NBJ WEEKLY RECAP

NEW RELEASES

BOYFRIEND’S BEST FRIEND + FRIENDS TO LOVERS

In everyone’s life, there’s a split-second decision that can change everything…

For Larissa, it came when choosing who to ride home with after a concert. That night, she had no idea she’d met the perfect man. She and Chris are great friends, co-parenting a slightly unhinged rescue Yorkie, sharing their favorite books, and judging bread (pumpernickel for the win!). For the first time amid all her side hustles to scrape by, things finally feel easy.

But she didn’t choose Chris to drive her home all those months ago—she went with his best friend, and he became her boyfriend. All Chris wants is for Larissa to be happy. Standing by on the sidelines is slowly killing him, but making a move would destroy someone else. How can something that feels so right be absolutely impossible?

This is a standalone novel in the Say You’ll Remember Me series.

Series recommended reading order: Say You’ll Remember Me | The Night We Met

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HOCKEY ROMANCE

He’s a backup goalie with a broken game. The only thing he needs more than a win is the hot, grumpy bartender who pours his weekly beer.

Becker James is having a spectacularly bad season. Once a top draft pick, he’s now riding the bench in the minors, one failed save away from being cut. The highlight of his week? A lonely hour on a barstool at Sportsballs, Denver’s queerest watering hole—and Forest, the bartender with flannel sleeves, a gruff voice, and a beard that stars in Beck’s dreams.

Opportunity strikes when Forest’s LGBTQ hockey team—the Stickhandlers—loses their goalie last-minute. Beck makes Forest an offer: he’ll help them beat the most hated team in the beer league, but he wants something in return—one night together.

Cue the record scratch, because Seth Forrester doesn’t do hookups. After his last one went horribly wrong, he swore off men for good. He’s definitely not falling for the awkward hottie who just stammered through an indecent proposal.

But Beck is prepared to press his case, no matter how awkward it gets. And one beer league game turns into something messier, sweeter, and so much harder to walk away from…

This is the fourth book in the Hockey Guys series of standalone novels with interconnected characters.

Series recommended reading order: The New Guy | I’m Your Guy | The Last Guy On Earth | My Kind of Guy

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MMF + ENEMIES TO LOVERS + STEPSIBLING + HEROINE IN PERIL + AGE GAP + DARK ROMANCE

Wolfson Strakh fought his way to freedom, and it still isn’t enough.

With ink-stained fingers and his fierce Alaskan family at his side, he should feel whole. Instead, the past clings like scars, leaving a loneliness that won’t release him.

Until Dove Rath blows it apart.

A runaway bride with a rifle, she’s the dangerous fairytale princess of his dreams. But she isn’t here to be saved. She’s here to end her stepbrother, Jag Rath.

Ruinously handsome and lethal behind a keyboard, Jag drags old darkness into Alaska, twisting protection into possession and loyalty into hunger. Curiosity sharpens. Desire flares. Boundaries blur. Secrets stir.

Jag’s past threatens the freedom Wolf bled for, the love he never expected, and the woman caught between them.

Now Wolf stands on another cliff, betting his life on love as everything ignites in a rise of ink and smoke.

This is a spin-off novel from the Frozen Fate trilogy.

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ROMANTIC SUSPENSE

Canadian operative Ben Parker met the woman of his dreams while working undercover in Australia. That operation, to take down Emmanuel Huisman, was the singular focus of his life until he met Maggie. Now the hunt for his former childhood friend turned international terrorist often feels like what he does in between chasing the magenta-haired American spy he can’t stop thinking about. She’s the woman of his dreams, when she isn’t being the stuff of his nightmares. Sometimes she is sweet and deliciously responsive to him, and other times she pushes him out of a plane without a parachute.

Kenzie Taggart knew Ben Parker was the one for her the minute she saw him. Unfortunately, he didn’t meet her first. He met her twin sister, Kala, and they had to keep the secret. No one outside of their team knows they’re twins. Everyone believes the operative known as Miss Magenta is one person. Kenzie can’t tell the man she’s falling in love with who she really is, but she also can’t afford to lose him.

When faced with certain death on a joint operation in Nepal, Kenzie reveals the truth about “Maggie” and they spend their last minutes alive in each other’s arms. It was perfect, and then a miraculous rescue leaves them in a difficult situation. Kenzie couldn’t be happier that Ben knows the truth, but so does Huisman. He’s determined to burn down the world, but not before he ruins his old friend and his newfound beloved. As Ben and Kenzie cross the globe in their quest to stop the madman, they might have to choose between saving the world and saving each other.

This is the sixth book in the Masters and Mercenaries: New Recruits series of standalone novels with interconnected characters, a spin-off from the Masters and Mercenaries series.

Series recommended reading order: Love the Way You Spy | Live, Love, Spy | The Bodyguard and the Bombshell (novella) | Sweet Little Spies | No More Spies | Spy With Me | Love and Let Spy

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ROMANTIC SUSPENSE

Former Navy SEAL Mason Hughes locked his heart away years ago after devastating betrayal. Now his iron control serves him well on dangerous missions…until a high-stakes operation in Dubai brings him face to face with the enigmatic Calista Ventura.

Calista is on a mission for vengeance, and the last thing she needs is the tempting distraction of the infuriating yet irresistible Mason. But when their missions become dangerously entangled, she finds herself relying on his lethal skills to stay alive.

As they work to expose an international trafficking ring, the heat between them becomes impossible to deny. Mason’s protective instincts war with Calista’s need to handle things alone. But in a world of deadly secrets and powerful enemies, trusting the wrong person could be fatal.

When Calista’s past catches up with them both, they’ll have to decide if the chance at love is worth risking everything they’ve fought to protect.

