NBJ WEEKLY RECAP – 29 Aug 2023

NEW RELEASES

BEST FRIEND’S SISTER + SECRET ROMANCE
What are you supposed to do when your best friend’s little sister—a classic good girl—asks you to help her go bad?
You should say no.
You shouldn’t pretend to date her so she can piss off her parents.
You definitely shouldn’t agree to take her virginity and show her all the experiences she’s been missing out on.
And you really shouldn’t keep it a secret from her brother, the one who’s your best friend and business partner.
But I don’t always make the best choices. In fact, I can be kind of a dick sometimes.
And I know if I don’t do it, someone else will . . . and I can’t have that. If anything, it means I get to be the good guy for once.
I just wasn’t prepared for how gifted this good girl would be at going bad.
This is the fifth book in the Nashville Neighborhood series of standalone novels with interconnected characters.
Series recommended reading order: The Doctor | The Pool Boy | The Architect  | The Frat Boy | The Good Girl

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FRIENDS TO LOVERS + SECOND CHANCES + FORCED PROXIMITY
Blake Dillon isn’t exactly living the dream. She longs to follow in her grandfather’s footsteps and make a difference in the world as a journalist. Unfortunately, her current job has her paying-off hotel staff for celebrity gossip. Tasked with shadowing a film star for an in-depth profile, Blake sees it as a chance to finally prove her worth. She never expected the interview to reconnect her with her old college crush.
Oliver Benjamin agrees to move to Los Angeles to work as the executive assistant to his best friend, a rising star. He hopes it will give him some direction. However, he soon discovers the only difference between being a frat boy and a Hollywood heartthrob is the amount of free stuff and the level of media attention. Ollie spends most of his time putting out fires, leaving little time for anything else. When Blake is sent to chronicle their lives, he finds himself face-to-face with the one that got away.
Blake and Ollie are smart enough to recognize the signs—there are enough sparks between them to melt glass—but they agree to put a lid on it until the article is finished. Much easier said than done when they’re forced to spend more time together than apart. There’s more going on than a simple interview, but they’re both professionals. They must resist temptation or risk unraveling both their lives.
This is a standalone novel in the all-new Plays and Players series.

Click to Read An Excerpt

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FAKE RELATIONSHIP
Star Shine Meadows is all about freedom, thanks to the hippie parents who raised her. Juggling her jobs as a professional costume character actor and a line sitter, she believes in no expectations, no stressful ambitions, and no-strings-attached relationships. So when she meets a birthday girl’s grumpy uncle while working a princess party, she can’t help but needle him. She’ll never see him again, and honestly, he’s pretty hot.
Rafe Whitman may be a veterinarian with a great bedside manner, but that doesn’t mean his patience extends to anyone with opposable thumbs. His family will not stop nagging him about finding “the one,” so when he runs into obnoxiously cheery Star again, he makes her an offer: He’ll pay her more than she would make doing her odd jobs if she’ll pretend to be his girlfriend at family gatherings. She can stop sitting in line waiting for someone else’s new phone, and he’ll get his family off his back.
When the tension between them heats to a breaking point, Star’s desire for “no strings” is tested against Rafe’s staunch stability. They say opposites attract, after all…
This is a standalone novel.

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SPORTS ROMANCE
The first time I met Winter Marks, I almost took her out with my Jeep.
To be fair, she came out of nowhere.
I flirted with her, and she flipped me off and disappeared into the woods on her bike.
But she left me a souvenir: a single hockey skate.
Seemed to me that divine intervention shouldn’t be ignored.
She was my icy Cinderella and I would be her Prince Not-So-Charming.
Winter was more than just a sassy, badass hockey-playing hottie.
She’s stuck in a prison of a life. And I’m the perfect escape.
Neither of us expected to fall.
Or for the truth to shatter us.
This is the third book in the Lies, Hearts and Truths series of standalone novels with interconnected characters.
Series recommended reading order: Little Lies | Bitter Sweet Heart | Shattered Truths

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ENEMIES TO LOVERS + SMALL TOWN
My life was simple until Vincent Cove, an (annoyingly hot) American billionaire, arrived. He wants to convert the stately home where I live and work into a glitzy hotel.
Over my dead body.
I’m just a small-town girl, up against Vincent’s goliath fortune, but I won’t go down without a fight. I’m taking on this billionaire bulldozer.
If I’d known his plans I definitely (maybe) wouldn’t have slept with him. And I’m determined to ignore the chemistry growing between us.
Except his charm is distracting, his persistence is irritating and his forearms, sharp jaw and devilish smile are downright infuriating.
At least I don’t have to worry about him sticking around. A self-confessed rolling stone, he can’t commit to a lunch order before noon, so there’s no way he’ll hang around long enough for me to fall in love with him.
This is a  standalone novel in the Doctors series.
Series recommended reading order: Dr. Off Limits |  Dr. Perfect  | Dr. CEO | Dr. Fake Fiance (9 Nov 2023)

