Challenge 2025

Return to New York Times bestselling author Nalini Singh’s sensual and painfully beautiful Guild Hunter world in her new novel of sacrifice, loyalty, and the choices of love that can shatter the heart. In the wake of a brutal war, the archangel Raphael and his hunter consort, Elena, are dealing with the treacherously shifting tides of archangelic politics and the people of a battered but not broken city. The last thing their city needs is more death, especially a death that bears the eerie signature of an insane enemy archangel who cannot—should not—be walking the streets. This hunt must be undertaken with stealth and without alerting their people. It must be handled by those who can become shadows themselves… Ash is a gifted tracker and a woman cursed with the ability to sense the secrets of anyone she touches. But there’s one man she knows all too well without a single instant of skin contact: Janvier, the dangerously sexy Cajun vampire who has fascinated and infuriated her for years. Now, as they track down a merciless killer, their cat-and-mouse game of flirtation and provocation has turned into a profound one of the heart. And this time, it is Ash’s secret, dark and terrible, that threatens to destroy them both.

A fresh start turns sour after a manga editor's new boss turns out to be his ill-fated first love! When Ritsu Onodera changes jobs, looking for a fresh start, he's not exactly thrilled when his new boss turns out to be his old flame. Ritsu's determined to leave all that in the past—but how can he when his boss is just as determined that they have a future? Manga editor Ritsu Onodera feels like his job at Marukawa Publishing’s Emerald shojo magazine is going to drive him nuts when his boss—and first love!—Masamune Takano gives him special “homework.” He’s assigned to a brand-new manga creator making her debut, and taking this as a sign of Takano’s faith in him as an editor, Ritsu gets excited for his new project. But as soon as this new creator finds out Takano isn’t her editor, she looks clearly disappointed! Meanwhile, Ritsu extracts a promise from Takano for no kissing and no sex until he properly confesses his love for him. Takano (barely) keeps it, but he relentlessly teases Ritsu until Ritsu starts feeling the effects of intense sexual frustration.