Ohio Love Staff Picks: April 2025

You love Ohio. We love Ohio. 

Each month, the Ohio Magazine editorial team shares what we adore about the Buckeye State right now. From the literary work of Cincinnati-based author Emily Henry and an iconic Marietta maker to sweet treats in Amish Country and a favorite Columbus book store, we hope you find something to love in our April 2025 picks. 

Tell us about your Ohio Loves by tagging us in your social media posts or by sending us a note.

Beach Reads and Funny Stories:

The first time I heard the name Emily Henry, I was scrolling the Half Price Books website, shopping for something to read on my family’s upcoming vacation to Marco Island, Florida. I was scouring their online fiction section between breaks at my college radio station and came across a bright yellow cover with “Beach Read” in a big white font. Since we were embarking on an island vacation in two months, it appeared I had found what I was looking for.

Have you ever been emotionally wrecked by a piece of art? That was me, sitting in the house one night on vacation silently weeping over the beauty of the emotional peak of the story until my sister looked over, confused by my tears on this island paradise, to ask if I was okay. For a book to create that type of reaction in me, I knew I had found a new favorite author.

Since then, I have followed Emily Henry on Instagram, subscribed to her newsletter and preordered every one of her books upon hearing about a new one coming out. Once I found out she was a fellow Ohioan, I was even more in love with her work. I feel like I read all her books at important moments in my life. Each one feels like a warm hug and another page in my metaphorical scrapbook. 

Her second book, People We Meet on Vacation, I read in one sitting on a rainy summer day at home. Book Lovers was another Marco Island vacation read. I finished reading Happy Place right before I got engaged (we interviewed Henry just after the release of this title), and read Funny Story curled up on the couch in my new home during my first year of marriage.  

Now, with her sixth book hitting shelves on April 22, I couldn’t be more excited to write about my love for her work and cannot wait to add Great Big Beautiful Life to my memories with an author who has permanently landed a place in my bookworm heart.

For more information about Emily Henry and her books, visit emilyhenrybooks.com

Sweet Treats:

My first time in Berlin ... Ohio that is, not Germany, I had lunch at Boyd & Wurthmann. The meal was great, but what I still remember seven years later is the peanut butter pie. Peanut butter pie and I have history. Growing up in Ashtabula, my family often visited a local Italian restaurant, and I never failed to leave without snagging a piece of creamy peanut butter pie. The restaurant closed while I was still in high school, and the hunt for a good slice followed me wherever I moved. It wasn’t until visiting Boyd’s that I found a pie that could compare to my childhood favorite.

There are many reasons I love traveling through Ohio’s Amish Country: winding scenic roads, great antique stores, hearty Amish home cooking and all things sweet. I can’t ever seem to leave Holmes County without at least one doggie bag with a tasty treat hidden inside.

Making the precarious trip up the steep road to Miller’s Bakery in Millersburg, I wasn’t sure what I’d find. But this unassuming building is hiding a treasure trove of delicious pastries. The apple fritter, as big as my head, was still warm and gooey. Rows and rows of butter tarts beckoned me behind the glass display case, I am from Ontario, Canada, after all, and butter tarts are part of our DNA.

A few of my other greatest hits that deserve special mention are the maple cream sticks at Kauffman’s Country Bakery, fry pies at Hershberger’s Farm & Bakery and the Lake Erie ice cream scooped high into a waffle cone at Miller’s Creamery. Are you hungry yet?

For more information on foods finds in Amish Country, go to visitamishcountry.com.

Woodcut Prints

I first saw Bobby Rosenstock’s work during my early days as Ohio Magazine editor. The artist and his wife, Sara, operate JustAJar Design Press in Marietta, a shop that creates woodcut prints that are carved by hand and created on hulking manual machines that look as though they were transported from another time. In many ways, they were. 

During the spring of 2021, we visited the Rosenstocks’ Marietta shop to film our Great Ohio Road Trips video series, which highlighted various elements of the arts scene throughout southeast Ohio. After our shoot that day, I purchased a print of the sternwheeler mural Bobby designed that adorns the side of a building in downtown Marietta. Today, that print — one of a limited edition of 200 and signed by Bobby — hangs in my bedroom.

I didn’t realize it at the time, but I should probably have anticipated this would be the start of my keeping casual track of the prints Bobby created in the hopes of finding other pieces. In fall 2023, a got an email about a series of monoprints available. These prints are the result of multiple test poster runs and can include parts of previous, different designs, resulting in a unique, one-of-a-kind image. Bobby had one from a job he did for Grateful Dead member Bob Weir’s 75th birthday celebration concert, which I purchased as soon as I saw it.

The third JustAJar print on my wall is a print of the Ohio Magazine cover we commissioned Bobby to create for our January 2024 issue. He made us 50 of them that we gave out to staff members who worked on the issue and 30 lucky social media followers. My print hangs above my record player in my living room. 

What’s my next JustAJar print? I’m not sure yet, but I am certain there will be more added to the walls of my home. For those looking for a unique, limited-edition piece of art that is made by hand with care, a stop by JustAJar Design Press’ online shop is recommended.

For more information about JustAJar, visit justajar.com

A Reader’s Oasis

I don’t often find myself in Columbus, but when I do, I make sure to set aside time to pay a visit to The Book Loft. Now, I recognize that it’s not a revolutionary notion to love this literary paradise nestled in the heart of the city’s German Village neighborhood, but I’m not here to blow your mind.

The first time I visited The Book Loft was during a statewide college tour that I took with my mom when I was a sophomore in high school. We visited a few college campuses across Ohio, and I got to see many parts of our state that I had never seen before, including Columbus’s German Village and The Book Loft. 

Growing up, I loved to read. I loved the way books and stories could transport you to different times and places, and walking into The Book Loft felt like walking into a secret world that was pulled straight from the pages. The darkened alcoves, slanting staircases and towering shelves created an atmosphere filled with mystery and magic. 

We walked the rustic brick path leading down the street of historic buildings and through a fairytale-like garden overflowing with plants and greenery. We explored the vastness of the store’s 32 rooms, tearing into books and marveling at the seemingly endless number of titles. 

I, of course, picked up a few books for my troubles, but my favorite souvenir that I walked away with was a small parchment-colored pencil pouch adorned with names of banned books listed in a chunky, antique typewriter font and redacted lines running across it.

While I no longer store pencils in it, I still have that pouch. Every time I see it, I'm reminded not only of my visit to The Book Loft, but also of an exploratory journey across Ohio — one that, unbeknownst to me, would chart a course of my career just a few years later.