It’s a pleasure to share RULES IN DECEIT by Nichole Severn, an amazing new novel from Harlequin Intrigue. This is the third book in her wonderful Blackhawk Security series.
“With action from page one, ‘Rules in Deceit’ is a breathtaking, non-stop ride full of suspense and romance!”
– Rachel Grant, USA Today bestselling author
A misunderstanding tore them apart.
Now he’s her only chance…
Blackhawk Security’s Elizabeth Dawson believes ex-government programmer Braxton Levitt betrayed her, but now he’s the only one who can keep her safe. A killer steps ahead of them is methodically hunting the pregnant analyst to access her top-level software program. But as Braxton and Liz race to stop him, their broken trust—and most intimate secrets—could end more than their lives…
Read an excerpt at Harlequin or grab your copy of Rules in Deceit at Amazon | Harlequin | BN | Apple Books | Kobo | Google Play | or your favorite retailer.
I asked Nichole what she enjoyed most about writing this book and she offered up this delightful glimpse behind the scenes of Rules in Deceit!
“To my Bat Signal group. This book never would’ve gotten finished—twice—without you.”
Those words are forever immortalized as the dedication on the inside of Rules in Deceit. The Bat Signal is my writing group comprised of 9 other romantic suspense authors who have become some of my closest friends and greatest cheerleaders over the last two years. And, yeah, I never would’ve finished this book without them.
Here’s the long version. (I give you permission to scroll down to the short version):
I first drafted this book in 2013 (soooo long ago) right after I gave birth to my first demon spawn. He slept a lot, so I took advantage and wrote my very first full-length romantic suspense. Over the years I submitted that book to a lot of agents and publishers, but it just didn’t grab any offers. It even won the 2014 Heart of the West contest through the Utah chapter of Romance Writers of America.
Anyway, all along the way, I’d get revision notes and good feedback. I rewrote the book from beginning to end over six times until I finally decided to submit it to Harlequin.
They rejected it! Yup, the book hitting shelves this month from Harlequin Intrigue was actually rejected the first time around. And then a few months later, and another few revisions, another publisher rejected it, too!
After deciding it’d be better for my own mental health to take a break from this book, I started writing Rules in Blackmail and building the Blackhawk Security team, but I still couldn’t let go of the hero and heroine from that original book I’d set aside. So I made them part of the team! Yup Elizabeth Dawson and Braxton Levitt were the hero and heroine of an entirely different book before they became part of my Blackhawk world.
Fast forward to the part where I contracted Rules in Deceit and decided to give that original book another chance. I thought I could somehow take that current story and make it fit within the Blackhawk world. I was wrong. Instead, I hated everything about it, couldn’t read another word, and started writing the whole thing from scratch…again. And the story that came out of it was even better than before.
And here’s the short version:
So why dedicate this book to my Bat Signal group? Because after drafting about 70% of the new version of the book, I lost over a third of what I’d written due to file corruption. The backups, too. Yup, the first five chapters went *poof* (about 15,000 words) and I went into panic mode. I’d already rewritten this book so. many. times. I wasn’t sure I could do it again, but my Bat Signal group cheered me on and calmed me down until the very end.
And that, fellow romantics, is a long-winded behind the scenes at this book. If I had to pinpoint a point in which I actually enjoyed writing the book, it would have to be when I started over from scratch…the first time. Lol.
Be sure to check out Nichole’s website for new book news and keep up with her at Instagram or on Facebook
Live the adventure!
5Nov2019
