at their Sunday pop-up at the busy Stony Creek Holiday Farmer’s Market, I was drawn to a romance that referenced an engagement in the Hamptons and a wedding in Capri that covers the “dynamics of race, wealth and privilege” – a mix of glamour and societal ills that I crave. The book I uncovered was Sex & Vanity by Kevin Kwan of Crazy Rich Asians fame.
Shelton and Korzon source their books from their shelves, friends, family, and patrons. On Sunday, someone had just donated about seven children’s books.
“We do have a good share of customers who will donate books [they bought from us] when they finish,” says Shelton. “Now, we stamp the back of our books to see when a book comes back to us.”
They also donate the books they cannot sell themselves. Some go to Little Free Libraries. Some find a home with people they meet at their events. That way, they say, books stay in motion and get more of a life. Just before I arrived at the event, Shelton, overcome with holiday spirit, had just handed an entire set of the Twilight series to a kid at the farmer’s market who looked like she would love it.
Books run their lives. Both grew up as voracious readers and then became educators. Shelton made a pivot from teaching elementary school and will be graduating with her master’s in library science in February. Her dream job is to be a children and youth services librarian, “focusing on outreach and creating equitable early literacy in communities.” Korzon spends her days teaching kids how to read as a behavioral special education teacher with ACES.
Korzon and Shelton are also the new leaders of Silent Book Club New Haven, a chapter of the national book club in which members socialize then silently read whatever strikes their fancy. They were among the first members of Silent Book Club New Haven, which used to be just about 12 people meeting at the now closed Fussy Coffee. The group has grown exponentially since then. They took over when Britt, the original founder of the New Haven chapter, moved out of town.
Silent Book Club New Haven meetings are held every third Sunday of the month, except for June, at The Graduate on Chapel Street. The next meeting on Saturday, Dec. 21 will be a holiday sweater party. There will also be a bookmark swap for the bookmark hoarders out there.
Korzon and Shelton have also started to support other small businesses with their brand. Local bookspace Possible Futures is one of their favorite places to purchase books. After reading the books, they then recycle them back into their business. “We like the mission of the store and how it’s based in community. We love what Lauren stands for and the services she offers,” they shared. They’ve also been selling their book sleeves at Possible Futures for the holiday season.
Korzon and Shelton have created a veritable book ecosystem.
Korzon and Shelton are looking to host their pop-ups in new locations and hopefully get into more markets in the future. They don’t have an exact date for their next event at the moment, but expect to see them at West Hartford’s Gastropark soon, where they appear every couple of months.
In a perfect world, one day, they would open a community bookspace of their own that’s also a coffee shop and a tutoring center.
For the next Silent Book Club New Haven meeting, visit @silentbookclubnewhaven on Instagram.
To find out where Korzon and Shelton will be next, check out Bookish Babes & Brews on Instagram at @bookishbabes_and_brews.
