Publication Date: August 4, 2026
Seventeen-year-old Harper Westbrook isn’t afraid of monsters…she is one.
For the past three years, she’s been one of the Blood Bound-girls and women cursed with a bloodlust only satisfied by killing terrible men. Once every three months, she trades in her pom-poms for a lethal throwing axe. Her life is led by a strict set of rules to keep her dark secret as hidden as the bodies she buries.
And her number one rule? Stay away from Grayson Jones.
The boy she was totally falling for until the night her curse manifested, everything went horribly wrong, and she killed his father. It was self-defense. Or at least that’s what she keeps telling herself.
Grayson is an investigative reporter for their school paper, and he’ll stop at nothing to find the truth behind his father’s gruesome death.
As he follows new clues down darker and darker paths-to an unbelievable world of mythical beasts and the men who hunt them-Grayson doesn’t realize he’s on a collision course with Harper’s biggest secrets. Now, she must stop him before he exposes her family to the Hunters, even if it means risking her life and heart.
Because who could ever love a monster like her?
A cheerleader who moonlights as an axe murderer knows all too well that dangerous things lurk in the dark.
Author Bree Despain serves up a dark paranormal tale in The Killing Rules . Harper Westbrook seems like a normal teen, except for a curse that requires her to kill men who do horrible things.
As one of the Blood Bound, she operates by a clear set of rules, but it also means she must stay away from the one guy who makes her heart thump—Grayson Jones.
With Grayson determined to discover the truth behind his father’s murder, he will stop at nothing to uncover every secret in his path. This sets him at odds with Harper, who is just as determined to prevent her double life from being exposed.
Grayson’s investigative skills keep the action moving while Harper tries to stay ahead. It’s not until the Hunters come to town that things start escalating.
The Killing Rules serves up a paranormal romance featuring a cheerleading shapeshifter.
Bree rediscovered her childhood love for creating stories when she took a semester off college to write and direct plays for at-risk, inner-city teens from Philadelphia and New York. She currently lives in Salt Lake City, Utah with her husband, two young sons, and her beloved TiVo. THE DARK DIVINE is Bree’s debut novel.
