This week, I’ll present a blurb that takes top marks. Writing a blurb can be a royal pain, but the number one rule is to, first, think about your audience and then about your book.
Kim Linwood writes naughty, sexy stepbrother romances. As not all of you are familiar with this sub-genre let me make clear that the hero and heroine are not blood related; their parents hitch, but the chemistry between the siblings is too much to resist. Bossy
is Kim’s second full-length novel, and it’s shooting up the Kindle charts as we speak—it’s already No.1 in Action & Adventure, No. 2 in New Adult & College and No. 3 in Romantic Comedy. Note that the author offers her previous book, Rebel, together with Bossy (two in one).
Bossy: A Stepbrother Romance: (With bonus novel Rebel!)
by Kim Linwood
Genres: New Adult, Contemporary Romance
Purchase link: Amazon
Blurb
It’s a dirty job, but someone’s got to do him.
One night only. No promises, no regrets. He was rich, ripped, inked up, and gone in the morning.
I didn’t even know his name. Not until I read it off the door on my first day at work.
See, I don’t do bad boys, I don’t do troublemakers and I sure as heck didn’t graduate college with a 3.9 GPA by screwing around.
I was never supposed to see him again, but now he’s my new boss, as sexy in a suit as he was between my sheets.
And my new stepbrother.
Having him was a slice of Heaven. Working for him could mean selling my soul. But if the devil looks like Declan Riordan, Hell might be worth the burn.
My take
The title? Indispensable. The audience of New Adult contemporary romances have the attention span of sugar-deprived child in a loaded candy shop. If you don’t grab their attention in the first sentence, they’re off to the next half-naked-guy cover—and trust me, there are a lot! It is a crowded sub-genre. Here, Kim uses a pun that shows that the story will get down and dirty—no sweet-talking those readers!
After the reader knows that the book means business, she’s got to know what kind of hero she’s dealing with. Gorgeous, tattooed with commitment issues fits the bad-boy bill.
Next step is to define the hero and heroine’s relationship. The first complication is their forced professional relationship. Kim here “shows” it instead of telling it.
Now, the conflict has to be founded. The conflict initially stems from the heroine’s personality which has to be at odds with that of the hero for the explosive relationship dynamics to work. Here, our heroine is a good girl, a good student who stays out of trouble apart from that one fated night—but she won’t mince her words.
Conflict fully presented. Not only is the relationship professional, it’s personal as well. And there’s also emotional conflict as the heroine’s heart and logic go their separate ways.
This type of blurb has to end with a bang. In this case, the big dilemma. Kim does an awesome job with heaven and hell puns–good girl vs bad boy–that work like a charm. The good girl is seriously considering allowing herself to burn in the bad boy’s hell.
There’s absolutely no way readers of this sub-genre won’t one-click this title—and its success after just two weeks since it was published proves it.
Kudos to Kim Linwood for a blurb job awesomely done.
About the Author
MM Jaye's HEAs 