INTERVIEW WITH AUTHOR NIKKI LINCOLN // chatting to local author of Sabrina September is a Liar about this gorg debut romance

Moment of silence for this cover that could honestly whack me over the head and I’d be thankful for it. The cover gods BLESSED US and I shall absolutely never recover from the stunningness. Which is indeed a word, in case you were wondering. Find it in the Ruby dictionary.

Anyways, ecstatic to have the wonderful Nikki Lincoln with us on the blog today to celebrate her debut Sabrina September Is A Liar which has been out for just over a month and you all NEED to read it!!!!

Title: Sabrina September is a Liar
Series: The Summer Fall book #1
Author: Nikki Lincoln
Page count: 370
Date published: 28 April 2023
Genre: Adult contemporary romance

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Synopsis:

An emotional second-chance romance story about the strength of love, life-changing friendships, and forgiveness.

Sometimes perfect love finds you at the most imperfect time. At least that was what she’d spent nine years, eight months, and six days telling herself. But when it comes to her true feelings, Sabrina September is a prolific liar. Their love had arrived at the perfect time, but fear was a destructive force in matters of the heart.

Ten years ago, she arrived in Japan, broken, and desperately searching for a way back to herself. But in between the wonder of summer in a new city, vending machine curry, and new best friends, she found Max Harris. In his arms, she discovered the one place in the world she felt safe enough to tell the truth.
But real and terrifying obstacles shattered their happy ending before it even began.

Now, a decade later, Sabrina takes a massive leap of faith and moves to North Carolina. If you asked her family, she was there to complete her PH.D. If you asked her heart, she was there to get him back.

Join Sabrina and Max in a world where summer is for losing your heart to love, and fall is for fighting to get it back.

Hi hello Nikki! Before we get started, I wanted to give a big thank you for being here today and a congratulations on the release of your debut Sabrina September Is A Liar. This one was ever so special and I am so ready for everyone to love it with me. Without further ado, let’s get into the questions.

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First up, tell us a little about yourself: hobbies, favourite foods, where you are, how are you? And also maybe a quick synopsis of this wonderful book?

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So hi! I’m Nikki. It’s quite surreal to be answering questions about myself. I am a bit of a socially anxious butterfly haha. I live in Cape Town (South Africa) with my daughters Sophie and Grace and my partner, Regan. It’s possibly a bit lame but my hobbies are book related. When I’m not writing, I’m reading, and when I’m not doing either of those things I am usually at brunch with my friends talking about reading or writing. Or I am home doing mom stuff. And I am great! Just trying to stay warm, autumn in Cape Town is so frosty this year.

What can I tell you about my book… Let’s see. It’s a story about how what is meant to be, will always be. Regardless of what obstacles you may face, if it’s meant for you, you will always find it. Sabrina September Is A Liar is a second chance romance. It’s the story of Sabrina and Max. Two people who fell in love, desperately and passionately but then life got in the way. Ten years pass and Sabrina finds herself in the same place as Max. She wants him back, but ten years ago she broke his heart. And that hurt is still so raw for Max. The story is told with dual points of view and a dual timeline. Readers experience the love and the loss of their relationship almost simultaneously. Of course, it’s a romance so there’s a HEA, but gosh they have to work hard for it.

As this is your debut, can you tell us about your writing journey? How did this idea come to mind, when did you start writing and how do you feel now that it’s out?

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My writing journey is such a mess. It always starts with a playlist. I have the idea for a story in my mind, and once it’s plotted, I jump on Spotify and try to find songs that match the emotional depth of each chapter and then I listen to those songs to death while I write. This idea was one I’d had for a while, I can’t say exactly what sparked it but it’s been there in the back of my mind for a while. Then last year I watched Purple Hearts, the movie on Netflix and it was so bad, I thought, “If this bad movie is so acclaimed, maybe my book could also be well received?” And so I started to write. It’s very weird to have it out there in the world. It’s quite spicy and it’s strange to have people you know read sex scenes you’ve written hahaha. But other than that it’s amazing. There’s something very addictive about publishing a book.

Whilst we’re talking about writing, are you a plotter or a pantser? Once you started writing this book, what was the process like?

