Coastal Magic 2025 Featured Author Spotlight & Giveaway - - Tere Michaels

Coastal Magic Convention Featured Author Tere Michaels is in our spotlight today. Tere’s specialties are snark, angst, and happily ever afters, set in the big city. It might take some time to get there but no worries - she believes in love conquering all! She has written eighteen books including her popular Faith, Love & Devotion series, the superhero saga The Vigilante, and "Broadway or Bust." Her most recent series has kicked off with Whisk-y Business, of The Love Broker series.

Welcome to The Romance Dish, Tere!  It’s a pleasure to have you visit with us today. 

Thank you so much for having me! 

For those readers who have yet to discover you, please share what they should expect when they read Whisk-y Business, book one of your The Love Broker series (which I thoroughly enjoyed - so much fun!).  

Sarcasm, Idiots to Lovers, Magical Weirdness, and sort of a reverse Hallmark Holiday Movie. 

I'm sitting here laughing out loud at that perfect description of this book! 

I love the food Annalee makes at the bakery and especially the bond with her late grandmother that it represents. Are you a baker? If so, who taught you and what’s your favorite item to bake? If not, which items catch your eye and tempt your taste buds when you walk into a bakery? 

I am not a great baker, but my mom used to make cream puffs ALL the time - like every family anything, she’d be required to bring them. Since she passed, I’ve tried to make them every Christmas. When I go to a bakery, you can usually tempt me with something that has baked apples in it, or crumb cake. (But only if it’s real NJ crumb cake, which means a huge stack of crumbs on a tiny sliver of cake. lol) 

Oh and the pastina soup she dreams about is something my Nan (grandmother) would make. I make it for myself when I need a little warmth.

I looked up the recipe for pastina soup. I will definitely be adding that to my winter soup menu!

I did not see that twist coming in the second epilogue of this book. What fun (no spoilers)! Do you already know how everything will play out over the course of the series? How many books will there be? Will the rest of them be set in Pine Lake or will you be taking readers back to the “big city?” 

Ooo, I love that. I have a pretty solid idea for the next few books. When this came together for me, I had a list of pun titles that jumped into my head so I have up to Book 5 already worked out! And I’ll keep writing them until I run out of words. Honestly, I love this world and all the chaos these folks are causing. 

I’m already beyond excited for book two. When can we expect its release? Are you able to tell us anything about it?  

The Man Date, which is Book 2, should already be out. I had it up for pre-order (uploaded with an old draft to be replaced), then it got released before it was supposed to so I took it down. Drama! Then I decided to rewrite the last third of the book. LOL I am MUCH happier with it now so…yeah. I’m a menace to myself. 

This book is a gay romance featuring two seemingly different men who find what they have in common brings them together. We also spend some time with a character who very briefly showed up in Book 1 and is going to blaze across the series, particularly Book 4. Oh. and matchmaking Malamutes, because why not? These guys were delightful to write, and I also enjoyed delving into friendship - what happens if your two best friends hook up? How does the third wheel react? I also added a bit more of the lore around Trudye’s tree, which was FUN. I hope everyone enjoys the book. 

I've already downloaded The Man Date and am looking forward to returning to Pine Lake. 

Let’s wrap things up with a few rapid-fire questions. 

What are your passions (aside from writing)?

Reading. I always have a book going and will sometimes spend most of my weekend reading. I also like to run (no, really!). 

What would readers be surprised to learn about you? 

What an introvert I am. LOL 

What are you currently reading or looking forward to reading? 

I’m currently reading Dreadful by Caitlin Rozakis. My jam lately has been magical worlds with romance. I am waiting for SO many books in the new year. The new Ali Hazelwood, the next in the Assistant to the Villain series, the next Emily Wilde’s Fairy book series…I can keep going. Oh and the next book in the Fourth Wing series. I loved it. 

Where can readers find you online? 

