Romantasy Book Lovers IRL: Our ‘Crescent City 3, House of Flame & Shadow’ Reading Retreat in Austin, Texas
It was the height of summer, and seven women sat on Zoom watching the shared screen, while our friends, Sarah and Avery scrolled us through a Google Doc of potential Airbnb options they’d scoured hours for. We were looking for the perfect spot for our HOFAS reading retreat. In the works for almost two years, we were a group of Romantasy nerds who knew we wanted to read one of our most anticipated reads together. In person. House of Flame and Shadow by Sarah J. Maas finally had a release date, and we’d narrowed down a location: Austin, TX.
Now I’m not saying the other houses weren’t nice, but when we got to the final one, we immediately fell in love with it. Located in South Austin, this gorgeous property was honestly the perfect space for our fantasy reading retreat. Plenty of couches and cozy spots to read? Check. Everyone has their own room? Check. A stunning kitchen to cook meals? Check. A dream of a bathtub? Check. Good wifi? Yep, that too. This space really did have it all. Plus, it was close to grocery stores, Target, and a Barnes & Noble.
I arrived just as the sun started going down, and the pictures do not do it justice. My gorgeous bedroom was tucked away in the back corner of the main floor, and was so peaceful. Of course, there were little goodies for everyone! Sarah and Avery had put together these adorable little bags of book tabs, Kleenex (NEEDED!), and a stress ball unicorn–an homage to Jelly Jubilee–that had me cracking up. Sarah also made each of us super cute calligraphy chalkboard door hangs with our names and book references. I had the honor of designing custom HOFAS House sweatshirts for everyone that Avery gifted to the group, so we could be cozy while reading. And yes, I hid a TON of Sarah J. Maas Easter Eggs into the house drawing. Now the back—the back might make you cry if you’re also a Lehabah fan like we all are. P.S. This quote design was approved by Sarah J. Maas and is now part of my officially licensed Crescent City collection at Valor & Lore if you want your own ‘Friends of Lehabah’ design!
“My friends are with me and I am not afraid,” —Lehabah
The first night most of us were exhausted from traveling. A couple people had driven all the way from Georgia; I’d flown from San Francisco to Phoenix to Austin, and others from Maryland, Colorado, and Ohio. But we buckled down with a bevy, some blankets, and used the big screen TV in the living room for a crash course of the Maaster Class our friend, Sarah, had put together. Think family trees, magical creatures, etc. Monday consisted of lots of laughter. It was ‘book boyfriend night’ (aka we dressed up like different Sarah J. Maas male characters), and the night of our midnight release LIVE. We filmed some hilarious Reels and TikToks, had trivia, theory discussions, giveaways, including a Griffin Antiquities Tshirt from Valor & Lore, and counted down the minutes to the book’s release!
After that the house got real quiet. We were in read mode, and you’d hear the occasional shocked scream from someone reacting. No context spoilers: the hand scene?! Princess Leia?! Snow White?! She’s a MOTHER?! No, no, no, that didn’t just happen…did it?! There were honestly so many stressful parts of this book and the pace really never let up. Tuesday morning we headed to Target to get the exclusive edition, and from then on it was lots of cozy couch time, and most of us lived out on the huge covered deck in the comfiest deck chairs I think I’ve ever encountered. We got so lucky with the weather, which was perfect for outdoor reading. Oh, and did I mention there’s also a pool and jacuzzi?!
Avery’s 30th birthday and Kate’s 29th birthday also happened the week before, so our last full night all together we had a lovely sit down dinner outside on the deck, and laughed hysterically while going through Sarah and Avery’s SJM playlists on Spotify via the Sonos (yes, there are speakers throughout the house!), and playing Cards Against SJM. Now it’s not official yet, but several of the women spent a ton of time creating the cards, and lots of laughter ensued. So there might be a deck released in the future! I had made little bookshelf Suriels for the birthday girls, complete with miniature tea cups, and, in our hopes we might see Terrasen, some pine cone + pine bough necklaces for everyone. Look, we’re all Type A people, so we were all about the details.
Thursday, we finally left the house and headed to First Light Books to grab coffee and check out their book selection (yes, we couldn’t believe how perfect a book reference in the wild it was!), as well as a Half Price Books. Yes, I will post my book haul from the trip soon, but as a bougie coffee girl, I also have to say, the First Light Books coffee was excellent!
A couple of us also had to get some work done during the trip, and I was so pleasantly surprised with how great the wifi at the house was–we had so many devices connected between our phones, computers, iPads and Kindles. Honestly, it was hard saying goodbye to this beautiful house that felt like a home for the week! I would absolutely go back in the future and would recommend it for relaxing retreats and get togethers.
If you’ve been thinking about booking a nerdy reading retreat with your book friends, this is your sign to do it. I guarantee you’ll make some incredible memories. Don’t have book friends yet? I can’t believe how many comments I’ve received on my videos from the trip, with people asking how to find book friends or wishing they had people around them who also shared their love of reading. My biggest advice to you? Start posting on Booktok and Bookstagram. These people were all strangers to me a few years ago, and we’re from all over the U.S. Our love of Sarah J. Maas brought us together, and taking that first step to leave a nice comment on someone’s video is a must. You never know who you might connect with!
And if you happen to have Austin on your bucket list, and want a space that’s BAMTP approved, I can’t recommend this house enough!