Feeding the Muse One Show at a Time

One of the things about being a writer is I’m constantly trying to fill my well with new experiences. Not saying I don’t love the familiar because you’ve never met a girl who hates change more than this one! But I like to dip my toe into the new as well.

Recently I’ve been binge-watching television…I was between books. My muse needed to be fed and there was a lot on offer. In no particular order, here are some shows and movies I’ve watched and loved. Maybe something will trickle into my characters and writing or maybe not. Sometimes feeding the muse is just about keeping her on my side!

The Madison on Paramount+

I LOVED this show so much. I have to admit I’m not a fan of Yellowstone so it wasn’t Taylor Sheridan who drew me to it. It was the premise. A woman deeply in love with her husband loses him unexpectedly—not at the end of a long life together, but while he’s away in Montana on his annual remote fishing trip with his brother. The one trip she always refused to go on with him. When he dies and she has to go out there to identify him, she finds a closeness to him that she clings to in her grief.

What I loved about it: It’s really about the complex relationships women have. It’s not just the marriage, which was a loving one, but also her relationships with her two grown daughters, a son-in-law, two granddaughters and an ex-son-in-law. Those relationships are complicated and felt very real to me. I just consumed this show, watching all the episodes in two nights.

I also realized while watching all of this that I’m apparently a huge Bill Lawrence fan.

He has this way of creating characters and situations that speak to me. Inevitably I’m going to cry, laugh harder than I expect to, and leave his shows feeling better about myself and about humanity.

Shrinking on Apple

This is the third season of the show and it ends an arc beautifully. The main character recently lost his wife in a drunk driving accident (another driver hit her) and spiraled out of control despite having a teenager to raise. He’s doing drugs, sleeping with sex workers, and generally falling apart. Their neighbor and his wife’s best friend have picked up the slack with his daughter. The show opens when he’s getting a wake-up call. He’s a therapist and I think the show is a bit of a riff on “doctor, heal thyself.”

If you haven’t checked the series out…it’s so good. I highly recommend it. It has a lot of complex relationships that mirror real life. Also lots of laughs, some tears and feel-good energy.

Scrubs on Disney+

How excited was I to see JD, Eliot and Turk back on TV??? Last year I watched the reboot of Frasier and truly loved it. So I went into this cautiously optimistic that Scrubs could still capture the magic of the original. And it did. It’s nice to see JD, Eliot and Turk grown up and dealing with problems as experienced doctors at the hospital, but still quintessentially themselves. If you loved Scrubs before, don’t miss this new series.

Rooster on HBO/SkyMax

My daughter swears I am Steve Carell’s character Greg, the author of the Rooster series. Honestly, I can kind of see it. He’s a bit awkward, a loving parent who just wants to fix his adult kid’s problems and, of course, writes genre fiction.

The show is set on a university campus, which really fed my light academia vibes. Greg’s daughter is a professor at her mom’s alma mater and her husband is as well, but he’s had an affair with a graduate student. It’s the talk of the campus and Greg arrives to do a guest lecture and ends up staying as an adjunct professor for the semester.

One thing I loved about this particular show was the complex way it deals with love. The marriage that is breaking down is messy and felt real. They still love each other but love sometimes isn’t enough. Then there’s Greg, who’s divorced, but his feelings for his ex are still there like a bruise he can’t help pressing once in a while.

The show doesn’t focus on this directly, but it’s there in the subtext and I ate it up.

I also watched a show on Disney+ that fed my inner geek: Maul: Shadow Lord, which was so good. Honestly, Lucasfilm animated shows are almost always excellent so I wasn’t surprised. Maul is one of my favorite characters in the Star Wars universe—ill-used by Darth Sidious and always looking for revenge, but it’s more than that. He’s looking for someone—an apprentice. I think he’s lonely.

That being said, he’s still a gray character. He has no problem killing or manipulating people to get what he wants. But still…I love him!

So that’s what I’ve been watching lately while refilling the creative well. Some of it made me laugh, some of it made me cry, and all of it reminded me why I love storytelling so much.

If you’ve watched any of these, let me know what you thought—or tell me what I should binge-watch next!

