March Newsletter! 🍀
Can you hear me screaming from here?
Mostly kidding! Mostly feeling pretty chill about the fact that NOT HERE TO STAY FRIENDS officially hits shelves in less than a month!!! Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like bananas, as they say. I’m excited to fill you in on all the super fun things coming up around this book’s release!
First, let’s make sure you’ve got your copy!
I’m looking out for YOU here, okay? Don’t find yourself sad and adrift on release day, wondering, “where, oh where, can I find my own copy of YA rom-com Not Here to Stay Friends by Kaitlyn Hill?” There are so many ways to get this book in your hands ASAP!
First, my publisher’s site, which has all kinds of fancy drop-down menus to link you to the paperback, ebook, and audiobook editions at various online retailers:
Orrr you can order signed copies from my local independent bookseller, Joseph-Beth! Signed, personalized copy from this page can be shipped to you, or picked up (and signed) in person at my launch event April 8th at 2:00pm:
Pre-Order SIGNED NHTSF from Joseph-Beth!
& don't forget your stickers!
If you ordered your copy from anywhere other than Joseph-Beth, you can enter your info on my pre-order campaign form to get some fun stickers and a signed bookplate! This is open to US and international readers until release day, April 4th. Signed copies ordered from Joseph-Beth will automatically receive stickers with your purchase!
which do you love more - the preorder stickers or my fake roses?
trick question, it’s both!
Need more convincing?
Have another edition of Nice Things People Have Said About Not Here to Stay Friends…
Seventeen Magazine said it’s one of their Most Anticipated YA Books of 2023!
Jesse Q. Sutanto, amazingly funny and talented author of Dial A for Aunties and Well, That Was Unexpected, called it “a swoon-worthy story that reads like a warm hug!” She also said, “It reminded me of the breathless excitement that comes with being a teenager in love. Such a feel-good story!”
Girls’ Life Magazine included Not Here to Stay Friends on their list of 2023 rom-coms you need to add to your TBR!
Samantha Markum, author of This May End Badly and You Wouldn’t Dare, said, “Not Here To Stay Friends gives huge friends-to-lovers feels with a big dose of girl power, and the twists and turns feel as wild as a reality TV finale. Kaitlyn Hill has crafted a story about going after your dreams while staying true to yourself, with a swoony romance blossoming under a close cousin of forced proximity—forced distance, complete with note-passing, longing looks, secret meetings, and no shortage of pining. It gives all the good stuff. Aspen Woods might be AWFLL’s leading man, but Liam is the leading man of our hearts. You will root for him and Sloane from start to happily ever after.”
Publishers Weekly gave NHTSF a great review, saying, “With snappy dialogue, bouncy narrative beats, distinctly rendered alternating perspectives, and emotional turmoil in place of dramatic stakes, Hill delivers a zealous romance in this relaxed read.”
Kirkus Reviews called it “an absorbing, well-drawn read about a meaningful friendship and growing passion,” and other nice things in their full review here!
Not Here to Stay Friends Tour schedule!
Reminder that I have a few events this time around, and I hope to see you there!
Tuesday, April 4th, 6:00pm — Malaprop’s in Asheville, NC — dual book launch with Mazey Eddings, author of The Plus One! More info, including how to attend virtually, here.
Saturday, April 8th, 2:00pm — Joseph-Beth Booksellers in Lexington, KY — hometown book launch in conversation with Gwenda Bond! More info and signed copies here.
Thursday, April 13th, 6:30pm — Union Ave Books in Knoxville, TN — other hometown book launch in conversation with Lauren Morrill! More info here.
A sentimental interlude (sentimenterlude?)
Seeing this book begin to enter the world in actual book form has finally made it feel real to me (as much as anything ever feels real to me, which fluctuates based on my mental health and/or how recently I’ve thought about that unit on The Matrix (1999) from my one college philosophy class, but I digress). I really have a whole second book that’s going to be out in bookstores everywhere! There are thousands of people out there who I’ll never know who have read words that I wrote, have my name sitting on their bookshelf, might have even laughed at one of my jokes. I mean, if I want to go full nut bar, I could even look at the bad reviews of my books as cool, because wow, some stranger read my work and had strong enough feelings to write about it on the internet??? My middle school bullies are shaking in their boots!