I’m mostly on Threads, Bluesky, and occasionally Facebook and Instagram. I also have a Substack that’s primarily about the process of writing. My business partner is going to be handling all our media stuff because she is young and I am old. lol 

Thank you, Tere! Would you like to add anything or ask a question of the readers? 

Oooo…let’s see. First off, I love you all. Thanks for reading my books, and being so sweet throughout the year. I can’t wait to see everyone at Coastal.

My question, I suppose, is about The Love Broker series. What sort of tropes do you want to see me write? Not promising anything but I’d love to hear your ideas. 

Thank you so much for allowing me to visit!

Readers, let's help Tere out. What are your favorite contemporary romance tropes to read?

One randomly chosen person posting a comment before 11:00 PM, January 2 will receive a Kindle copy of Whisk-y Business. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

*U.S. only

*Must be 18

Coastal Magic 2025 Featured Author Spotlight & Giveaway - - Sera Taino

 

Sera Taíno writes romances exploring the joy of love in the context of community and family in all its rich diversity with an emphasis on inclusiveness.

She was selected for the Harlequin Romance Includes You Mentorship, an initiative launched in 2019 to reach out to diverse communities of writers and bring more own voices stories to romance readers.

When she is not writing, she can be found teaching her high school English class, reading, or wrangling her husband and two children.

Welcome to The Romance Dish, Sera!  It’s a pleasure to have you visit. For those readers who have yet to discover you, please share what they should expect when they pick up one of the books in your The Navarros series. 

Hello! Thank you for featuring me on The Romance Dish! So excited to be here. 

Readers who pick up The Navarros series will get a hefty dose of the Navarro family dynamic, which is fiercely loyal and protective, but also extremely silly and fun. They support each other, call each other out on their nonsense, and won’t hesitate to have a good laugh at each other’s expense.

I love the food in these books, how it not only represents their heritage but is one of the things that binds the Navarro family together. Is this something that is important in your own life? Are you a cook? Or do you prefer to be the “quality control” taster? What’s a special dish or type of cooking that speaks to you?

I love to cook and often spend hours in the kitchen. I’ve evolved as a cook. I used to want to get all the traditional Puerto Rican family dishes correct for my family. When I married my husband, I wanted to learn how to make his favorite central-Italian foods. Now, I’m more adventurous, trying things out of curiosity, and challenging myself to see if I can pull it off. Like a souffle or a bar of Dubai chocolate. I’m cooking a lot more for fun now, which speaks to the fact that my children are older and I have fewer constraints on what I have to make. 

I really enjoy the diversity in your books and among the Navarro siblings, not only as it pertains to their romantic lives but also in their choices of occupation as well as the impact of their mother’s unexpected death. As their creator, did you have all of this mapped out before you began writing or did the characters surprise you with some of their choices along the way?

It was a little bit of both! I planned the books as a four books series (I always planned a book for Oliva as well), so the occupations were settled early on according to their personalities but also, based on what I saw around me and my own experience of immigrant families. The oldest, especially if they were a daughter, would carry the family, the middle child would have all the characteristics of a middle child, and the youngest would be the one most acclimated to her new culture. Olivia is my most self indulgent character after Etienne. They came almost fully formed in my mind. I am a bit of a discovery writer - I don’t always know what’s going to end up on paper until I write it, so each character surprised me at some point. Val was the least surprising because A Delicious Dilemma is the most autobiographical of the three books, while The Trouble With Exes was perhaps the most difficult of all my novels to write, because I had the least in common with Nati.

Your bio says you’ve lived all over the world. What was your favorite place? Or, top three if you can’t choose just one. What made them special? Is there anywhere you haven’t lived that you would like to try one day?

I lived in Europe for almost ten years, so I was fortunate to be able to visit most of the countries in the EU. I found Italy the most beautiful but Germany was the easiest to live in. I have always wanted to visit South America and SE Asia, and hope to cross those off my bucket list some day!

