Kathryn Shay

Blogging at Fresh Fiction

Kathryn Shay | Be My Babies
February 29, 2008
I’m delighted to be part of the Fresh Fiction family and appreciate the opportunity to blog today. I write for Harlequin Superromance and The  Read More...

Dear Reader

Welcome to my new May release, TAKING THE HEAT, from The Berkley Publishing Group. This book was a real joy to write, as I got to investigate one of my favorite themes—how opposites attract. I was fascinated by the relationship between Liam O’Neil, the solid, safe widower, and Sophie Tyler, a risk-taker by the very nature of her job as a New York City firefighter. From the moment they met, chemistry filled the air. Yet, there was a sweetness about their interaction, too. And a sense of inevitability—that they would get together, of course, but that her job would tear them apart.

One other aspect of this book that I enjoyed was the creation of Mikey, Liam’s son. The poor boy lost his mother three years ago and is still taking her picture out at night, with flashlight under the covers, to talk to her. But sometimes Mikey has more sense than his father and sees the possibilities of a match-up between his dad and Sophie sooner than Liam does, and then later in the book, he roots for a reconciliation. Also, meeting up with the O’Neil brothers—Patrick, Dylan and Aidan—and their sister Bailey, was a joy. I love that whole family, as well as their spouses, and revisiting them was fun. I hope readers think so, too.

Finally, I got to write about firefighters again—my favorite heroes and heroines. I had to do more research on the difference between NYC smoke eaters and those in my own home town, and that information was helpful in creating the world of the FDNY. It also did my feminist heart good to see Sophie hold her own on the line, as well as in the sometimes macho, sometimes teasing world of male firefighters. I’ve got some pretty good action scenes, I think, and some wonderfully tender moments, too, among these heroes.

What do people think? Early reviews characterize the book as: “an emotion packed story …with angst and some hot sex…and a nice touch of humor,” (Romantic Times) “exciting and emotional,” (Fresh Fiction) and “a heartfelt romantic tale… a hot romance with two strong characters and a warm family that everyone would love to have.” (Romance Reviews Today).

I hope this story gives the fans who read it as much pleasure as it gave me to write it.

Kathy Shay

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Kathryn Shay has been a lifelong writer. Though she spent much of her adult life as a teacher of high school English, she published her first book in 1995 for Harlequin Superromance. Since then, she’s published 22 Superromances (with 2 more on the way), ten mainstream romances for the Berkley Publishing Group, two novellas and three online reads. One of these novellas was excerpted in COSMOPOLITAN magazine in 2003. She considers one of her great successes her firefighter books: five for Harlequin, and four for Berkley. She lives in upstate New York with her husband and two children.

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