Kerrie Joyce 
As if pulled right out of a romance novel, one Hoboken author got her own rom-com heroine moment inside Little City Books this past weekend. Hoboken-based couple Katie Gergel and her now-fiance Corey got engaged in the downtown Hoboken bookstore on Saturday. Little City Books is located at 100 Bloomfield Street and has been at its location for 10 years. Read on for more about Katie and Corey’s engagement.
A Little City Engagement
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In the fiction section beside countless romances in stories by Jane Austen, the Brontë sisters, and Leo Tolstoy, Katie Gergel and her partner Corey started a new chapter. On Saturday, November 8th, Katie’s friends devised a plan to “lure” her into the store by putting up signage for her forthcoming book in the windows of the shop and to find where her novel will be located on the shelves once released. To her surprise, she found a book with her name and the title of her not-yet-released novel, which she opened to find a note inside from her partner. The ring box was hidden in the shelf, and she looked up from the book to find Corey down on one knee popping the question.
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About Corey’s choice of setting, Katie told The Hoboken Girl:
“I’ve always been a voracious reader and writer and getting engaged in a bookstore surrounded by the people and things that I love most has been a dream. Little City is also my dream setting—there is nothing better than a well-curated, cozy, and welcoming local bookstore. My partner (and now fiancé!) Corey is the biggest supporter of my writing and has witnessed for years now how much being in and near Little City brings me so much joy.” She further praised her local bookstore saying, “It was the most meaningful proposal I could have imagined! The Little City team was so kind and generous with their time and space, and they made me feel so special. I’m so grateful for a partner who supports my passion and a local bookstore who helped make my dream come true!”
Read More: 10 Years In, Hoboken’s Independent Bookstore, Little City Books, is Thriving. What’s the Secret?
The bookstore wished the couple congratulations in their Instagram post capturing the sweet moment, saying “Congratulations Katie & Corey”
Katie’s Other Love Story
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Katie’s book, Worth Playing For, is set to be released in 2026. Fittingly, her debut novel is a rom-com with a modern spin set in the world of the reality-tv series Survivor. It is being published in the United States by Dell Romance, an imprint of Penguin Random House.
See More: Local Love: Owen + Tyler’s Hoboken-Inspired Engagement Shoot
In her announcement via Instagram post, she wrote, “I am grateful beyond words for the community of people who have helped me get here. This is a dream decades in the making (since my first novel, “The Family That Loved Pickles”), and to say it’s finally coming true is mind-boggling. My books are going to be on shelves, in the US and abroad!!!
It’ll be a bit of time before WORTH PLAYING FOR hits bookstores, but there is so much more to come, and I can’t wait for the adventures ahead!”
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