Amazon shows a new book (first in a series) by you coming in April 2025. This makes me very happy! What can you tell us about this new series?

Oh, that’s my new series set in the fictional town of Soledad Bay, Florida. In many respects, it’s a small town romance series, much as The Navarros, but I wanted to write something in my current home state to highlight the beautiful nature of the state.

Blurb for A Summer to Start Over:

She needed help…

He needed to begin again.

Single mom Indya Linares has always been Ms. Independent—especially when her family’s hurricane-ravaged resort is at stake. But when Indya’s boat breaks down at sea, she’s forced to accept help from a handsome stranger who immediately makes her heart beat faster. Who would have imagined that he’s also her stubborn mother’s pick for a new facilities manager extraordinaire? After Santiago Pereira left Venezuela to begin again in Soledad Bay, he’s got something to prove to his family…and a mission to bring his daughter back to him. But when Santi just can’t stop thinking about his new boss, will hospitality take on a new meaning for them both?

I will definitely be picking up a copy of A Summer to Start Over!

Let’s wrap things up with a few rapid-fire questions.

What are your passions (aside from writing)?

I’m one of those people who has a million hobbies! I read, and look for good audiobooks. I love cooking, and traveling, but also I enjoy being outside in nature. I grew up wanting to be an astronomer and a telescope. I read tarot cards and use them extensively for writing and journaling. I have fun with blackout poetry, and I enjoy a really good conversation with my friends.

What would readers be surprised to learn about you?

I speak four languages

I studied to be a genetic engineer for many years

What are you currently reading or looking forward to reading?

I am looking forward to the publication of When The Tides Held The Moon, a gorgeous queer, Latine historical romance by the amazing Venessa Kelly.

Where can readers find you online?

I’m serataino everywhere. I’m most active on Instagram. You can also follow my newsletter at serataino.com/mailing-list.

Thank you for joining us today, Sera. I wish you all the best in your future endeavors. I loved all three of the Navarro books and am looking forward to your new series in 2025.

Readers, have you read any of Sera's books yet?

Tell us what book you're currently reading or most looking forward to reading?

Are you an adventurous cook? What types of dishes do you most enjoy making?

One randomly chosen person who posts a comment before 11:00 PM, December 19 will receive a signed print copy of book one in Sera's Navarros series, A Delicious Dilemma. 

*U.S. only

*Must be 18

Coastal Magic 2025 Blogger Spotlight & Giveaway - - Tracy Solheim

USA Today bestselling author Tracy Solheim has been telling stories all her life. Growing up, her parents and teachers referred to them—rather unkindly, she might add—as “Tracy’s Tall Tales.” Fortunately for everyone, she found a way to turn those story-telling skills into a way to make money. After years of writing stodgy reports and testimony for Congress, she’s found her happy place crafting award-winning novels with shirtless men on the covers. Her fun and flirty romance books are set in small towns, locker rooms, and even the White House. She currently lives in the suburbs of Atlanta with her husband and a neurotic Labrador retriever. Her two kiddos have grown and flown, but happily for her, they didn’t go far! 

PJ, here. I had the pleasure of meeting Tracy Solheim at the beginning of her romance publishing career (good things have been known to happen when talking to strangers in elevators at romance conferences) and have enjoyed watching her success over the years. Her books always keep me eagerly turning pages, whether they're set in coastal small-town Carolina, Washington, D.C. or within a professional football team in Baltimore or Milwaukee. I enjoy them all and am delighted to host Tracy as one of 2025's Coastal Magic Convention Featured Authors. Please give her a warm welcome. 

