HEATED RIVALRY'S Breakout Run + Author Tip by Faith Hunter + News ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­ ͏ ‌     ­
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HEATED RIVALRY NEWS


HEATED RIVALRY continued its breakout run and reached No. 2 on the New York Times bestseller list and #1 on USA Today, with the wider GAME CHANGERS series riding the wave of new readers and viewers. The momentum also showed up on lists like The Washington Post paperback bestsellers. All seven novels in the series made the USA Today Bestseller list as well.

UNRIVALED (the 7th Game Changers novel, coming in September) was announced as a return to Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov, and the news rolled out across top entertainment outlets, including PEOPLE, Entertainment Weekly, Variety, Deadline, and Today.com, with additional fan-facing coverage from Glamour, Parade, and OUT.

On the screen side, the HEATED RIVALRY series hit a genuine “lightning-in-a-bottle” moment when IMDb reported that Episode 5 earned a perfect 10/10 rating, tying Breaking Bad’s “Ozymandias” in the all-time conversation and supercharging discoverability for both HEATED RIVALRY and the full GAME CHANGERS series.


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NEWS

WE BURNED SO BRIGHT by T.J. Klune was highlighted by The New York Times in “The Novels Everyone Will Be Talking About in 2026”, selected by PEOPLE in “PEOPLE Picks Our Most-Anticipated Books of 2026”, and featured by The Nerd Daily in “Fantasy & Sci-Fi Book Releases To Devour In 2026.” The book received additional major anticipation coverage from Reactor in “30 SFF Titles to Look Forward to in 2026”, Page Six in “Editors’ most anticipated new books of 2026”, News24 in “Ten fiction releases to look out for in 2026”, The Portalist in “Most Anticipated Science Fiction and Fantasy Books of 2026”, and Audible in “Our most anticipated audiobooks of 2026.”

THE FIFTH SEASON and THE HUNDRED THOUSAND KINGDOMS by N.K. Jemisin were included in Book Riot’s “Best Fantasy Books of the Century So Far” list.

COLD AS HELL by Kelley Armstrong was nominated for the G.P. Putnam’s Sons Sue Grafton Memorial Award at the 2026 Edgar Awards, as announced by Mystery Writers of America in “2026 Edgar Award Nominations.”

STAR SHIPPED by Cat Sebastian was featured in the New York Times roundup “The Novels Everyone Will Be Talking About in 2026.” It was also highlighted across multiple “most anticipated” lists in early January, including The Nerd Daily’s “Swoonworthy 2026 Romance Book Releases You Need”, Book Riot’s “The Most Anticipated Queer Books of 2026”, “The 15 Most Anticipated Romance Books of 2026”, and “Most Anticipated Books of 2026”, along with BookPage’s most anticipated 2026 coverage.

A DEADLY INHERITANCE by Kelley Armstrong was highlighted by Ottawa’s Parenting Times in “Canadian books worth spending a snow day with” and also earned a strong review from Kirkus Reviews.

GET EMPOWERED author Lauren R. Taylor published her first piece for Psychology Today, “From Fear to Choice: How Empowerment Self-Defense Changes Lives”, exploring how to shift the conversation from fear and victim-blame to practical choice, boundaries, and agency.

DATING & DRAGONS by Kristy Boyce placed No. 3 in Goodreads Choice Awards' Readers’ Favorite Young Adult Fiction.

EMBER ETERNAL by Chloe Neill (Romantasy), THE PLACE WHERE THEY BURIED YOUR HEART by Christina Henry (Horror), WRITING MR. WRONG by Kelley Armstrong (Contemporary Romance), THE SHOTS YOU TAKE by Rachel Reid (LGBTQIA+ Romance), and THE BONES BENEATH MY SKIN by T.J. Klune (Fantasy) were all selected for Library Journal’s Stellar Selections | Best Books 2025 list.

AUTHOR TIP OF THE MONTH

New York Times Bestselling author Faith Hunter’s new dystopian scifi novella, JUNKYARD RIDERS (book 5 in the Shining Smith, Junkyard Cats series) is out now.

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Faith's Tip:

While keeping readers engaged in action, conflict escalation, and resolution are of primary interest to writers, “slow-down” moments add to the reading experience and promote good pacing. The five senses (and a little bit of passive voice) can be used for temporary deescalation, scene setting, and atmosphere, especially after an action scene. These are seldom-used devices in the writer’s toolbox, which makes them powerful when added to exposition or narrative.

Here’s an example of slowing down the readers and letting them get settled into a new scene:

The moans and cries of the wounded kept her from sleep. Coarse sheets scraped over her, the rough cloth snagging on her broken toenails and the cracked skin of her heels, grabbing at her shift. When she rolled over, she twisted into the cloth, tangling and sweaty hot. The smoke of yesterday’s battle still coated the air and the back of her throat, acrid and smelling of grief. They had won the day, but at what cost?

We use sound, texture, temperature, smell and taste, in a short but evocative paragraph. 