I imagine at some point in this authoring career, if I’m lucky, a new book release may be just another day at the office, or at least it might not trigger as much of a “pensive reflection on life and love and all that’s led to this moment while staring out the window with ‘sunrise, sunset’ playing in the background” reaction every time. But we haven’t reached that point yet, lucky for you all! So here I am, reflecting again. It was really not that long ago that I had no idea how to find a career I could stick with and that wouldn’t make me miserable, and thought ever getting my work published was the longest of long shots. Honestly, I wasn’t so wrong about the latter! And still, I was pretty naive as to just how hard it can be to publish a book. I’m glad I didn’t know more, because I might not have gone for it. But I kept writing and chasing after wildly unattainable goals and somehow (aka through a combination of hard work, talent, endless support from my people, and healthy doses of blind optimism and sheer luck) got to this point, where my literal dreams have come true and I get to see two books I wrote on shelves, with two more to come in the next couple years.
Most days, I actually can’t wrap my head around it! And as I am probably annoyingly clear about, it’s not all sunshine and rainbows and joyous pensive reflection. Publishing is a really tough industry and churning out a book per year can be A Lot, all of which is extra true when you have anxiety/depression/ADHD (hi), and I’m really lucky to not have a day job or family to support on top of that. I feel at times painfully self-aware with regards to where I/my books stand in the greater book world landscape—still brand new at this, not a breakout success/insta-bestseller, not always measuring up to other books/authors in that neverending comparison game our minds play, etc. BUT! These moments—when I get my hands on a new book of mine in print, when I get to go celebrate at bookstore events with family and friends and strangers alike, when readers send the nicest messages about how much they loved this story I made up in my ridiculous brain—bring me back to how incredible it all is. They make me feel so grateful, fortunate, humbled, and excited to keep writing for as long as I’m able. They also continue to be made possible by wonderful people like all of you, who have supported me in getting this far and who I always hope to make proud. Thank you, thank you, thank you! 💜
Ok ok enough of that, have some book recs!
It feels like ages since I’ve bossily told you what books to read! Here are a few I’ve loved that are either out now or coming very very soon:
Something Wild & Wonderful by Anita Kelly - Anita and I continue to be on the same wavelength, as I’m working on my wilderness-adventure-on-the-AT romance as they’re releasing a wilderness-adventure-on-the-PCT romance! It’s super soft and sweet and also steamy, as is the Anita way, and you can get it now!
You Wouldn’t Dare by Samantha Markum - summer in a book!! This made me want to move to a tiny beach town and relive falling in love for the first time (neither of which always sound appealing, so this is a ringing endorsement). Sam’s writing is incredible, her book comes out March 28, and you can preorder a copy here!
Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute by Talia Hibbert - ok no romance reader in the world needs me to tell them to read Talia Hibbert, but I just finished her first YA romance and aaaahhh I am obsessed! So stinking funny and sweet, great mental illness rep, and Celine is my favorite YA heroine I’ve read in a long time. Check it out here!
Seven Percent of Ro Devereaux by Ellen O’Clover - this YA debut absolutely blew me awaaaay! A driven, techy girl invents an app for a school project that ends up actually taking off worldwide. It upends her life in really interesting ways AND happens to require her to fake-date her childhood best friend-turned-enemy. It’s as fun as it is emotional and thought-provoking, and you can grab a copy here!
Finally, some minor housekeeping
I am kinda sorta migrating to a new newsletter platform! I’ve made a substack, which I’m hoping to make the primary home of my newsletter after NHTSF is out (when I hopefully have more time to figure out a new platform lol). You don’t need to subscribe again, as I’m able to transfer subscriptions over from Mailchimp—just giving everyone a heads up that newsletters will start coming in from thekaitlynhill@substack.com next month or soon after! If you think you haven’t heard from me in a while, check your spam hehe thanks.
^ My personal updates from the past month are that I went on my first writing retreat in Miami, I love my writer friends dearly, and Magic Mike’s Last Dance, much like Magic Mike XXL, is a cinematic masterpiece that I genuinely want everyone I know to watch and enjoy. The first Magic Mike is fine…but 2 and 3 are truly near Mamma Mia tier goodness to me, and that is saying A LOT.
With that important PSA out there, that’s all I got for ya! If you’ve read til the end, you’re my hero. If you haven’t, I could say anything about you right now because you’ll never see it but I still like you so I’ll just say your hair looks great today. Think chill thoughts for my countdown-to-book-release brain! Love uuu!
xoxo,
Kaitlyn
I hope I can figure out how to put Kermit gifs on substack
Our mailing address is:
Kaitlyn Hill
c/o Triada US Literary
P.O. Box 561
Sewickley, PA 15143