Note: If you missed it, my review of Solheim's newest book, Take Me Home For Christmas, posted yesterday. Click here to read it.

~~~~~~~~~

by Tracy Solheim

                If a Christmas movie or book doesn’t have a gingerbread house-making scene, is it really a Christmas movie or book? Gingerbread houses became synonymous with Christmas sometime during Queen Victoria’s reign. They became prominent in holiday books and movies much more recently. We authors often include them as a plot device to give our couple a way to bond. Or, my particular favorite reason, as something to compete over while their attraction grows.

Why gingerbread house-making? Because they are easy to build. Anyone can do it.

Wrong!

I remember a holiday trip my family took to The Grove Park Inn in beautiful Asheville, NC where the National Gingerbread House Competition is held every year. There were some works of art built from cookie dough and decorated with all sorts of candies, crackers, pretzels, nuts and other assorted edible items. My two young kids were inspired. The minute we arrived home, they began begging to build gingerbread houses of their own.

Unfortunately for them, they have a mother who is not crafty. But, hey, they sell those kits at the craft stores, right? I could grab a couple of kits and make a party out of it with their friends. Just think of the photos I’d get for my scrapbook.

Oh, how blissfully ignorant I was.

Have you ever tried to get a couple of preschool girls and a trio of third grade boys to assemble sheets of stale gingerbread using only a tube of frosting? Roofs cracked, icing was used as a weapon and tears were shed before I realized that these kids weren’t going to master the art of constructing these houses on their own. Time to pivot. I sent them into the other room, put on a movie and handed out snacks to keep them quiet while I rolled up my sleeves and got to work.

I may not be crafty, but I can McGyver with the best of them. It was time for my trusty glue-gun to come to the rescue. I had those houses built and the seams filled with icing before the movie credits rolled. The rest of the afternoon was spent with the kids happily decorating with the assorted candy and other accoutrements. And I’ve got the sweet photos to prove it. The other moms were stunned by the talent of their little angels. They dubbed me a super mom. Little did they know. 😉

Of course there is a gingerbread house-making contest in my book Take Me Home for Christmas. And the scene wouldn’t be fun if things didn’t get out of hand. No spoilers here, except to say things get a little dogged.

As with my previous Christmas book set in Chances Inlet, there are lots of food references. I always try to mention specific foods that are special to my family at Christmastime. In the spirit of the holidays, I’m sharing one of those recipes with you today.

I’ve also got a signed copy of Take Me Home for Christmas for one of you. Comment below and tell me if you’ve ever attempted to build a gingerbread house. Or tell me a favorite food your family enjoys during Christmastime. (International winner will receive a digital copy.)

*Giveaway ends at 11:00 PM (Eastern), December 14.

(Note: Sadly, due to the devastation caused by Hurricane Helene, the National Gingerbread Contest has been cancelled this year. The Grove Park Inn plans to host it again in 2025.)

Coastal Magic Convention 2025 Author Spotlight & Giveaway - - Dakota Lacoy

Today's featured guest is new on the scene. Readers have described Dakota Lacoy’s work as “fresh, feisty, and flippin’ fun reads by a darling author [who’s] making a splash with her books—not to mention the audio—Hello, Jason Clarke. Yum!” (Goodreads) 

Set in Honky Tonk, Texas, her small-town series finds characters sipping coffee at Pump & Grind, buying flowers at I’m So Thorny, and grabbing fishing supplies at Master Bait & Tackle. 

Please give Dakota a warm Romance Dish welcome!

 

Welcome, Dakota!  It’s a pleasure to have you visit with us today.

Thank you! It is so wonderful to be here. I’d like to start by giving everyone the “Inside Scoop” about my avatar. Is it me? Or isn’t it? 

For those who have yet to discover you, please share what readers should expect when they pick up one of the books in your The Bradford Bros. of Honky Tonk, Texas series and in particular, book one, My Bold Texan.    

My first job as an author is to make sure the book is good, entertaining, and well-written. My second job it to make my readers laugh, tear up, and, ultimately, sigh. You know that sigh that comes when you turn the last page and bask in the aftermath of a story well-told? That’s what I aim to deliver that and that’s what they should expect.

