It's time for a bookish update, Boston. We have plenty of page-turning details on three new bookshops in the works for Beacon Hill, Davis Square, and Dorchester.

📖 The highly anticipated cat lounge and bookstore A Sanctuary Cafe is expected to open in February at 80 Charles St. First announced back in December 2022, this long awaited storefront plans to open in phases.

Here's the story — there are a lot of moving pieces (literally, with the cats) for this shop. The cafe and bookstore areas will open before the cat lounge, so the cats have extra time to settle in. Stay tuned for details.

📖 Somerville is getting a new woman-owned bookstore in Davis Square called Narrative. The small independent bookshop owned by Mila Hossain is also planning for a February opening. Follow along for opening updates + be ready to share books with the book community here.

📖 And another one — justBook-ish is a new book store in the works in Dorchester thanks to Boston's poet laureate Porsha Olayiwola and Bing Broderick.

The goal is to create a centralized hub and networking space in a cozy and comfortable book cafe setting. The storefront is currently under construction and the team is still fundraising to help stock the shelves with culturally curated, radically influenced, and locally inspired reads.