Today, me and a couple friends explored some local book stores in Minneapolis. I absolutely love Barnes & Noble, but I wanted to find smaller book stores to support.

Once Upon a Crime is located in Minneapolis off of South Lyndale Ave. It’s filled completely with only mystery and crime stories. Once you walk in, you realize how small and adorable this store is. I really enjoyed that this store features local Minnesota authors. Jessie, the employee working is super knowledgeable and helpful.  She led us down to another room that contains discount mystery books. Me and my roommate spent at least an hour wandering this room and piling up hardcover books we wanted to read. I ended up purchasing three books: The Catalan Book of Secrets by Jessica Lourey, Privileged Information by Stephen White, and The Murder at the Vicarage Carriage by Agatha Christie. As we were leaving the store, Jessie gave us a free copy of her own book published!  She also gave me and my roommate an awesome tote bag that says “One More Book Won’t Hurt”.

This book store is terrific! I felt like I had a personal relationship with the store and the employee which is something you could never get at Barnes & Noble. I would easily go back to Once Upon a Crime again.

After Once Upon a Crime, we drove to Uncle Hugo’s Science Fiction Bookstore. As much as I love a good mystery, I also really enjoy a good science fiction & fantasy novel. I was amazed at all the Star Trek & Star Wars novels in the store. I ended up gravitating towards this book with this lovely cover called “The Court of the Air” by Stephen Hunt. The cover has an intricate air balloon on it and it definitely has more fantasy elements than science fiction. I would go back to Uncle Hugo’s. I opened up a discount membership for any future visits.

Tomorrow I start again on the book store adventure and I cannot be more excited.