Something to note is that my cowboys are non-ranching. Iow, they are southern and embrace the cowboy culture (hats, boots, buckles, drawl, etc), but they do not live or work on a ranch. They are small town fellas all the way.

With My Bold Texan, they should expect a fun, romantic, and a little bit naughty read. A yummy cowboy who checks on his best friend’s little sister—only to find she’s all grown up. A heroine who can give as good as she gets. And a hero who falls first.

 

I love the best-friend’s-sister/brother’s-best-friend romance trope which is so well depicted in My Bold Texan. What draws you to this trope and what makes it fun to write? Do you enjoy reading it as much as writing it?

One of my favorite quotes is: Some of the best moments in life are the ones you can’t tell anyone about. That’s the underlying impetus for the Best-Friend’s-Little-Sister trope and I enjoy delving into it. I also love pushing the boundaries of the bro-code between men. And there’s no greater bro-code than the unwritten rule that says little sisters are off limits. My personal eReader is full of books with that trope but My Bold Texan was the first time I’d ever written a book based on it. I had the best time ever. J

Paul and Demi Lee made me laugh out loud but also touched my heart. Did you find yourself laughing out loud while writing their story? Did they stick to your writing plan of where you wanted their journey to go or were there unexpected changes along the way?

Paul and Demi Lee were good to me and stuck to the writing journey I’d set out for them (thank goodness). I am a meticulous plotter and have the entire story mapped out, the hero and heroine’s backstories built, and I even know what their living spaces look like in advance. I do this before I ever write the first sentence of the book.

Doing these things fleshes out the characters for me. Makes them more three dimensional. Especially the developing of a backstory because everything that happened to them before Page One effects every action and reaction they have in the book.

I often sketch out a floorplan of their apartment(s) and work places on graph paper, then furnish them. Other times, I find renderings of living spaces that fit my character. I do this to make sure I remain consistent throughout the book. I’ve attached a floorplan I sketched for my hero’s cabin in My Daring Texan.

 

As for the other part of your question, smiling and—even better—laughing while writing is always a good sign. And there was a lot of smiling and giggling during the writing of My Bold Texan. Even some of the walk-on characters wormed their way into my heart, as well. (Think Miss Odette—the 80something bartender at Cowboys Bar & BBQ.) She ended up becoming a “regular” in subsequent books. Here’s the inspiration for her character:

 

Your website says, “When you pick up her books, your chores will be forgotten. Your dinner will be delayed. Your troubles will take a backseat.” I can personally attest that this is true. So, when you – the author – want to be taken away from all your daily trials, to whose (or what type of) books do your turn?

Thank you so, so much. [hearts-in-my-eyes emoji] As a reader, I don’t usually venture beyond the romance genre, but I enjoy exploring several of its subgenres. My favorites are historicals, romantic suspense, romcoms, and contemporaries.

My one-click author in romantic suspense is Sandra Brown. As for the other subgenres, I read all over the place. Because I am an avid audiobook listener, I often search for the narrators I love and find new authors and books that way. When it was time to have The Bradford Brothers put on audio, I managed to snag my all-time favorite narrator: Jason Clarke. (Fanning myself. His growly voice is sooooo yummy.) Here’s a sample of his voice for your listening pleasure. ;) o

Speaking of Jason Clarke, I saw that the audiobook version of My Forbidden Texan has been nominated for a SOVAS award. Congratulations and us about that.

Thank you! I am so crazy excited. Thousands and thousands of titles are submitted to the Voice Arts Awards. We (Jason, My Forbidden Texan, and the production company—One Night Stand Studios) were nominated in recognition of excellence in voice acting and artistry. This is an extremely prestigious award and I’m so thrilled for Jason. Winners will be announced in December at a big gala in Beverly Hills. He’s been nominated a couple of times before (he’s that good), but has never brought the statue home. I’m hoping this will be his year!