This is a standalone novel in the Downrange series.

Series recommended reading order: Fixed Asset | Fallen Hero | Direct Action (Sep 2026)

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GOTHIC HORROR FICTION

“I saw the devil in these woods.”

Sonia Wilson is a talented scientific illustrator—but she is only able to follow her dream because of her father’s reputation as a renowned scientist. Such is the lot in life for a woman in science in 1899. And after his death, she is left without work, prospects, or hope.

So when the reclusive Dr. Halder offers her a position illustrating his vast collection of insects, Sonia jumps at the chance to move to his North Carolina manor house and put her talents to use.

Once there though, she encounters dark happenings in the Carolina woods, and even darker questions come to light, like what happened to her predecessor? Why are animals acting so strangely, and what is behind the peculiar local whispers about “blood thiefs?”

With the aid of the housekeeper and a local healer, Sonia discovers that Halder’s entomological studies have taken him down a twisted road. His ground-breaking discoveries come with a cost—one that Halder is paying with human flesh.

If Sonia can’t find a way to stop the monstrosity, she may be next under the knife.

This is a standalone novel.

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FORBIDDEN LOVE + HE FALLS FIRST + SECOND CHANCES + STAR-CROSSED LOVERS

I’d almost forgotten what it felt like to smile, to laugh, and to really live. Until I met him.

Heart-stoppingly handsome.
Totally forbidden.
Keats Matthews looked at me like I was something special.

He was escaping his past. I wanted to escape my present. Together, we fell hard and fast and knew we had found forever. Or so we thought …

Six years later, his shoulders are broader than I remembered, his charming smile thaws my frozen heart, and it’s so tempting to run my fingers through his hair like I did years ago. But it’s the tenderness and warmth in his brown eyes that remind me of the forever we almost shared.

It’s magic when we’re together again. Our chemistry has only magnified. Seeing him, confident and more irresistible than ever, has me falling for him all over again and hoping for a second chance.

But he still believes our timing was off before. He’s wrong. It was the secret I kept hidden that was our undoing. Time hasn’t healed old wounds, and not everything hidden has come to light. When it does, we’ll stand together or fall apart. Either way, we must find out.

This is a standalone novel.

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GRUMPY/SUNSHINE + DARK MAFIA ROMANCE + ENEMIES TO LOVERS

I’m hunting a monster…

The first time I met Yulian Dimitriev, it was hate at first sight.
He’s brash, chaotic, and a violence-junkie.
In short, everything I disregard.
As heirs to two notorious mafia organizations, we were shoved together in an unorthodox setting.
The more I learn about Yulian, the deeper my loathing seeps.
Until I truly see the person within, and something forbidden sparks between us.
But our coexistence is cut short when tragedy strikes.
Yulian and I go back to our respective, parallel worlds that shouldn’t cross.
But they do.
And once again, I’m dragged into the orbit of a man I shouldn’t want.
Two men can’t be together in our world.
But Yulian blurs every limit I thought existed until everything is in jeopardy.
Our hearts included.

This book can be read as a standalone, but for a better understanding of the world, it is recommended to read Kiss the Villain beforehand.

Series recommended reading order: Kiss The Villain | Hunt The Villain | Crave the Villain (2027)

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ROMANTIC FANTASY + VIKING ROMANCE

Their love is the only thing that can save them from a cursed fate…

Lyra Bien never expected to leave the royal house at Stonegate in one piece after her rare melder magic was revealed. Once she discovered the truth behind the need for her magic and the brutality of her kingdom, Lyra vowed to put an end to the corruption of the crown. But is the enemy of her enemy her friend? Lyra must put her trust in the man who stole her heart . . . then deceived her.

Roark Ashwood rose through the ranks to become Sentry of Stonegate and personal guard to the prince, despite being born of the enemy clan, the Dravens. But in a single heartbeat he destroyed his ruthless reputation all to save Lyra. With his true identity unveiled, Roark revealed years of plotting and betrayal to everyone he loves.

As Roark’s two lives collide, he must fight to protect the woman he loves and outsmart those throughout the kingdoms who want his power for themselves. Lyra must wade through long-kept secrets, rising battles, and vicious court intrigue—all while keeping her feelings for Roark at bay.

This is the second and final book in the Broken Souls and Bones duology.

Series reading order: Broken Souls and Bones | Heir of Twisted Lies

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PARANORMAL ROMANCE

When life falls apart, it’s never because of the big demons.

Kate Connor’s demon-hunting school is finally starting to find its footing—but beneath the surface, everything is threatening to unravel.

Her husband’s sudden psychic episodes keep interrupting dinner. Her daughter is torn between Mr. Tall-Dark-and-Broody and the dangerously intriguing new kid. And Kate’s marriage? Let’s just say it’s being held together with duct tape, holy water, and stubborn determination.

As if that weren’t enough, someone from Kate’s past—very much back from the dead—has resurfaced, stirring old feelings she’d long buried and raising questions she doesn’t want to answer. The timing couldn’t be worse. Or more suspicious.

With tensions rising at home and unsettling signs that something is wrong within the academy itself, Kate must untangle emotional knots and hidden threats before small cracks turn into catastrophic breaks.

Because demons may come armed with claws and fangs—but it’s the quiet details, the secrets and doubts, that do the real damage.

And if Kate doesn’t get ahead of them soon, this might be the one mess she can’t clean up.

This is the ninth book in the Demon-Hunting Soccer Mom series.

Series reading order: Carpe Demon | California Demon | Demons Are Forever | Deja Demon | Demon Ex Machina | Pax Demonica | Day of the Demon | How to Train Your Demon | The Demon’s In the Details

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