Reading · Hopeful + Horny

Happy Friday and HAPPY BIRTHDAY EVE + HARPER!! 🏳️‍🌈✨☀️

Wednesday marked one year of THRILL OF THE CHASE and I simply can’t believe it. I’m still so in love with this spunky, swashbuckl-y story and I wish I could tell my younger self that one day I’d get to publish a bi4bi sapphic romance with two hot babes hunting for buried treasure together. 🥹 What a dream come true!!

To celebrate, I thought I’d fill this newsletter with some fun (spoiler-free) behind-the-scenes stuff. Like the original title of the book in 2022 and what sex scenes I had to cut. 😉 Let’s get into it!

What the story was in 2020-2021: The original idea that came to me was a magical realism-esque romance about a witchy coffee shop owner (Harper) and a woman with a failing wildflower farm (Eve). Small funky town with a hint of magic, some potions and spells. I can’t remember all of it, but the key plot point was that as Harper and Eve’s romance intensified, the coffee drinks took on magical medicinal properties and Eve’s farm began to blossom again. Cute! But not the story for me at the time.

What the story was in late 2022: At some point I got the very inklings of what TOTC would become and wrote the first 60,000 words of a book called WILD RIDE. Harper and Eve were both journalists (rivals of course). Monty Montana was the goal of their investigative searching but she was only a tertiary side character. Fortunately for all of you, I fell head-over-heels for her and revamped her role majorly. Also in the opening scene of that draft Harper and Eve get stuck in an elevator together (commence sexy flirty-bickering). 😛

What sparked the treasure hunt idea: listening to a podcast about a man named Forrest Fenn who hid actual treasure somewhere in the southwest and wrote a poem (called The Thrill of the Chase!) with clues buried within it. The podcast is truly wild (as was Forrest himself and the people who went looking for the treasure. At least three of them legit died! And one tried to hold Forrest up at gunpoint in his home to find it. It was eventually uncovered a few years ago but the person who found it must have signed an ironclad NDA because no details have been shared.)

Number of query letters I sent out seeking literary agent representation with Thrill of the Chase: about 40

Number of rejections I got before I signed with Flavia Viotti: 39 😛

A picture I took on February 27, 2024. It was the day that I met with Lydia, my editor at Entangled, and knew that she was the perfect fit for the story — aka the day it was confirmed that TOTC was officially going to be published:

Number of total drafts that I wrote: 5 (followed by at least four rounds of line edits and final tweaks)

Scenes I had to cut: the painful one was a hot sex scene between Harper and Eve at the historical society while they were doing research (in the end, it ruined the flow of the story too much so we struck it). I was also asked to cut their final sex scene but luckily I turned that into a bonus epilogue you can all read here!

Part of the Pinterest mood board I sent to the Entangled team when they asked me about the story’s vibes and aesthetic:

My Pinterest board character inspiration for Harper Hendrix (aka Hotter Lois Lane):

My Pinterest board inspiration for Eve Bardot (aka hot lady lumberjack):

TOTAL DREAMBOATS, AMIRITE?? 🤩

This story wouldn’t exist without all the readers, the indie bookstores, the libraries, all taking a chance on this book. THANK YOU. You are the backbone of this industry and I truly mean that!!

I’ll see you all in the desert later. Don’t forget your trusty treasure map.

xoxo

Kathryn

“A trove of adventure, romance, and queer joy that’s not to be missed.”—Kirkus ReviewsAccolades:
Kirkus Reviews Best Indie Books of 2025

When rivals Harper and Eve are forced to team up on a high-stakes treasure hunt, sparks fly, secrets unravel, and the biggest prize might just be their hearts.

Reporter Harper Hendrix is chasing a career-making story—and the legendary Blackburn Diamonds are her ticket to the top. She’s smart, ambitious, and definitely

not distracted by the infuriatingly hot antiques salvager standing in her way.

Eve Bardot has spent years searching for the diamonds, and she’s not about to let a pesky, too-charming reporter ruin her shot. But when rival treasure hunters close in, Eve and Harper strike an uneasy truce to track down the prize together.

Their partnership? Purely strategic. The bickering? Nonstop. The chemistry? A complete disaster.

As clues pile up and tension turns explosive, Harper and Eve must decide what’s more dangerous: the hunt…or falling for each other.

Thanks for reading Hopeful + Horny! This post is public so feel free to share it.

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