ENGINEERING A LOVE STORY
What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?
ENGINEERING A LOVE STORY is an upmarket romance about a divorcing software developer in the year 2000 whose hopes for a bigger life are tested by a workplace affair that threatens her career, her newfound independence, and her heart.
How did you decide where your book was going to take place?
I lived in Cambridge, Massachusetts in the late nineties and early 2000s, the setting for this novel. This was a transformative time for me personally, but also for Cambridge, which was in the midst of transitioning to the world-class tech/bio-tech/business center that it is today. The year 2000 in particular a fascinating, as there was all the dot-com enthusiasm and the optimism of a new millennium, but the stock market was also tanking, and we endured a tumultuous presidential election. I was excited to set my first novel in this turbulent place and time.
Would you hang out with your heroine in real life?
Totally. Chelsea Lefevre, my main character, is not me, though we share some personality traits and background details. Like me, Chelsea grew up in a beleaguered factory town in Western Massachusetts in the nineties, just as most factories were closing. This gives her a scrappy, no-nonsense attitude, even as she finds herself in the rah-rah world of high-tech in 2000. After a difficult break-up, she’s trying hard to believe in romance as a concept, and this makes her game to try new things. She’s also a huge baseball fan, and we’d have fun seeing a game at Fenway together!
What are three words that describe your hero?
Brilliant. Loyal. Romantic.
What’s something you learned while writing this book?
ENGINEERING A LOVE STORY is my debut, so it basically taught me how to write a novel. It took time to find the story I truly wanted to tell, which is about locating the courage to go for the life you want, even when that might be irrational or risky. I worked on hooking readers, developing characters, building tension, and creating stakes that matter. Researching the history of the dot-com boom and the 2000 presidential election was also informative. I lived through these events but didn’t necessarily remember all the details.
Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done?
I draft and then revise, revise, revise.
What’s your favorite foodie indulgence?
Oatmeal raisin cookies.
Describe your writing space/office!
I have two college-aged children who still come and go often, so space in my house is fluid. Sometimes I write at the dining room table. On lucky days, I find a whole empty bedroom with a desk. I’m a librarian, so I also write in the library (but not when I’m working!). I’ve learned to be flexible.
Who is an author you admire?
There are too many to name, but Lily King is a particular idol, especially for this novel. Like ENGINEERING A LOVE STORY, WRITERS & LOVERS is set in Cambridge near the turn of the millennium with a main character at loose ends and trying to figure out what romantic love will mean in her life.
Is there a book that changed your life?
I read the ANNE OF GREEN GABLES books obsessively and repeatedly growing up. They instilled in me a love for a strong main character who undergoes real challenges. And falls in love!
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 first call with the fabulous women at Sibylline Press was collaborative and enthusiastic. I knew immediately that I’d found the right home for my first book.
What’s your favorite genre to read?
I’m not sure if it’s exactly a “genre”, but my favorite books are those that sit on a line between literary and commercial fiction. I love a great plot—and a love story!!—but I also enjoy rich characters and beautiful language. I’m vibing right now with the idea of ‘upmarket romance’ as a favorite sub-genre.
What’s your favorite movie?
The English Patient. See above! Great plot, complex characters—and a passionate love story.
What is your favorite season?
Summer. I love the beach and backyard barbecues, the pool and vacations.
How do you like to celebrate your birthday?
My birthday is in June, the start of my favorite season. I like to celebrate with my family and friends, eating delicious food and drinking good wine on our patio, with a big vase of fresh-cut peonies. And the season’s strawberries!
What’s a recent tv show/movie/book/podcast you highly recommend?
BAD WORDS by Rioghnach Robinson is a fantastic new upmarket romance publishing the same day as ENGINEERING A LOVE STORY. I’ll recommend BAD WORDS to anyone who enjoys a literary slow-burn romance with characters you’ll love and laugh-out-loud banter.
What’s your favorite type of cuisine?
I’ll eat pizza any day of the week.
What do you do when you have free time?
Aside from writing, reading is my biggest hobby.
What can readers expect from you next?
My second novel will be published by Sibylline Press in the fall of 2028. This will be upmarket fiction about an empty-nester whose husband goes missing while on his annual “manventure” in Peru.
A Novel
It’s the year 2000—dot—coms, Bush v. Gore, and sky—high San Francisco rents. But while the country swoons with irrational exuberance, Chelsea Lefevre’s life is deflating faster than a tech bubble.
She’d had everything she thought she was supposed to want: a house on Boston’s North Shore, exquisite wedding china, a Waspy mother—in—law. A safe, steady marriage.
But after a mortifying slip—up, Chelsea finds herself heading into the 21st century alone. Her lifeboat? A new job advising tech execs, taken to escape the misogyny she endured as a software engineer—only to discover she has a surprising knack for spotting the next hot thing.
Determined just to stay afloat, Chelsea doesn’t have time to wonder if anything beyond safe and steady is possible.
Then, on a West Coast assignment, she meets Seth Murphy, a magnetic sales executive at one of the country’s hottest startups. Professional boundaries make him off—limits, but she can’t resist his pull. What begins as a secret, casual affair soon jeopardizes Chelsea’s career, her newfound independence—and her heart.
Witty and warm, Engineering a Love Story questions how much a smart woman can risk when she’s the only female in the room.
Women's Fiction [ Sibylline Press, On Sale: October 6, 2026, Trade Paperback / e-Book, ISBN: 9798897400300 / eISBN: 9798897400317 ]
Kathleen Reidy is a writer and public librarian based in the Boston area. She holds a master’s degree in library science and spent more than a decade in the tech industry. Her short fiction has been published by Puddingstone Press and WayWords. She lives with her husband, daughters, and fluffy best friend. Engineering a Love Story is her first novel.
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