Any new books on the horizon? (Because I can already tell I’m going to plow through the remaining six Bradford Brothers lickety split!) 😊

I am working on a brand new Honky Tonk, Texas series but I don’t release any of the books until the entire series is written. So, it will be a while before it will be ready. But rest assured, it is in the works and you’re gonna love it. I can hardly wait to finish it up and make it available. Until I have a pre-order date, though, I’m going to keep those details close to my chest. ;) 

Let’s wrap things up with a few rapid-fire questions.

What are your passions (aside from writing, of course)?

I love to craft. Papercrafting is my jam with scrapbooking and card making being my favorites. But I also stitch, do puzzles, dabble in graphic design, and—of course, read! Here’s a pic of my craft room. (aka my Nirvana)

What would readers be surprised to learn about you?

I once threw a pie in someone’s face. I share behind-the-scenes stuff like this all the time with my subscribers and just happen to have a 2-minute video with the Inside Scoop.  (I usually preserve these for my subscribers, but because I love The Romance Dish, I’ll let this one slip out.)

What are you currently reading or looking forward to reading?

I am currently reading My Beautiful Enemy. A historical by Sherry Thomas (who is such an amazing writer. Love her stuff. Don’t know how this one slipped by me.)

Where can readers find you online?

I’ve lots of fun stuff for readers on my website: DakotaLacoy.com:

·      

   

      A FREE prequel to The Bradford Brothers of Honky Tonk, Texas.

 

·         How to hang out with me and my readers live and in person (details under the “Hangout” tab)

·         An interview with narrator Jason Clarke. This month he answers the question: “Who wakes you up in the morning?” (Under the “Audio” tab)

 I also just released some super-fun, bookish Christmas merch in my store. Simply go to my website and click on the STORE tab. Here’s a peek of one of the new items:

  

 If social media is your jam:

·         I spend a lot of time on Instagram: @dakotalacoyauthor

I have also a presence on:

·         Facebook: @dakotalacoyauthor

·         Goodreads: @dakotalacoyauthor

·         BookBub: @dakotalacoy

·         TikTok (@dakotalacoy (NOT: dakotalacoyauthor—that one is spam)

Thank you for visiting with us today, Dakota.  Would you like to add anything or ask a question of the Romance Dish readers?

I had so much fun! How about we do a giveaway? Who’d like a free eBook, audiobook, or print copy of My Bold Texan? I’ll giveaway one of each. 

Readers, have you discovered Dakota Lacoy yet?

That Nirvana room is a crafter's dream. What's your passion? If you had a special room like that, what would you be doing in it?

Dakota gave up her deeply-held secret, just for us. What would we be surprised to learn about you? 

Will any of you be joining Dakota at the Coastal Magic Convention or CMC Book Signing in Daytona Beach in February?

Three randomly chosen winners who post a comment before 11:00 PM, November 17 will each receive one copy of My Bold Texan (one eBook, one audiobook, one print book - author's choice). 

*If you post anonymously, you must include a screen name or email address in your comment to be included in the giveaway.

The giveaway of e-Book and audio are open internationally.

The print giveaway is U.S. only. 

*Must be 18

Coastal Magic Featured Author & Giveaway - - Kate McMurray

  

Our Coastal Magic Convention 2025 Featured Author this month is Kate McMurray. Kate writes romance novels. She likes creating stories that are brainy, funny, and of course sexy, with regular guy characters and urban sensibilities. She advocates for romance stories by and for everyone. When she’s not writing, she edits textbooks, watches baseball, plays violin, crafts things out of yarn, and wears a lot of cute dresses. She lives in Brooklyn, NY, with a bossy cat and too many books.
 

Welcome to The Romance Dish, Kate!  It’s a pleasure to have you visit with us today.

Thank you for having me.

For those who have yet to discover you, please share what readers should expect when they pick up one of the books in your Whitman Street Cat Café series and, in particular, book one, Like Cats and Dogs.    

