Twelve Weeks of Love & Loss by Rebecca Gould Baeurle

She had a choice.

Go back to Chris — the man she’d loved since college, the one who’d made her feel chosen and diminished in the same breath. The one who showed up at her boutique three years later like no time had passed, like she owed him a hearing. Persistent. Charming. A little too sure of himself.

Or start fresh.

Rich was different. Attentive in a way that felt like fate — the kind of man who remembered the small things, who made her feel seen in a way she hadn’t in years. Steady. Safe. Present.

Her friends weren’t so sure. Something felt off. The attention was a little too focused. The concern a little too constant. They said it quietly at first, then louder. She heard them.

She chose anyway.

She chose wrong.

By the time Nikki understood what Rich had built around her — the careful architecture of control disguised as devotion — it was already inside everything. Her routines. Her trust. Her sense of herself. The man who told her he only wanted to protect her had become the most dangerous thing in her world.

The most terrifying decisions aren’t made in moments of crisis. They’re made on an ordinary afternoon when someone finally makes you feel safe.

Twelve Weeks of Love & Loss is a pulse-pounding thriller of obsession, deception, and survival — set against the backdrop of a love story that never quite let go. Nikki’s fight isn’t just to escape. It’s to find her way back to herself.

How well do you know the person standing right in front of you?

Interview with Rebecca Gould Baeurle

Interview by Tina

Tina: The trilogy begins with what seems like a simple romantic meet-cute before evolving into something much darker. At what point did you know this wasn’t going to be “just” a love story? 

Rebecca: Interestingly, when I began writing Book I of the trilogy (Six Weeks of Love & Larceny) Lauren was the main character. But as I started writing Nikki, I discovered pretty quickly that she’d find her way into trouble. So, I reorganized the chapters and began with Nikki’s story – still a romance, but with much more brewing below the surface.

Tina: The relationship between Nikki and Lauren feels like the emotional backbone of the series. Were there moments where you found yourself writing about your own relationship with your sister, even unintentionally? 

Rebecca: Yes. While my sister and I differ from Nikki and Lauren in many ways, the bond they share is one I understand completely. My sister is the only person who truly shares the lived experience of our formative years. That history creates a connection unlike any other, one that is only deepened over time as we each drew from the same foundation to become the women we are today – unique in our own ways with different perspectives of the same reality. She’s the only person with whom I will ever share that.

Tina: One of the recurring ideas in your books is that love and trust aren’t always the same thing. Why were you drawn to exploring that distinction instead of writing a more traditional romance? 

Rebecca: I believe it is nearly impossible to have love without trust, but love is something we want so desperately that we’re often willing to lie to ourselves to get it. The irony that trusting yourself could cost you the happiness you crave is fascinating to me.

Tina: Neither Nikki nor Lauren always makes the “right” decision, but readers still root for them. How do you decide when to let your characters make mistakes instead of protecting them from the consequences? 

Rebecca: Being imperfect is what makes people interesting and suffering consequences is how we learn, what shapes who we are – so they’re both key elements of a good story. But if I want readers to root for my characters there also has to be a balance. They can’t be too flawed, or people will give up on them and the consequences they face have to be palatable enough for readers to swallow.

Tina: Philadelphia feels incredibly alive throughout the books from cafés and college campuses to newsroom offices and city streets. What makes Philadelphia the perfect home for this story? 

Rebecca: I live outside Philadelphia and have always been charmed by the city’s unique personality, all of it – the good, the bad and the ugly – its rich history, proud traditions, passionate fandom, and unapologetic authenticity. So, as a character of its own, Philly was an easy choice for the backdrop of the trilogy.

Tina: Were there any real locations that inspired particular scenes? 

Rebecca: All of the locations in the stories are real except for one, Mocha Loco – that one came from my imagination.

Tina: You spent decades helping organizations tell their stories before writing fiction. Looking back, how did that career shape the kind of novelist you’ve become? 

Rebecca: My career in the nonprofit sector taught me the craft of persuasive writing: opening with a compelling hook, defining a credible problem, presenting well-researched solutions supported by evidence, and ending with a conclusion that inspires action. Fiction follows many of the same principles. The difference is that instead of building a case from facts, it builds a world from imagination. Both aim to move the reader—one through truth, the other through story.

Tina: The books shift effortlessly between witty banter, romance, and genuine danger. Was finding that balance something that happened naturally, or did it take a lot of revision to keep one element from overwhelming the others? 

Rebecca: That balance came pretty naturally. Once the characters are developed, their actions evolve intuitively from their personalities. So, if a character is witty, romantic or dangerous by nature those characteristics drive the story.

Tina: Every major character seems to be carrying some kind of secret, with some protective, some destructive. What fascinates you most about the things people choose to hide from the people they love?

Rebecca: I find it interesting that secrets are kept for only two reasons – to protect someone we love or to protect ourselves from losing something we love. The first is usually justifiable, often kind and sometimes even merciful, where the latter is normally deceitful, self-serving and almost always damming.

Tina: Without giving away spoilers, what new emotional territory are you most excited for readers to experience as The Secrets Trilogy continues?

Rebecca: The intricacies of human consciousness, the fragility of emotion and the extremes to which both can lead.

Tina: You mention trading grant proposals for plot twists after a successful nonprofit career. If you could go back and tell the version of yourself who was thinking about writing her first novel one thing, what would it be?

Rebecca: Just do it (that worked well for Nike).

Tina: Bonus. What do readers almost always ask you about Six Weeks of Love & Larceny?

Rebecca: As you’d expect, the first question is always what is it about?

Tina: And what’s the question you wish someone would ask instead?

Rebecca: Can we make it into a mini-series?