Debut author Bea Koch is one of the owners of the Ripped Bodice, an independent bookstore in the United States dedicated to romance. In addition to being a groundbreaking bookseller, Bea graduated from Yale with distinction as the last Renaissance Studies major and received an MA from NYU: Steinhardt in Costume History. She is the proud mother of dog Fitzwilliam Waffles. He has more followers on Instagram than she does.