The vibe I was going for was a small-town romance feel, just set in a big city. The center of the series is a cat café in Brooklyn. (Lauren, the heroine of Like Cats and Dogs is the manager. The café is adjacent to a veterinarian’s office, where Caleb, her love interest, works. Lauren’s friends are all regulars at the café—her friend Paige manages events—and they all play roles in each book.) In Like Cats and Dogs, Lauren and Caleb get off on the wrong foot and annoy each other at first, but in that enemies-to-lovers way in which they needle each other because they actually like each other. It was a pretty fun book to write.

A little trivia: Whitman Street is fictional—which gave me license to make up which businesses were on the street; I drew a map, even—but it’s loosely based on western part of Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn. I’ve lived in Brooklyn since 2006, so a lot of setting is drawn from my own experience. I’m a city girl, for sure, but even within cities, people build their own communities, and that’s one of the running themes in the book—it’s a found family, small community story, just set in the country’s most populous city.

I’m an animal lover so, of course, I enjoyed the cats and dogs that were featured in Like Cats and Dogs. Are you a cat person or a dog person? Or both? Do you have any pets? (If you do, please feel free to share a photo)

I like dogs, but I am ultimately a cat person. I put my cats in the series, actually. Lauren has a cat named Molly, who is named for my own late cat (who passed in 2020 from cancer). Then there’s the “office manager,” Sadie, the cat café’s one permanent resident. (The café otherwise doubles as a cat shelter, an idea I stole from the real-life Brooklyn Cat Café, which rescues and helps find forever homes for cats.) The shelter where the real-life Sadie was adopted referred to her as their office manager, probably because she can be pretty bossy. (She orders me around pretty regularly, although she’s also a big ball of sweetness. The guy who cat-sits for me when I go out of town calls her a lovebug. One of the friendliest cats I’ve ever known.)

Here's a recent photo of Sadie in her “draw me like one of your French girls” pose in her favorite spot on one of my couch cushions.

 

She's adorable! She also appears to be giving you that "why are you taking my picture" look I often receive from our family cat. 

Lauren’s and Caleb’s story is an enemies-to-lovers trope. What draws you to this trope and what makes it fun as an author to write? Do you enjoy reading it as much as writing it?

It’s a fun but difficult trope to write, because you have to get the balance right. The characters hate each other, except they actually don’t, and they fight and spar, but they enjoy the sparring, and ultimately they get invested in and care about each other. I think about love and loathing as being two sides of the same coin—they are both strong emotions. So it’s tricky, but I love that moment when the fighting flips over into kissing. The passion switches direction. It’s delicious. It’s a trope I really enjoy both reading and writing, but it’s hard to do well.

In addition to being a romance, Like Cats and Dogs also feels like a love letter to Brooklyn. By the end of the book, I was ready to book a flight. As a local, what is it about this area that makes it special?

I lived in Manhattan for a few years before I moved to Brooklyn, and one of the things I noticed when I moved here is that Brooklyn feels more, I guess, residential. There are definitely things for tourists to see—the Brooklyn Museum is wonderful, and the view from the Brooklyn Heights Promenade can’t be beat—but to me, Brooklyn is less touristy than Manhattan, and more just people living and going about their lives. It’s a little more raw, too; this is literally true in Prospect Park, which is similar to Central Park but less aggressively landscaped, but also true of the streets, where there isn’t really a grid the same way there is in Manhattan. It’s very walkable, which I like (as is true for many New Yorkers, I don’t own a car) and you can find all kinds of mom-and-pop shops and restaurants. I’d love it more if it were less expensive, but it’s a pretty great place to live.

What can readers expect from you next?  

I took a bit of a hiatus that I’m just now coming back from, so I don’t have anything specific coming out in the near future, but I’m currently working on a contemporary romance about two actors who fall in love while working on a movie together, and a couple of rom coms that are similar in tone to the Cat Café series (one is a childhood-friends-to-lovers, which is my absolute favorite trope, and the other is my attempt to write a love triangle). 

