Bio
Kalie Reid grew up just outside Portland, Oregon, a place best known for the rain and incredible coffee. She moved to Belfast, Northern Ireland, over a decade ago and has lived there ever since, enjoying the Guinness, her cat Dorothy, and even more rain. She is the author of angsty, character-driven romantic fantasies including The Sacred Space Between, which came out in 2025 and the forthcoming Copperstitched, out in early 2027, both with Harper Voyager in the UK and Little, Brown in the US.
Manuscript
Wishlist
(MSWL)
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I love romantasy/romantic fantasy that leans more on the literary end of the genre: think Allison Saft, Roshani Chokshi, Rebecca Ross or Rachel Gillig. I love a mix of prose, atmosphere, and slow-burn romance. If your book falls on the slow and unwinding side of pacing with a character-driven plot, it’s right up my alley! Largely, I prefer grounded/our-world-but-different settings over high fantasy, especially if it’s historical.
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On the horror end, as with fantasy, I love anything historical or grounded. I love a sense of creeping dread and horror elements as metaphors for real-world issues. I’m not the best fit for gratuitous violence, although I am a fan of body horror, especially if it’s plant-based.
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Beautiful, lyrical prose is forever the number one way to snag me! Give me atmosphere so thick you can swim in it, indulgent descriptions, and richly imagined worlds. I lean more towards character-driven narratives and really like to sink into your main character(s) heads.
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On the romance side of things, the slower burn the better. Spice is welcome but not a necessity! Basically, if your book can be described in any way as “painful”, “will make you cry”, or “heartbreakingly angsty”, I want to see it. I love a good rivals-to-lovers (especially in an academic setting) or a particularly angsty friends-to-lovers, and queer stories are MORE than welcome!
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I love historical fantasy, or historically influenced worlds. Anything with non-Western folklore or historical influences in particular draws my attention, and I love retellings.
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I adore an inventive magic system, especially if it leans on the “quieter” side. Magic with consequences to its user, magic that corrupts, and magic with hard-to-define borders are my favourite. Anything involving books, libraries, art, academia, or anything creative will immediately have my attention.
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I’m not the best fit for urban fantasy, dystopian, stabby MCs, trials, or anything too violent, especially if there are torture scenes. I’m also not a massive fan of vampires or Greek myth retellings. That being said, I love being surprised, and some of my favourite books are ones I didn’t originally think I’d like
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Assorted things I love: sentient forests, forgotten gods, bargains gone wrong, codependent relationships, super strong/ funny voices, under-explored areas of history, epistolary elements, gothic settings, and the weather as a character.
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Here are a few of my favourite authors to give you an idea of what I tend to gravitate towards: Rebecca Ross, Allison Saft, Rachel Gillig, Roseanne A Brown, Tasha Suri, Laura Steven, Roshani Chokshi, VE Schwab, Esmie Jikiemi-Pearson, Isabel Cañas, Ava Reid, Alexandra Rowland, and Alix E Harrow. Some books I loved recently include The Everlasting, The Second Death of Locke, The Fox Wife, Swordheart, and A Forbidden Alchemy.
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I’m not the best fit for urban fantasy, dystopian, stabby MCs, trials, or anything too violent, especially if there are torture scenes. I’m also not a massive fan of vampires or Greek myth retellings. That being said, I love being surprised, and some of my favourite books are ones I didn’t originally think I’d like
Mentoring Style
Very open and collaborative! I love helping wherever I can and making sure my mentee is comfortable asking any and all questions. I love digging in deep into a manuscript and helping my mentee learn editing skills that they can take onto any manuscript they may work on.
Applications
from Connections
Please do not apply to me if we've ever beta read for each other or have had extensive conversations online. If we're in the same discord(s) or mutuals on social media but haven't talked more than a comment on a post here or there, feel free to apply!