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I am a deep plotter. I plan out every element before I start writing. I have a high-level plot, and I have a spreadsheet where I break down each chapter into scenes and beats. I also do a lot of research before I start writing. I need to understand every aspect of my story before I start writing. I have ADHD and I think the hyper-fixation symptom that usually accompanies ADHD serves me well with my writing. I just get so lost in the whole research and plotting process. It’s like method acting but writing. I sound insane I know!

How did you get into romance writing? Is there a specific book that got you started? Did you always know you wanted to write romance?

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I have been a romance reader since I stole one of my mom’s Mills and Boons when I was 14. There is no genre I read more than romance. Love is so beautiful and when you’re writing romance you get to fall in love over and over again with each story you write. I love that.

This book involves travelling around to quite a few places, do you have any favourite places you’ve been? Or want to go to?

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I used to live in Japan, and I think one place that has a permanent spot on my bucket list is Japan. I would also love to go to Washington State (I blame Twilight) and to Banff in Canada. I love cold places and if I had to choose between the ocean or the mountains, I would choose the mountains every time.

Speaking of travelling, what are some places on Bri & Max’s travel bucket list?

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I think Max would say South Africa (I’m working on a bonus scene where he gets to tick this off his bucket list). And I think Bri would say, Chicago, so she could visit Max’s parents.

What was the easiest to write, and what was most difficult to write in Sabrina September Is A Liar?

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The easiest parts to write were the happy chapters, the ones that take place in Japan. It was so effortless to fall into my well of memories to paint those scenes. The hardest ones were the spicy scenes. I had so much imposter syndrome. Nothing will make you cringe harder than reading a sex scene you wrote lol.

If you could transport Bri and Max into any rom com (book and/or movie), which would it be?

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I love this question! I would probably say either a hockey romance like Becka Mack’s Consider Me, or a fantasy like Rebecca Yarros’ Fourth Wing? Can you imagine? Max would of course slay the day at Basgraith War College but Sabrina! The comedic relief that would bring!

I loved how Max’s work with the military never felt like a sub-plot, so I wanted to know how you worked that into Max’s character? Did anything inspire you to write about working in the military? How did you research it?

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When I lived in Japan I had a few friends who were in the military stationed there so some of the research was really just first-hand experience having been to those bases. The rest was down to a lot of reading. Old articles about America’s presence in Afghanistan and procedural articles about how deployments work.

Finally, you have quite the release schedule this year! Can you share anything about Tori’s upcoming book, mayhaps when to expect a cover? Or just anything to tease us?

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Yes gosh! In November 2022 I’d sent the manuscript for Sabrina’s book off to my editor. I was sat at my desk just daydreaming as one does and I told myself that I was going to be completely unhinged in how I set goals for 2023. So here I am, setting up house in delulu land with one book in and draft three plotted. Tori’s book will be a second-chance romance as well, it’s probably a bit more tropey than Sabrina’s book. We’ve got fake dating, single mom, small town and touch her and die (swoon lol). The cover reveal will only happen in June/July but I will share one super exciting little snippet of news: I will be releasing an alternative special edition cover for both Sabrina’s and Tori’s book at the same time.

And that’s it!

Once again, a huge thank you for being here today and congratulations on the release of Sabrina September Is A Liar, which is OUT NOW! Keep your eyes out for not one, not two but THREE more releases from lovely Nikki this year. I’m ~very~ excited <3<3<3

Nikki Lincoln is a hopeless romantic first and a contemporary romance author second. Her debut novel, Sabrina September Is A Liar, will launch on the 28th of April 2023.

Nikki’s novels portray healthy relationships, real-life struggles, and toe-curlingly good chemistry, drama and hard-won happily ever afters.

When she isn’t gentle parenting within an inch of her life or reading, you’ll find her in her office, plotting, writing, scheming, and removing hundreds of utterances of the f-word from her novels.

Nikki lives in Cape Town, South Africa with her two daughters – Sophie and Grace – her partner and their yappy Jack Russell, Charlie.

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Website // Instagram // Tiktok // Twitter

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HAVE YOU READ THIS BOOK YET? ARE YOU GOING TO NOW? WHO ARE SOME OF YOUR FAVOURITE NEW DEBUT AUTHORS? WHAT ARE YOUR ROMANCE TROPES? I’D LOVE TO KNOW!