A Little Ditty About Mad Love

“I didn’t mean to write a book about falling apart — but that’s how all the best love stories start.”

I didn’t set out to become this author. I’ve been writing since I was a kid—wild little worlds that didn’t make sense and somehow meant everything. In fourth grade, I entered a school contest with a book about deforestation (tiny me saving the rainforest with a stapled spine and big feelings). That’s where I fell in love with storytelling: asking “what if,” poking holes, and making something honest out of a mess.

Mad Love started with a different kind of mess. Real life. The breakup you don’t post about. I wrote because my heart was loud and I needed somewhere to put it. The characters showed up first—half-whispers at 2 a.m., full conversations by sunrise. The heroine had been orbiting me for years, a woman who takes on more than she should and still finds a way to glow. The hero? He changed under my hands. He evolved from a man I couldn’t quite trust into a hero even I didn’t expect—steady where it counts, flawed where it matters, and somehow exactly the friction Harlee needed.

The question that wouldn’t stop knocking was stubborn and straightforward: What if two people mirrored everything I was learning about love, boundaries, and vulnerability—and still chose each other? What if they didn’t tidy themselves up first? What if love wasn’t a reward for perfection, but the catalyst for truth?

If I’m honest, the scariest part wasn’t writing the complex scenes—it was believing anyone would care. Is it good enough? Am I good enough? Hitting “save” is safe. Hitting “share” is a dare.

And the complex scenes were… complex. The ones that require you to bleed on purpose. I remember staring at the cursor the day I wrote the antagonist. I didn’t want to be the “bitter, man-hating” trope. I wanted to tell the truth. To show the subtle ways harm hides in charm; to climb inside the logic of a cheater, an abuser, a liar—and make it unmistakable without preaching. Writing that was ugly-beautiful. It felt like closure for every woman I love, for every version of me that swallowed red flags and called it romance. On the page, I had to ask myself out loud:
Why do I accept love I don’t deserve? Why do I believe words over patterns? Why do I choose the storm and then call it fate?

People always ask for a line I almost cut. Here’s the truth: it was never just one line. I am a lover of details. I write from both the 3,000-foot view and the 3-inch view, because life exists in both. Mad Love once ballooned past 500k words (I know. You’re welcome). I trimmed whole scenes I adored, paragraphs I wrote at 3 a.m. with tear-salty tea and a playlist on loop. But the reason I fight for detail is simple: our love lives are the journey, not the destination. If we all ended up with our first crush, we’d have no story—just a prologue.

Somewhere in the drafting, my ideas about love shifted. Boundaries stopped feeling like walls and started reading like invitations. Vulnerability became less about confession and more about clarity. And the tropes? They shapeshifted. This story began as a poem in a college workshop, flirted with self-help, wandered into discovery, and then landed on the idea of “having it all.” Because why can’t we have both—desire and peace, accountability and softness, a partner and our whole self?

If Mad Love were a feeling, it would be yellow.
A color that hums.
A scent like fresh, clean air after weeks of rain.
A temperature like sunlight on your cheeks in July—warm enough to make you close your eyes and remember yourself.

Writing this book didn’t fix me. It changed me. It made me braver about telling the truth and kinder about how long it can take to reveal the truth. Harlee and August are my “what if”—two people who learn to want boldly and choose carefully. Two people who don’t perform love; they practice it.

If you want to feel what I felt writing it, start here: Mad Love: The Soundtrack.

From Karma, with love. 💛

Welcome To The Madhouse

Hey girl, hey —

If you’ve somehow stumbled into this little corner of the internet, hi. I’m Karma. Some of you might know me from my characters, some from BookTok, and some are probably just nosy (love that for you). Either way, welcome. You’re officially inside the world of Karma Monroe — where love is messy, women are magic, and happy endings come with a side of emotional damage and soft redemption.

I started writing because I couldn’t find enough stories that sounded like the women I knew, the ones who laugh too loud, love too hard, and still manage to hold it all together when the world tries to unravel them. I wanted stories where we get to be complicated and desirable at the same time. Where softness isn’t a weakness, and strength doesn’t mean suffering in silence.

So that’s what I write. Stories about women who save themselves, find their peace, and still get laid in the process.

The truth is, I didn’t always think I’d share my work. These stories started as therapy: quiet, stolen moments between raising a daughter, working, and trying to remember who I was outside of everyone else’s expectations. But then the words grew louder. The characters became real. And somewhere between heartbreak and healing, I realized that maybe somebody else needed these stories too.

So here we are.

My first story, Mad Love, was written for the women who keep loving even when it hurts, a tribute to desire, identity, and rebirth. Love Notes continues that journey, tracing what it means to find stillness after the storm. These aren’t fairy tales; they’re fragments of truth — messy, healing, and deeply human.

Here, on this blog, you’ll find a mix of everything that makes up the Karma Monroe universe:

✨ Writing updates and behind-the-scenes notes
☕ Thoughts on storytelling, love, and womanhood
🎧 Playlists, sneak peeks, and maybe a few unfiltered confessions

This space is for us: the readers, dreamers, lovers, and overthinkers who believe in the kind of love that’s worth the mess.

So, grab a cup of something warm (or a glass of something stronger), get comfortable, and stay awhile. I’m so glad you’re here.

From Karma, With Love 💕

Follow me on IG: @author.k.monroe
and TikTok for more behind-the-scenes chaos.