Kathleen Brehony

Kathleen’s Bio:

Kathleen Brehony Ph.D. is a clinical psychologist whose passion for her work has led her to examine love and loss and the resounding power of friendships to support us even in life’s most difficult moments. She has published numerous nonfiction books. The Third Act is her debut novel.

Kathleen was Host and Associate Producer for a weekly television show All About Women (WDBJ Roanoke, VA) and produced and hosted a short-form radio program, Heartwaves, that ran throughout North America for years. She has been a guest on hundreds of radio and television shows including the Today Show, was the subject of an hour-long presentation on PBS (CPTV, Connecticut Public Television), and is an excellent public speaker and workshop facilitator.

Ordinary Grace (Riverhead)
Living a Connected Life (Holt)
After the Darkest Hour (Holt)
Awakening at Midlife (Riverhead)
Co-author of:
Up the Bestseller List (with Karen Jones)
Chanting: Discovering Spirit in Sound (with Robert Gass)
Boston Marriages: Romantic but Asexual Relationships Among Contemporary Lesbians (with Esther Rothblum)

Check out Kathleen’s Website

Follow her on: Instagram and Facebook

The Third Act Blurb:

Shannon O’Connell is broken. She is sixty-five years old and looks twenty years younger – there’s not much that makes her happy. Her partner of thirty years left her for a mutual friend offering only the cliché: “I love you, but I’m not in love with you.”

Her mother is disappearing before her eyes with dementia. And now, the death of her best friend – Linda – from metastatic breast cancer brings her to her knees. In this dark night of the soul – filled with endings — she could not have predicted that this moment could be a beginning.

The “Tribe,” Linda’s group of lifelong friends, gather at Shannon’s family’s beachside resort to celebrate her life as they have for countless celebrations over the years. And while Shannon finds comfort in their company, it is an old flame, the beautiful and sexy Elizabeth Matthews, who awakens something in her that was forgotten long ago. Can they overcome the emotional roadblocks they put in their own way? Will falling in love again make this Third Act the best one of all?

More about Kathleen

Q. What Genres do you write?

A. Romance

Q. What made you join the sapphic lit pop up bookstore?

A. There are so many interesting authors in this group. I have found it to be a welcoming and supportive collective with lots of creative ideas.

Q. What was your first pop-up event?

A. 2025 April I first met the group at Women’sFest in Rehoboth Beach Delaware.

Q. What made you start writing?

A. I have always been a writer throughout my career. First as an academic psychologist writing non-fiction, including books about lesbians, grief, midlife, and the importance of social support. These books were written for and aimed at the general public and I enjoyed writing them, but a lot of personal issues revolving around loss caused me to want to expand my scope and write something entirely different. No one told me that you should not wait until you’re in your 70s to write your first spicy lesbian romance, so I just went ahead and did it anyway.

Q. Do you use the same creative process for each book? If so, what is it? If not, how does it change?

A. I tend to write very quickly, but that is after a lot of thought about it. I found this to be true in my nonfiction books and it certainly was true in The Third Act.that exit.

Q. What is your latest book? How did you get the idea?

A. The Third Act. I wrote this book as an antidote to the nonstop loss that naturally happens as you age. In 2022 and on August 10 my friend Jakey died. She was the 14th friend that I had to say goodbye to since the beginning of the year. I am very blessed with lots of friends and a great family of origin and when you love a lot, there’s a lot to lose. I went into some kind of existential crisis and it occurred to me that perhaps writing would be a way to find my way through it. The Third Act is really about redemption. It’s about the power of love and it’s about the importance of created family because we’re all going to lose things in our life important things important people. The only antidote is to find the redeeming power of love itself.

Q. Describe the area where you do most of your writing.

A. I live on an island on the coast of North Carolina. The Outer Banks. We are across the street from the Sound and on Little lake. I have a very beautiful and private loft type office and if I’m not sitting on the deck, watching the birds and writing then I am in that office with my golden retriever Brigid hanging out with me.

Q. Who is your favorite sapphic icon (literary or not)?

A. Xena

Q. What do you wish more readers knew about the writing/publishing process?

A. There are a lot of scam artists out there in the Indy publishing world.

Q. You’re in charge of hosting brunch for a dozen people, what is on the menu? (Money is no object, so you can have it catered if you’d like)

A. It would probably include fresh seafood because we live here in one of the places where commercial fishing is a major way that people aren’t living. And it’s the best. But I’m always careful of friends with particular dietary needs or desires so there would be gluten-free there would be low-carb. There would be no dairy options and vegan alternatives.