nicole fabry

Sunday morning might be early for sex talk. However, the Self-Help Smut Club, gathered at the Black Cat Fables bookstore in Monrovia, doesn’t think so. Before noon, the group has already deliberated on all types of bedroom activities that might make one blush.

“A man with a mattress on the ground has a whole lot of nerve,” says Cherisse Yanit-Nadal, one of the book club members, while discussing the characters of “Late Bloomer” by Mazey Eddings.

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The book club regularly meets to discuss romance novels in all their sticky, sweaty, throbbing passions. The lively group discusses romantic — often very sexy — fiction to spark nuanced conversations about self-discovery. Caitlin Harrison, a marriage and family therapist, founded the club after noticing the rise of romantic fiction on BookTok– a large and boisterous corner of TikTok that shares opinions and recommendations of books — and considering its therapeutic value.

“As a therapist who has a focus in sex therapy, I think it’s really unique and helpful that we can see character arcs really well through sex,” says Harrison. “It allows for very rich, honest conversations about what comes up for us.”

Caitlin Harrison smiles as Ella Rodriguez shares with the group.

(Juliana Yamada / Los Angeles Times)

Romance novels on display at Black Cat Fables in Monrovia.

(Juliana Yamada / Los Angeles Times)

It’s worth noting that smut and romance novels have soared in popularity in recent years, becoming the highest-grossing fiction genre in recent years. Stigmas around “chick-lit” have faded as TikTok has accumulated over 1 million posts under the hashtag SmutTok. The wildy popular romance and fantasy series “A Court of Thorns and Roses” is a #1 New York Times bestseller, selling millions of copies. On Goodreads, the romance novel “Onyx Storm” dominated reading lists in 2025.

At one point during the book meetup, children wandered through the bookstore, prompting the club to adopt playfully coded, child-friendly language about pubic-hair grooming.

“She had let the weeds grow,” Yanit-Nadal said of a character in “Late Bloomer.” “You can grow the garden however you want to grow the garden.”

Open since October 2024, Black Cat Fables is a community bookstore and event space. Nicole Fabry opened it with two close friends. “We all met working for a public library, so it was kind of meant to be an extension of a public library,” Fabry said. “We definitely wanted it to be community-focused and to become more of a third space for people.” While libraries offer programming for children and seniors, Fabry noticed a gap in literary events for people ages 20 to 50 and sought to fill it.

Alexa Palomo, left, and Ashley Bagwell chat after the Self-Help Smut Club.

(Juliana Yamada / Los Angeles Times)

The bookstore now hosts a variety of community-minded events, including Harrison’s club.

“She leads a group discussion around the importance of pleasure, how self-care and community care are linked, and why it’s important to discuss sex and pleasure and intimacy with others in a safe space,” Fabry said. “There’s a lot of giggling in the corner, which is always fun. They have a really good time.”

During the hour, conversation glided seamlessly between topics like the late-bloomer-to-kink pipeline, the virtues of being selfish in bed and a spate of other sexy encounters. Yet the group also ventured into deeper territory — boundaries, mental health, body image and community.

“There are a lot of oppressive systems right now, and it actually is all the more reason to engage with smut, pleasure, joy, so that we can build a discipline of hope,” Harrison said.

Having begun her own practice in April, Harrison centers pleasure and desire in her work. She has observed that many of her patients — overachieving, ambitious women — struggle to embrace pleasure. “I work with a lot of high-power, girl-boss types, eldest daughters who are running themselves into the ground, struggling with perfectionism. So my focus is on helping folks recover from perfectionism,” she said.

In place of productivity hacks and self-help podcasts, she offers different advice. “Pick up some smut and engage with a different part of yourself so that you can get back into your body and get out of your head,” she said.

After discovering her local bookstore, Harrison approached the owner about hosting a Self-Help Smut Club that would put the principles of her work into practice.

“Reading is an isolated activity,” she said. “Being able to meet in real life, connect in a community space, makes this even more juicy and important.”

Ella Rodriguez covers her mouth and laughs as she participates in a group discussion. She says, “I don’t want just to yearn. I also want the reward of pleasure, sex or romance.”

(Juliana Yamada / Los Angeles Times)

One club member, Ella Rodriguez, was traveling through Europe when she saw Black Cat Fables’ Instagram post about the group. “As soon as I get back home, I’m going straight there. I literally landed and then came here a week later,” she said.

Rodriguez said she admires Harrison’s approach, which leads to open-ended discussions. “I loved how Caitlin asks people about our experiences and how that reflects in our own internal world, and how we think of our sexuality and our self-esteem.”

Discussing the sex lives of fictional characters invites deeper reflection on readers’ own desires. Rodriguez elaborated on the tension between yearning and payoff. “I don’t want just to yearn. I also want the reward of pleasure, sex or romance,” she said.

Ashley Bagwell — another licensed therapist who attends the club — commented on the novelty of a smut-focused group.

“I had also been getting into smutty books, and it just felt like divine timing,” Bagwell said. “There aren’t smutty book clubs really anywhere. You can find a book club anywhere, but a smutty one, specifically? Not really. I was really excited about that, and tying in the mental health piece was also something I’m interested in.”

Licensed marriage and family therapist Caitlin Harrison leads the Self-Help Smut Club.

(Juliana Yamada / Los Angeles Times)

Harrison hopes ongoing conversations about romantic fiction will make it easier for women to feel empowered in their sex lives.“I love the BookTok of it all,” says Harrison. “I think that there’s continually more and more breaking down of taboo around being able to talk about what is exciting and pleasurable.”

At the end of the meeting, Harrison closed with a new motto: “2026? More like 2020-sex!” The women began excitedly pitching book titles to match the theme.

Connors is a writer living in Los Angeles. She hosts the literary reading “Unreliable Narrators” at Nico’s Wine every month.