Annie’s Book Stop of Worcester is happy to shine our Friday spotlight on romance author Katee Robert. I asked her to tell us briefly a little about herself and her writing, and this was her response:
I’m Katee Robert. I write a lot of really spicy romance that runs the range from dark romance with the mafia to fairy tale and Greek myth retellings. I really love complicated characters and mess. I’m a bit of an inside kid, and prefer to spend my time reading, playing video games, or knitting.
Katee, where can people find your work? (Besides Annie’s Book Stop of Worcester–though they should totally check here first!)
Most of my books are available on various online retailers, and I do have a Patreon that gets an exclusive short story each month that patrons get to nominate and vote for.
How can we follow your work and share your awesomeness?
I’m mostly on Twitter (@katee_robert) and TikTok (@authorkateerobert) at this point, and stop by Instagram (@katee_robert) semi-regularly. If you want to reach out directly, there’s a contact form on my website: http://www.kateerobert.com.
For readers unfamiliar with your work, how would you describe what you write? What can readers expect from Electric Idol?
Recently I’ve started describing my writing as the spicy romance version of the Fast and the Furious movie franchise. It’s going to be bonkers, and it’s best not to ask too many questions about the physics or reality, but you’re going to have one hell of a time while reading.
In my newest release, Electric Idol, that’s really ramped up. My heroine, Psyche, is a plus-sized influencer who’s nice to the hero, Eros, one time. So when his mom orders him to kill her (because of politics and REASONS), he marries her instead and they enter into a fake relationship to convince the entire city that they’re a love match.
What character did you love or hate the most while writing? And why?
My favorite character of the series is absolutely Hermes. She’s one of the most powerful people in the city, but she does this unassuming chaotic thing that makes people constantly underestimate her. Also breaking and entering is her love language, and it provides endless entertainment as a result.
What draws you to the particular genre or style that you write? What do you think draws readers to these kinds of books?
On Twitter awhile back, Carly Lane-Perry had this really good thread about dark romance being kind of the descendent of both romance and horror. While the Dark Olympus series isn’t quite dark romance, it does have some of that cathartic wildness you get in true dark romance—the same cathartic emotional roller coaster that horror brings. But with dark romance, you have the soft landing of an assured happily ever after. As an author, it’s really fun to explore things in an alt-world where bad people do bad things but often it’s for love. It’s pure escapism, and I think a lot of readers gravitate toward that because it’s so intentionally divorced from reality.
Writers very often have furry or feathered or otherwise non-human companions to “help” them through their work. Do you? What do you have? How do they “help” (or, “not-help”) with your writing?
I have two Great Danes and a cat. Now that I work mostly at my standing desk, it’s too high for the cat to bother to jump up onto, but my boy Great Dane (Duke) is just tall enough to stand at my side and bump my hand off my keyboard because obviously hands are meant for petting and not for writing. He’s also really great at napping and adding snoring to my writing soundtrack.
What is the greatest lesson you’ve learned, thus far, in your writing career?
I always feel so silly saying this because it feels so deceptively simple, but… you have to finish the book. All the promo and social media and whatever? All that can only come after you’ve finished the book. And then doing it all over again with the next one.
Thanks so much for taking the time out of your busy day to answer our questions, Katee.
Annie's Book Stop of Worcester 