After the Rain-Kitty Berry

April 4, 2026

1. For readers discovering you for the first time, can you introduce yourself and tell us about your journey into becoming a romance author?

I’m Kitty Berry and I currently write small-town rom-coms with a little sports romance mixed in. I grew up in a small town in Connecticut. I’ve worked in early childhood special education for thirty years! I have three grown sons, two with me and my middle in spirit after passing from a 22-year battle with brain cancer at 24 years old.

My writing developed over the years. When I first started, I wrote about billionaires and BDSM Doms. I moved on to doctors from there, but I feel like I’ve really found my home in small-town rom-coms.

I founded RomantiConn (a romance author signing event held annually in CT) in 2019.

2. You began publishing in 2013 and have been writing ever since. What first inspired you to start writing your own stories?

I used to watch a ton of TV, but all the shows I loved ended or got stupid. It was also when self-publishing was taking off, and a lot of what I was reading sucked, and it drove me crazy. A few people told me I should write a book, and I’d had an idea in my head for years so thought what the hell?!

3. You mentioned discovering contemporary romance later in life. What was it about the genre that captured your attention?

Not gonna lie—the sex, for sure. But I’m also a sucker for a good love story.

4. Your books often include a fictional NFL football team. What inspired you to incorporate sports elements into your romance stories?

My husband is a basketball coach and I’m a three-boy mom who spent many years watching them play basketball. Not sure why I went with football for my Maine Titans. LOL!

5. What can readers expect from the stories connected to your Lime Peak Collection and Romance Through the Year novellas?

I have a lawyer bundle: A Slice of Sunshine, Bing Bang Boom, Burden of Proof, and The Cream of the Pie. I also have a brother bundle: The Divorce Interlude, Mistaken Identity, and Shower me with Kisses (that last one has a tie-in with After the Rain). Then there’s the Maine Titans: Tricked by a Treat, Late Bloomer, Whoopsie!, Kissed for a Cause, Finding Nirvana Sky, Silver Gardens, Hug Me Tight, After the Rain, Delay Tactics, and Grand Façade is scheduled to release in late May/early June of this year.

They include a lot of good-natured male ribbing, powerful females in tight friend groups, banter between the couples, and some good laughs. Oh…and pets who do a few crazy things.

6. What do you enjoy most about writing sports romance?

I like the brotherhood between the players who I make into a found family. I like the idea of a rough and tough athlete who gets taken to his knees—but only by that one perfect girl.

7. Do you have a favorite character or couple from your books so far?

Are we supposed to have favorites? LOL! I think we’re supposed to love them all the same. That said, my first couple (Tate & Brook from Sliding) will always hold a special place in my heart.

8. What was the most fun scene or storyline you’ve written involving your fictional football team?

There’s a storyline about Gavin (he’s the stats nerd for the team who has two books-Late Bloomer and Delay Tactics) and his best friend (Killer whose book is Whoopsie!) that plays out across most of the Maine Titan books that’s pretty fun. In Hug Me Tight, I have a cat (Lenny) who is his own character. I love him.

9. How do you approach creating chemistry between your characters?

I’m not a super slow-burn fan. However, Grand Façade is turning out to kind of be one. We’ll see how that turns out in the end. I write explicit, steamy sex scenes, so the chemistry needs to be just right. If all you saw between the characters was sex, it wouldn’t hit the mark. There needs to be emotional vulnerability between them outside of the bedroom.

Friends to lovers or enemies to lovers is one of the easiest ways to accomplish that chemistry, and I have a few of them (The Cream of the Pie, Tricked by a Treat, Kissed for a Cause, and Finding Nirvana Sky).

I weave humor and funny (sometimes things that are a tad far-fetched or include their pets) scenes into their relationships so the reader sees all sides of their story, not just the sex or the serious emotions.

10. When starting a new romance story, do you begin with the characters, the trope, or the setting?

Surprisingly, with the way I write, I’m not much of a plotter. I am forcing myself to be one for a holiday book I desperately want to release in November 2026, but I’m not sure I can pull that off, so it may not be out until the following year. For that, I had no choice (you’ll see why when I release my teasers). I had to create a town map first, then plot the characters involved. From there, I worked a tad on the storylines, but it’s early days on this one. I’m currently working on Grand Façade, then I’ll be full steam ahead on the holiday book.

11. What does your typical writing routine look like?

I do my best in the morning when my house is quiet and I’m alone except for my business partner. Bruce is a three-year-old standard poodle named after Batman. He was my son’s dog, but I have always been his second favorite.

I drink my one mug of coffee while I write until I’m forced to leave for my job in education, which is flexible.

I used to write into the night, but I’m not so sharp during those late hours anymore.

12. What part of the writing process do you enjoy the most?

Creating the towns and the characters. Developing their storylines. I also enjoy writing sex scenes. Believe it or not, many romance authors do not love that part. I have to say, I honestly do.

13. What part of writing tends to challenge you the most?

The editing. UGH! Keeping timelines accurate is a nightmare with the way I write interconnected stories.