Let’s do a few rapid-fire questions.

What are your passions (aside from writing, of course)?

I have a lot of hobbies! I love crafts. I knit and crochet and recently started doing embroidery/cross stitch. I used to paint and draw, although haven’t done much of that recently. I love art; the Met is my favorite place in New York City and I go 2–3 times a year just to look at beautiful things.

I took violin lessons for many years but haven’t played in public in a while. (I think sometimes about finding an orchestra to play with again, but there are only so many hours in a day.)

(Basically, if it hadn’t been writing, I would have ended up in some other creative profession.)

The other thing I like about Brooklyn is that I have family nearby. My brother lives near me and has two boys, and I try to spend as much time with my nephews as I can. (They are 8 and 3, which are very funny ages.)

Also sports. I’m not athletic—I do cardio and yoga sometimes, but I’ve never really been a team sports type—but I love watching them. The Olympics just happened, and I watched as much of that as I could, but I also love baseball—don’t hate me, but I’m a Yankees fan—and I suspect this is not surprising if you look at my backlist.

What would readers be surprised to learn about you?

I have a degree in English lit and almost went to grad school for teaching; instead, I currently work in educational publishing and work on textbooks and educational materials for K-12 students. People seem surprised to learn that I frequently work on math books. I was always very good at math, but couldn’t figure out what to do with that, and it turns out that the group of people who can edit text and also understand math is pretty small, so it’s a good niche for my skillset.

What are you currently reading or looking forward to reading?

I just finished the new Casey McQuiston book The Pairing, which is about two exes that end up on a food and wine tour of Europe together. (After watching the Paris Olympics, I really want to go to Paris, so this hit the spot in that sense. The setting descriptions are delicious.) Next in the queue: Apprentice to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer, which is the sequel to Assistant to the Villain, which I loved. (This series is funny and imaginative and also emotional and romantic.) 

But the fiction TBR is giant right now because I’ve been buying books faster than I can read them. I’m looking forward to The Paris Affair by Maureen Marshall, The Lost Story by Meg Shaffer, The Rom-Commers by Katherine Center, You Should Be So Lucky by Cat Sebastian and many, many others.

I’m also a history buff and read a lot of heavy nonfiction. I’m currently working on The Demon of Unrest by Erik Larson, about Fort Sumter and the beginning of the American Civil War. (It’s very good, reads like a thriller.) I’ve also been reading The King’s Assassin, which is a book about George Villiers, a favorite of King James I of England (the recent series Mary & George with Julianne Moore and Nichols Galitzine is based on this book, which is quite dishy).

Where can readers find you online?

On social media, I’m most active on Threads and Instagram. You can find me in both places @katemcmurraygram. If you want a full list of my books, it’s on my website, www.katemcmurray.com. (Fair warning: the website is a bit anemic because I accidentally deleted it last year—long story—and have been slow to get it back up, but you can find a complete list of my books there.) I also just relaunched my newsletter, which you can sign up for here: https://eko-km-newsletter.beehiiv.com/subscribe

Thank you for visiting with us today, Kate. Before we wrap this up, would you like to add anything or ask a question of The Romance Dish readers?  

One of the best things about doing publicity for the Cat Café series was that readers showed me photos of their pets and I absolutely loved all the photos of cats and dogs (and sometimes hamsters and lizards and goldfish and things), so if you've got pets, tell me about them! Or, if you've got a book about animals that you love, tell me about that too! 

Okay, readers, now's the time to put your pets in the spotlight. Let's hear about them! Or give us your favorite book recs that feature animals. You know I'm always happy to add to my book buy list. And yours too!

One randomly chosen person who posts a comment before 11:00 PM, September 15 will receive their choice of one print book from Kate's Whitman Street Cat Café series. 

*U.S. only

*Must be 18