We are Bookly Bonds
About Bookly Bonds
Ultimately, this brand is about mental health awareness and love—love for yourself, love for books, and love for the deep, meaningful bonds created through stories.
Every design we create is coded with words of self-love, courage, healing, and strength—a reflection of the journeys we all take, both within books and within ourselves.
Who We Are
Hi, we’re Melissa Castillo and Sasha Rowe. We met in Mexico at a women's retreat in 2021, in a space of healing, shadow work, and growth. Our friendship was a slow-burn love story—we truly bonded on the very last day of the retreat, both mistakenly thinking the other didn’t like us. In reality, we were simply intrigued by each other’s beauty, sisterly, and feminine energy.
It’s important for us to share our story. Our paths of self-healing and mental health have been individual yet parallel in many ways. We've supported each other through our darkest moments and have been each other’s light along the way.
Though we live completely different lives—Melissa in California and Sasha in Texas—our friendship has only grown stronger with time and distance.
Who This Brand Is For
This brand is for anyone—but especially for those who have experienced mental health struggles, depression, anxiety, and chronic stress. It’s for the ones who have felt misunderstood for being different—whether neurodivergent, a bookish weirdo, a nerd, an outcast, or someone who never quite fit in.
It’s for those who discovered themselves through books, who found pieces of their identity within the stories they read.
How Bookly Bonds Began
We’ve always been book girls. But as we got older, we transitioned from fantasy books to self-development, spirituality, and business books—reading to learn and grow rather than for joy and pleasure.
Then, in November 2023, Melissa picked up Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros. At the time, she was going through a dark period. But this book brought her back—to herself, to stories, and to a sense of comfort she hadn’t realized she needed.
She became instantly hooked and insisted Sasha read it too. Melissa told all her friends about it, reigniting a love for fantasy books in so many of them. But Sasha was the friend that nurtured and supported the book craze, making sure it wasn’t just a phase but a return to something deeper. They had always bonded over books and shared recommendations, but something about coming back to fantasy this time around felt different.
That’s when Bookly Bonds truly started—when we began creating connections with new people through books. These stories weren’t escapism—they were a form of healing. They reminded Melissa, and so many others, that books have a way of holding us when we need them most.
What Bookly Bonds Represents
Bookly Bonds is all of that. The comfort in our clothing reflects the comfort books bring us. The stories we read create bonds between strangers, fostering a sense of belonging that lingers long after the last page is turned.
Books and their characters help us see ourselves—even the parts of us that have felt unseen for so long.
This is why we prioritize minimalism and simplicity.
We don’t need visually loud designs to express the impact of a few powerful words from books that changed us. That’s why we place them right at the heart center—on purpose.
Anyone can wear these comforts. The words stand on their own—but the magic happens when someone recognizes them. That moment of connection, that "if you know, you know" feeling, that "I see you" moment—
That’s what Bookly Bonds is all about.
