What is the title of your latest release?
HOW TO KILL A GUY IN TEN DATES
What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?
A cinephile gets caught in the middle of a murder spree at a speed-dating event and must use her encyclopedic knowledge of the rom-com and horror genres to make it as a real-life Final Girl.
How did you decide where your book was going to take place?
The club - “Serendipity” - gave me the opportunity to keep the characters contained so the slasher elements could play out. Also, New York is such a classic rom-com setting. It feels like a character in those kinds of films, so it was a no-brainer!
Would you hang out with your heroine in real life?
Hell yeah.
What are three words that describe your hero?
Witty, Passionate, Determined
What’s something you learned while writing this book?
Draw the map BEFORE you write. It’s very hard to do the other way around.
Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done?
It’s VERY difficult, but I try to wait until I’m done unless there’s something really not working, and then I’ll take an “editing break” to fix what needs to be fixed. Then it’s straight back into writing again.
What’s your favorite foodie indulgence?
Baked cheesecake (none of that gelatin-based shit)
Describe your writing space/office!
I have a very sensible ergonomic chair and standing desk, but I’m a nomadic writer so I’ll move around and end up on my couch by the end of the day.
Who is an author you admire?
Ali Hazelwood. Auto-buy for me.
Is there a book that changed your life?
“Books” in general. I love reading. But Grady Hendrix’s THE FINAL GIRLS SUPPORT GROUP got me obsessed with the Final Girl trope, so let’s go with that one.
Tell us about when you got “the call.” (when you found out your book was going to be published). Or, for indie authors, when you decided to self-publish.
My agent is in Canada and I’m in Australia so because of the time difference, I woke up to an email at about 6am on a Saturday morning with the subject header: CALL ME WHEN YOU SEE THIS. We jumped on ‘the call’ and afterward I cried and then almost threw up. It was a good day for me.
What’s your favorite genre to read?
To no one’s surprise, it’s a rom com
What’s your favorite movie?
I have too many! I’ll give you three- While You Were Sleeping, Stranger than Fiction, Scott Pilgrim vs The World
What is your favorite season?
When winter is turning into spring
How do you like to celebrate your birthday?
A small gathering of friends with food and drink
What’s a recent tv show/movie/book/podcast you highly recommend?
SCREAM WITH ME by Eleanor Johnson! It analyses key horror films from the 60s and 70s through a feminist lens. I did a buddy read with my best friend and now we watch one of the films a month for a girl’s movie night.
What’s your favorite type of cuisine?
Don’t make me choose. I love so many, but I can’t get enough of Vietnamese food at the moment.
What do you do when you have free time?
Hanging out with friends and kidnapping their dogs.
What can readers expect from you next?
Another Horror Rom-Com in 2027
A humorous, swoony, and downright terrifying slasher rom-com in which a cinephile gets caught in the middle of a murder spree at a speed-dating event and must use her encyclopedic knowledge of the romance and horror genres to make it as a real-life Final Girl. When Jamie Prescott and her best friend Laurie attend a speed-dating event, Jamie expects to meet a roster of mediocre men and indulge in some street food afterwards. She doesn’t expect one of her dates to have his throat slit at their table during a blackout. After the lights come back on and there are more bodies on the floor, it becomes clear that dating can be a very dangerous pastime. Armed with makeshift weapons and Jamie’s extensive knowledge of what NOT to do in a slasher, the remaining speed daters try to find an exit while the killer adds to their body count. As the night progresses and Jamie comes face-to-mask with the murderer, she begins to suspect they are committing the slayings to woo one of the daters and turn them into a real-life Final Girl. But Jamie has other plans, and as she fights for her life, she can’t help but find herself ensconced in a love triangle with two of the other survivors. Will she make it through the bloodshed to find her Happily Ever After? Or does this machete-wielding psychopath have another ending in mind? For fans of Love in the Time of Serial Killers and Butcher & Blackbird, How to Kill a Guy in Ten Dates is one killer love story.
Thriller [ Gallery Books, On Sale: February 3, 2026, Trade Paperback / e-Book, ISBN: 9781668206713 / ]
Shailee Thompson is an author who writes women with smart mouths, soft hearts and strong wills... then she puts them in the deepest of sh-t. Her debut novel, How to Kill a Guy in Ten Dates (Out February 2026!), is a Slasher Rom-Com that proves all is fair in love and gore.
When not writing or talking about her characters like they’re real people, you can find her kidnapping her friends' dogs or competing with the person next to her at the gym (...yes, Pilates can be competitive).
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