If you’ve had a chance to read the blurb for The Rule Book, you might get the sense that rules play a large part in the book. Heck, it’s even in the title. Well, your assumptions would be correct. Brogan Starr, the hero of the book, owns Starr Media, a Fortune 500 company that focuses on handling social media for celebrities. He has a penchant for making rules and has a 300-page employee manual to prove it. The rule book includes anything from not eating garlic at work to the banning of semi-colons in social media posts. Seem a little extreme? My heroine, Lainey Taylor tends to think so, too! According to Lainey, he runs the company on a tighter leash than the Pentagon during a national security threat.

 

 

Now, you might be asking why this completely gorgeous, tatted CEO has so many rules? Well, you’ll have to read the book and find out for yourself. But I can definitely tell you my inspiration! When I first came up with the idea of the book, I based it loosely on one of my favorite movies—The Devil Wears Prada. If you’ve ever seen the movie, you know that the boss is an absolute drill sergeant and she runs a tight ship. To some extent, I wanted Brogan to exhibit these qualities. To add a little twist to the CEO trope, I made Brogan highly loved by his employees—all except for his first assistant who calls him the antichrist behind his back. He’s very laid back in most aspects, as long as you don’t mess with his company. Brogan has never had an issue with following his insane amount of rules until Lainey starts working for Starr Media. In fact, within the first week, she manages to break a whopping seven rules from the employee manual. And soon, our stoic CEO starts breaking some rules of his own.

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Here are some rules that Brogan just can’t seem to keep himself from breaking once Lainey is in his life:

Rule #34: Interoffice relations are strictly prohibited in any capacity.

Um, yup, we pretty much know he’s going to break this little ol’ rule the second we read the blurb, but it’s so fun and delicious to see this man brought to his knees (it was definitely fun to write!).

Rule #68: Keep emails professional. Always.

Brogan and Lainey start up their romantic relationship over a few flirty emails, among other situations…like when she loses her clothes in the elevator… or that time she walks in on him straight out of the shower. You know, normal situations people encounter with their bosses. 🙂

 

 

Rule #762: Employees are not allowed in Mr. Starr’s office after business hours.

Brogan breaks this one a couple times throughout the book with late night work parties. With Lainey being the only invitee. A lot can happen when two people are in a room alone for several hours.

I have to say, as a fellow rule follower, I could feel Brogan’s pain as he struggled with his need to follow the rules, but at the same time give in to his feelings for Lainey. Their interactions were a blast to write, and I loved when he broke every single one of his rules.

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Jennifer Blackwood is an English teacher and contemporary romance author. She lives in Oregon with her husband, son, and poorly behaved black lab puppy. When not chasing after her toddler, you can find her binging on episodes of Gilmore Girls and Supernatural, and locking herself in her office to write. She is the author of the Drexler University Series, The Rule Breakers Series and an upcoming Entangled Brazen series.

Jennifer can be found on Facebook, Twitter, and JenniferBlackwood.com.