Guest Author: Kathryn Shay

I (Helen here) met Kathryn at a Superromance author party at conference a couple years ago. It was right after I'd sold and I felt as if I was crashing the party. "Who are you? And what are you doing here?" is what I expected to hear. Instead, I was welcomed with open arms by authors like Kathryn. She's been so helpful for this newbie and it's my pleasure to have her visiting today. Please welcome Kathryn Shay ...

Dear Riding With the Top Down Readers,

Thanks so much for having me blog with you today. I appreciate the opportunity to get to know you.

Let me first introduce myself. I’m Kathryn Shay and I write for Harlequin Superromance and The Berkley Publishing Group. I have 23 Supers and ten Berkley Sensations published; there are over four million copies of my books in print. I write contemporary romance, sometimes with a bit of suspense thrown in. I deal mostly with everyday characters like firefighters, cops, teachers and construction workers, but occasionally I have a TV chef, a senator or a secret service agent as the hero or heroine. I like to explore social issues and I’m told my books are highly emotional, often tearjerkers, and have hints of humor.

My current release from Harlequin Superromance, A MAN SHE COULDN’T FORGET focuses on your not-so-average heroine, Clare Boneli. After a bad accident, she wakes up in the hospital with amnesia, and there seem to be two men in her life, vying for her attention and her love.One is the owner of the TV station where she has a local cooking show, and one is her best friend and illustrator of her popular cookbooks. Torn between them, it doesn’t take Clare long to figure out something’s wrong. What the reader knows, and Clare doesn’t, is that neither man wants her to remember everything that happened the night she skidded off the road. The book addresses three main themes: amnesia, friends-turned-lovers and a love triangle.

I don’t know about you but I like amnesia stories because it’s so interesting to think about not remembering anything in your past. How frightening that must be and how disconcerting when memories come back in little bits and you try to piece things together. I also liked writing about friends-turned-lovers because it’s always fun to watch characters who know each other so well discover that they’re in love too! And finally, the love triangle subplot was challenging to write. I hadn’t realized what a delicate balance this needed and how hard it would be to pull off.

A few fun facts about me as a person, in case you’re interested:
***In my life outside of writing, I was a high school teacher for three decades, teaching courses like Humanities, Science Fiction, Women in Society, as well as advanced English and working with reluctant learners. After I got published, I used to get up at four a.m. and write for a couple of hours before I went to work. (P.S. I don’t recommend that.) Thankfully, I have only one full time job now.

***I married my college sweetheart and have two grown children, 24 and 27 who I still spend a lot of time with.

***I take yoga classes, watch TV, which I was unable to do when I was teaching, I love Barak Obama (me and millions of others!), I love to read within my genre and belong to a book club to tackle works outside of romance and women’s fiction.

***I volunteer at a soup kitchen serving hungry and homeless people, and I answer the phones at a battered women’s shelter. After teaching all that time, I can’t stay home and write every day, all day.

So, that’s me and work. I’d love to chat with you anything I’ve written, or anything else.

Oh, another tidbit. Many of the recipes in A MAN SHE COULDN’T FORGET are from my Italian family. They are published on my website at http://www.kathrynshay.com/current.couldntforgetrecipes.html.

Go ahead and take a look. And if you try one, Mange!

Kathy's going to give away a copy of A MAN SHE COULDN'T FORGET or another from her backlist for one of today's commentors! And check out the trailer for her new book on her website.