Guest Post: HelenKay Dimon + giveaway

Today we have HelenKay Dimon on talking about writing a HQN Intrigue book.

Thanks for having me here today and letting me talk a little about my newest release, WHEN SHE WASN’T LOOKING.

The book is a Harlequin Intrigue. Intrigues are different from the other books I write because the suspense element is so integral to the storyline that you can’t really separate it from the romance. People talk a lot about Intrigues being 50 percent suspense and 50 percent romance. I have to be honest and say I never think in terms of percentages. I’m betting if I did I’d be paralyzed while writing. Just imagine me sitting at my computer and deleting paragraphs because I think a scene is 58 percent romance instead of the “required” 50 percent. Yeah, I’m that much of a knucklehead.

Instead of breaking out the math, I think of Intrigues are as a mix of genres where each scene has to move both parts of the story forward. Some aspects don’t change no matter what I’m writing. I want a strong heroine who doesn’t need a man to be happy but is smart enough to grab a good one when he comes into her life. A sexy and in-control hero who knows true love when he finally finds it. Flawed and imperfect people who find each other. Maybe a super alpha dude. Maybe a survivor heroine. So long as they grow with each other until I can’t imagine them apart, I’m good. Add in some shooting, a car chase and an explosion or two and I’m a very happy reader.

I’m thinking this comes from me early love of mysteries and thrillers. I read those for years before I ever tried a romance. When I started reading romance, I followed some of my favorites authors as they wrote increasingly romantic suspense – emphasis on the suspense – books. Authors like Sandra Brown, Linda Howard, Karen Robards and Tami Hoag. They missed romance and suspense so well in those early books. In fact, I’ve read Hoag’s LUCKY’s LADY and Robards’ ONE SUMMER often enough to have them nearly memorized.

I’m always on the lookout for newer romantic suspense authors, like Allison Brennan and Cynthia Eden. If someone has a recommendation, please pass it on!

***We are giving away either a copy of When She Wasn’t Looking or a book off her backlist. Simply leave a recommendation for romantic suspense books for HelenKay.***

No woman could deny the appeal of the sexy deputy sheriff Jonas Porter. But to Courtney Allen, Jonas has one major flaw—his badge. Years ago, Courtney’s father was wrongfully convicted of a crime and she vowed to never trust a cop again. But when Jonas becomes the only man to believe in her father’s innocence, Courtney begins seeing the brooding lawman in a whole new way.

Jonas knows in his gut that the real killer is still out there and determined to finish what he started long ago. To protect Courtney and bring the criminal to justice will require all the skills he can muster. And that means focusing on the job. Not the woman who makes him forget his troublesome past and arouses in him a passion that is anything but professional.