RECENT DEALS

Ari Baran's UNSPORTSMANLIKE CONDUCT, part of the Penalty Box hockey romance series, in which a tightly wound, picture-perfect all-star is forced to babysit a bad boy waiver pickup, to Leyla Erkan at Carina Press in a two-book deal, by Deidre Knight

Alarna Mayers's LITERALLY GHOSTED, a paranormal rom-com mystery pitched as The Bachelor meets Ghosts for book lovers, in which a woman becomes a contestant on her favorite reality TV show, only to wake up dead on the day she would have been chosen by her long time “prince,” to Chelsea Villareal at Podium Publishing, by Lucienne Diver

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THE SHARK HOUSE by Sara Ackerman

THE SHARK HOUSE by Sara Ackerman

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A haunting mystery beneath the ocean’s surface. One woman’s reckoning with the past. Long-buried secrets waiting to rise.

Hawai’i, 1998. When a string of rare shark attacks unsettles the once-peaceful Kohala coast, marine biologist Minnow Gray is called in to investigate. Known for her uncanny connection to sharks, she is the island’s best hope for uncovering why the attacks are happening—a mystery that has both the local community and the tourism industry on edge—and for determining whether the same great white still haunts the coastline.

Witness to an unspeakable tragedy involving a white shark and her own father, Minnow has carried a darkness with her ever since. She knows, deep inside, that unlocking the memories of that long-ago morning is the only way to truly heal. And as she searches for answers, the past and present collide, revealing shocking and unexpected truths that cut deep as the sea itself.

SUCH A PERFECT FAMILY by Nalini Singh

SUCH A PERFECT FAMILY by Nalini Singh

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A man with a deadly past marries into the perfect, most respectable family in this riveting thriller from New York Times bestselling author Nalini Singh. . . .


A woman buried.
A woman broken.
A woman crashed.
A woman burned.
And the man who knew them all.

Love at first sight, a whirlwind Vegas wedding, a fairy-tale romance.

For forty-three days, Tavish Advani has been the happiest man in the world—until his new life turns to ash, his wealthy in-laws’ house going up in a fiery explosion. His badly injured wife lies in a coma, her family all but annihilated.

THE MERMAID IN THE SHOT GLASS by Hailey Edwards

THE MERMAID IN THE SHOT GLASS by Hailey Edwards

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The time has come for Ana to conquer her doubts about her heritage and discover her inner dragon. Her lessons begin with summoning fire on the shore at Lendman Park, placing a buffer between her fledgling powers and town. Her flames prove eager to please, leaping to her fingertips, but a sudden burst of magic topples her and Rían into the lake. A lake one of the locals swears is inhabited by a mermaid.

Too bad the mermaid lore isn’t the only story making the rounds in Brentwood. Rumor has it that Mercer Bates has challenged Carmichael Sartori for control of the Sartori pack. Ana doesn’t want to care whether Carmichael lives or dies, but our hearts don’t always listen to our heads. And that proves doubly true when someone Ana considers a new friend reveals her true loyalties in an explosive betrayal that shakes the foundation of the Walsh clan.

JUNKYARD RIDERS by Faith Hunter

JUNKYARD RIDERS by Faith Hunter

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Shining Smith returns, taking on the “Dark Riders,” a paramilitary group motorcycle gang searching for Gov. political power, military connections, and alien tech. The Dark Riders are closing in on Shining’s secrets and, while she would rather nest in her new roadhouse, Shining must protect her own, once again taking the battle to the enemy

Unfortunately, CAIT, the original AI on the junkyard’s crashed spaceship, has its own agenda buried in the ship’s code and choses this time to implement it. There is nothing Shining can do to stop it, except what she does best – plot an offensive, get her people in place, and hope Jolene can outsmart the virtual alter ego.
But the cataclysmic snowstorm crashing in with all the power and subtlety of Mateo in his WarBot suit could be the end of them all.
OWN YOUR TIME by Andy Hill

OWN YOUR TIME by Andy Hill

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Step-by-step resource showing couples how to control their money so they can control their time

In Own Your Time: 10 Financial Steps to Put Your Family First and Escape the Corporate Grind, Andy Hill, husband, father of two, and award-winning family finance coach, walks readers through simple yet highly effective steps families can take to achieve family financial independence. Covering the two biggest causes of parental stress, financial anxiety and being overworked, this book features real-life examples of couples who’ve conquered these family financial independence milestones and found better lives for themselves because of it.

The Legend of Meneka

THE LEGEND OF MENEKA by Kritika H. Rao (paperback)

AMAZON 

Kritika H. Rao weaves a luscious, exhilarating fantasy inspired by one of the most famous romances in Hindu mythology— the story of a celestial dancer tasked with seducing a human sage, but when she finds herself falling for her mark, she will be forced to choose between loyalties and being true to herself.

Across the mortal and immortal realms, celestial dancers known as apsaras are revered for their beauty, allure, and enchanting magic. But Meneka knows that is not all they are. Trained as a weapon—a warrior—Meneka despises leaving each of her marks in thrall to her potent illusions. With every seduction Lord Indra, king of heaven, demands of her for his political gain, she craves her freedom more and more.

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