Why I Had to Write This Forbidden Romance

There’s something uniquely thrilling about a story built on secrets—the kind that simmer beneath the surface, waiting for the exact wrong (or right) moment to erupt. That’s exactly why I’m so excited to share a glimpse of the next One Night Scandals novel with you.

This upcoming release leans all the way into the tension I love most: loyalty versus desire, past versus present, and the dangerous pull between what we should do and what we can’t help but want.

At the heart of this story is Inigo Velasquez—a Formula One champion who is utterly in control of his world. On the track, precision and discipline define him. He knows how to win, how to calculate risk, how to push limits without losing 

grip. But off the track, his life is governed by something far less predictable: family.

And family, as we all know, complicates everything.

When Inigo comes face-to-face with Marielle Bisset, the past doesn’t just resurface—it collides head-on with the present. She isn’t just a stranger. She’s a reminder of a betrayal that cut deep, one that left lasting scars on someone he loves. By all logic, this should be simple. Clear lines. Clear sides. Clear consequences.

Except nothing about Marielle is what he expects.

What begins as something charged and impulsive—a single night—quickly becomes something far more dangerous. Because the woman behind the scandal isn’t cold or calculating. She’s layered. Fierce. Thoughtful. Carrying her own quiet wounds. And the more Inigo sees her for who she really is, the harder it becomes to hold onto the version of her he’s supposed to hate.

This is where the story really takes hold for me.

I’ve always been drawn to characters who exist in that gray space—where right and wrong blur, where loyalty demands one thing but the heart demands another. Inigo is fearless at 200 miles per hour, but emotional vulnerability? 

That’s the risk he’s never trained for. And Marielle, despite everything said about her, refuses to fit neatly into anyone else’s narrative.  Their connection is intense, complicated, and undeniably magnetic. But it comes at a cost.

Because this isn’t just about two people falling for each other. It’s about the ripple effects—on family, on identity, on the stories we tell ourselves about forgiveness and justice. Old wounds don’t stay buried forever, and as they resurface, the stakes climb higher and higher.

What I hope readers will feel most is that push and pull—the ache of wanting something you might not be allowed to have, and the courage it takes to reach for it anyway.

Of course, it wouldn’t be a One Night Scandals story without a healthy dose of heat, tension, and emotional payoff. Expect explosive chemistry, high-stakes conflict, and a romance that doesn’t come easily—but feels all the more satisfying because of it.

And then there’s the setting.

The world of Formula One brings its own kind of glamour and intensity—fast-paced, high-pressure, and constantly under the spotlight. It’s the perfect backdrop for a story about control, risk, and what happens when both start to slip.

If you love forbidden romance, complicated family dynamics, and characters who have to fight hard for their happily-ever-after, this one is very much for you.

The new One Night Scandals novel is available for preorder now and officially releases on May 21, 2026.

I truly can’t wait for you to meet Inigo and Marielle—and to see which wins in the end: loyalty, or love.

Behind the Story: Her Deepest Secret

There’s something about a new release that always makes me a little reflective.

Even after writing so many books, it never really becomes routine—each story carries its own set of characters, questions, and moments that stay with me long after I’ve finished writing.

Her Deepest Secret is one of those stories.

At its heart, it begins with a decision that can’t be undone. The kind that seems simple in the moment, and then quietly changes everything that comes after. Scarlet is someone who has built her life very intentionally—independent, self-contained, and not looking for anything to disrupt that. Alec, on the other hand, is driven by loyalty, even when it leads him into choices he might not otherwise make.

They don’t start in the right place. They don’t make it easy on each other. And from there, the story becomes about what happens next—how you face the consequences of a moment, how you decide what matters, and whether you’re willing to risk something real when it would be easier not to.

Those are the kinds of stories I always find myself drawn back to. Not perfect beginnings, but relationships that are tested and, ultimately, earned.

Some of you may remember this book from when it was originally published with Harlequin Desire, and bringing it back has felt a bit like revisiting old friends. It’s given me the chance to spend time with Scarlet and Alec again—and to share their story with readers who might be meeting them for the first time.

If you do pick it up, I hope you enjoy the journey with them as much as I did.

Her Deepest Secret is available now in Kindle Unlimited and in print.

And as always, thank you for being here, for reading, and for letting these stories be part of your life.

Warmly,

Katherine