14. Balancing writing with family and career can be tough. How did you manage that while building your author career?

Your guess is as good as mine!

I had three boys in three and a half years and worked full-time in education. During basketball season (which is pretty much all year), my husband wasn’t around as much when they were young.

My family always comes first. I know it’s a downer topic, but my middle son needed a lot of my time from 2020 until last year when we lost him. He was diagnosed in 2023 with a malignant brain tumor. He had surgery, chemotherapy, and a stem cell transplant before he was three.

After that, he lived a typical childhood until he was nineteen, and it returned. For five years, we spent most of our time going back and forth from Connecticut to New York for surgeries and treatments.

During that time, and for a long time after he passed, writing rom-coms didn’t feel natural, but I also needed the escape, and writing anything heavy wasn’t possible for me, either.

15. You founded RomantiConn, a romance author signing event held annually in Connecticut. What inspired you to create that event?

The idea started in 2018 at TNT-NYC because JIB makes it look so easy. She’s acting! It is difficult! There were very few events, and none in Connecticut. I wanted another to attend, and getting into the few there were as a new indie was impossible. I wanted to give other authors in my shoes a chance to sign at an event. I never imagined it would grow into what it has today.

16. What has it been like watching RomantiConn grow since its launch in 2019?

There are no words! It is my biggest accomplishment in the book world.

The support from the community has been amazing.

17. What do you enjoy most about bringing authors and readers together at events like that?

I love that it brings new authors to readers, perhaps ones they would never find on their own. I do a special VIP experience with this very concept in mind. The authors have the option to apply to sponsor a meal table for that. At the event, they will have lunch on Friday or breakfast on Saturday with the readers. This is a casual experience to just hang out and get to know each other. I feel like, at signings, understandably, authors can get into the selling mindset. I want this to be the opposite of that. I want the readers and authors to make connections and just enjoy each other’s company during a meal.

18. What advice would you give to authors thinking about attending or hosting book signing events?

Well, first they should research the event and the host and make sure it is well-established and reputable. There are a lot of events popping up that turn out to be problematic and/or scams.

The selection process is long. I honestly hate that events (RomantiConn included) have to plan multiple years in advance at the same time. I know I’m going to need to replace some 2026 authors as things come up and they need to back out, but I’m also working on my list for 2027. Some events have their dates in 2030! I look at each author’s application and their social media presence. I consider whether they are someone the readers want to see or would be happy to find as a new to them author. I also give new authors a chance. Some with one book . Some with no social media following. Everyone (me included) has to start somewhere. Some of the current heavy hitters were at events back in 2014, 2015, and 2016 with no one at their tables, and look at them now! I am loyal to my authors, but I can’t have the same ones every year and give no one else a chance. It’s also not good for them. If you don’t have new content out, and they keep signing at the same place where they’ll probably see the same readers, they won’t sell well.

Authors should keep a file on their computer with every event they apply to and the date they did so. They should copy the interest form information, contract, and invoice and paste them into the document. They should keep track in each event’s document all of their payments and any additional information shared by the host. When they don’t know if they’ve filled out something we need or paid for something, we have to search for them. I have 160 authors in 2026. That’s a lot of searching I wouldn’t have to do had the authors kept track.

19. What has been the most rewarding moment of your writing journey so far?

LOL! I’m not sure I’ve found it yet. Not as an author, anyway. The success of RomantiConn is definitely super rewarding, but my writing hasn’t made it into the hands of as many readers as I would like just yet.

20. What authors or books have influenced your writing the most?

Anita Shreve, Shayla Black, and Meghan Quinn

21. What do you hope readers feel after finishing one of your books?

Happiness and a feeling of escapism.

22. Your next release is planned for June 2026—what can readers look forward to?

Grand Façade is the last book in my Lime Peak Collection and the last book for the Maine Titans. It is Sammy Vitale’s story, and the tropes are: blind date turns fake dating turns real, but no one believes you’re actually dating. It’s obviously a rom-com and has an age-gap.

23. What keeps you inspired to keep writing after more than a decade as an author?

I still have a lot of stories in my head that are screaming for me to tell.

24. What goals do you have for the future of your writing career?

Crazy goals first: I’d love the fictional small-town world I created to be a series on Netflix or HBO Max, and I’d love to add a second RomantiConn in New York City. Don’t hold your breath for either of those.

Realistically, I want to find a larger readership so that more people can enjoy my books. For RomantiConn, I strive to continue to offer more authors a chance to attend and readers a safe space for everyone to have a good time.

25. Where can readers connect with you and keep up with your books and events?

Website: http://www.kittyberryauthor.com

Shopify: https://kittyberrybooks.com

Facebook Profile Page: https://www.facebook.com/kitty.berry.334

Facebook Reader Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/197426327440415

Kitty Berry Books, LLC. Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/kittyberrybooks

X: https://x.com/KittyBerryBooks

Amazon Author Page: http://www.amazon.com/Kitty-Berry/e/B00DT2HUZ4

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7166372.Kitty_Berry

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kittyberryauthor

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@kittyberryauthor