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WORKPLACE ROMANCE
Turner the tyrant has met his match…
I was done for. Profoundly screwed.
The issue, of course, was my assistant, Devereux.
She was slowly but surely driving me crazy.
It wasn’t supposed to be like this. Hiring her was supposed to bring order to my life.
Instead, she’d brought disorder.
Chaos. Irritation. Malaise.
Comfort. Exuberance. Delight.
I was obsessed with her.
Truly, irrevocably obsessed.
She was stubborn. Standoffish. Painfully honest.
Take no prisoners efficient.
In summary, a termagant—much too young for me.
And even I, oblivious bastard extraordinaire, was aware in some corner of my mind, of every well-laid plan I’d ever had slowly crashing down and exploding into dust.
I was simply no match for Devereux Laurent.
This is a standalone novel set in the same world as The Wild Side trilogy and The Other Man .


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Wealth, power, and privilege have always been a part of Levi Shephard’s life. However, it comes at a price. The darkness that surrounds being born into a family of organized crime has always kept him at a distance when it came to relationships. He only hooked up with women who understood the game and played along.
Born with a heart defect, Aspen Chance has been sheltered and raised by her religious grandmother. When her grandmother passes away, Aspen is left with no family—except her older sister who her grandmother had believed was headed straight for Hell.
Deep down Aspen hopes to reconnect with her sister while also being given the chance to experience more of life. Leaving the only home, she’d ever known behind she moves to Ocala, Florida to live with her sister. It doesn’t take her long to realize her sister was going to shelter her even more than her grandmother had.
One of the strippers that Levi enjoys occasional hook ups with is killed one night while a fight breaks out in the club. He might not have been able to prevent her death but he could save her younger sister. Aspen was everything her sister had claimed: young, naïve, and sheltered. When he realizes she’s also not well and has no one to protect her—he takes on the role.
What he swore was only a friendship in which he would make sure Aspen had everything she needed—he hadn’t expected her to end up sleeping in his bed due to her night terrors, or trusting him when it came to her health care and he sure as hell hadn’t been prepared when she wanted to experience pleasure. Meeting her needs takes on a whole new twisted meaning that he fears could destroy them both.
This is the sixth book in the Smoke series.
Series reading order: Smokeshow | Fireball | Smoke Bomb | Straight Fire | Firecracker | Whiskey Smoke | Smokin’ Hot (17 Sep 2023)

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FAKE RELATIONSHIP + SMALL TOWN
Gemini “Gemma” McKendrick knows just about everything about everybody in Townsend Harbor. When she’s not serving on one of the many civic positions or leaping headlong into another hobby, she’s hosting the Sunday Stitch ‘N Bitch at her yarn and craft shop, Bazaar Girls. With her quirky boutique in big financial trouble, she makes a snap decision to rent out the basement of her cozy craftsman to Townsend Harbor newcomer Gabe Kelly. A man with a past as colorful as his tattoo sleeves, who has become an urban legend since he blew into town. And who better than Gemma, Townsend Harbor’s own gossip guru, to answer the rumor mill’s most pressing questions? Like whether the silver-tongued mechanic is as good with his hands as he is with a socket wrench.
Gabriel “Gabe” Kelly wasn’t born into a family so much as a criminal enterprise. Taught to lift, chop, and rebuild cars since before he could tie his own shoes, he’s obliged to pay his debt to society before deserting South Boston for Townsend Harbor, Washington. Surely he can stay out of trouble here, right? He immediately finds the only position an ex-con with prison muscles and neck tattoos could easily find in a town like this, and buys the vintage car mechanic shop from it’s retiring owner . Moonlighting as the only tow truck in a thirty-mile radius, he rescues the absent-minded hottie who runs the local yarn shop. But he quickly discovers that a toy-sized car with a dashboard lit up by Christmas isn’t the only thing in Gemma McKendrick’s life desperately in need of maintenance. Gabe, who is uniquely qualified to diagnose and fix complicated mechanisms, finds his sexy landlord is impossible to figure out. Looks like he’ll have to take a peek at her undercarriage to find out what makes her purr before he hits the road again.
Because women of her caliber don’t take home guys with his make and model…
But he knows she wants a test drive.
This is a  standalone novel in the Townsend Harbor series.
Series recommended reading order: Nevermore Bookstore | Brewbies | Bazaar Girls | Star-Crossed (Apr 2024)

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CHILDHOOD FRIENDS TO LGRUMPY/SUNSHINE + FORCED PROXIMITY + SMALL TOWN
We used to be best friends. Now we’re snowed in together.
There are probably worse things than being stuck in a remote cabin with the rugged-yet-grumpy forest ranger who saved my life in a blizzard. Getting mauled by a bear, for example, though I might prefer that to eating breakfast with Gideon Bell, the guy who nearly ruined my life when we were kids.
It was twenty years ago. We haven’t spoken since. Our families still hate each other, and our lives are completely different. I’m not sure we’ve got anything in common besides childhood memories.
But when it’s just the two of us for a couple of weeks, none of that really matters.
What matters is the way Gideon grumbles, but makes my tea exactly the way I like it. What matters is how he always gives me the spot on the couch closest to the fireplace. What matters is how he looks at me when he thinks I’m not paying attention.
And those childhood memories? He’s in all my favorites.
Up here, in the cabin, it’s easy to look past all that because it feels so good to kiss him. It’s easy to spend a wild night in front of the fireplace and wake up still wrapped together. But back in the real world, where everything that drove us apart is still alive and kicking? It’s a lot harder.
Can Gideon and I fix what broke twenty years ago, or does what happens in the cabin have to stay in the cabin?
This is a  standalone novel in the Wildwood Society series.
Series recommended reading order: The One Month Boyfriend | The Two Week Roommate | The Three Night Stand (2024)

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ENEMIES TO LOVERS + MOTORCYCLE CLUB ROMANCE
Rae
Uther “King” Hills, president of the Iron Outlaws MC, wants one thing.
Revenge.
My life for my brother’s, a traitor to the club.
My sacrifice to ensure his loyalty.
But I know a thing or two about tragic kings.
They never win.
And King has no idea what this good girl is capable of.
King
Rae Miller is my enemy’s little sister.
And I intend to ruin her before I toss her back at her brother’s feet.
Even if my actions tear my club apart.
Except this Shakespeare-quoting fire-cracker has me seeing ghosts.
I don’t scare her. She outwits me at every turn and has a body I can’t get enough of.
The fact I want to kill every person who ever hurt her is irrelevant.
Only, when she’s at risk because of me, I pray the bonds I’ve broken can mend themselves. Because without my club, we don’t have a hope of surviving.
This is a  standalone novel in the Iron Outlaws MC series.
Series recommended reading order: The Sins We Hide | The Games We Play  | The Lies We Tell | The Bonds We Break | The Vows We Keep (Dec 2023)

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Thirty-three-year-old Abby Stern has made it to a happy place. True, she still has gig jobs instead of a career, and the apartment where she’s lived since college still looks like she’s just moved in. But she’s got good friends, her bike, and her bicycling club in Philadelphia. She’s at peace with her plus-size body—at least, most of the time—and she’s on track to marry Mark Medoff, her childhood summer sweetheart, a man she met at the weight-loss camp that her perpetually dieting mother forced her to attend. Fifteen years after her final summer at Camp Golden Hills, when Abby reconnects with a half-his-size Mark, it feels like the happy ending she’s always wanted.
Yet Abby can’t escape the feeling that some­thing isn’t right…or the memories of one thrilling night she spent with a man named Sebastian two years previously. When Abby gets a last-minute invi­tation to lead a cycling trip from NYC to Niagara Falls, she’s happy to have time away from Mark, a chance to reflect and make up her mind.
But things get complicated fast. First, Abby spots a familiar face in the group—Sebastian, the one-night stand she thought she’d never see again. Sebastian is a serial dater who lives a hundred miles away. In spite of their undeniable chemistry, Abby is determined to keep her distance. Then there’s a surprise last-minute addition to the trip: her mother, Eileen, the woman Abby blames for a lifetime of body shaming and insecurities she’s still trying to undo.
Over two weeks and more than seven hundred miles, strangers become friends, hidden truths come to light, a teenage girl with a secret unites the riders in unexpected ways…and Abby is forced to reconsider everything she believes about herself, her mother, and the nature of love.
This is a  standalone novel.


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The first time I laid eyes on Henley James, I was mesmerized.
The chemistry between us was like nothing I’d ever felt.
Impeccable suit, dimpled smile. He was charming and gorgeous, sophisticated and suave. He gave me his business card and asked me to call.
His dating game was strong; I was gone from his first smile. I’d love to tell you our date was a raging success, but it wasn’t. Far from it.
I decided right there on that day that Henley James and I would forever be mortal enemies; I would never think of him again.
Three years later, I bought my dream home. I’m so excited to meet my neighbors—that is, until I do.
Oh no! What are the chances?
It’s him. Still single, still the hottest man alive, and still obnoxiously sarcastic. He saunters around wearing next to nothing and refuses to close the blinds at night.
I will not let myself think of him at all costs. It could be my sanity.
My temptation is a nightmare.
This is a  standalone novel in the all-new Kingston Lane series.

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