Closely Guarded by Jamie Deacon

NEW RELEASE

Book Title: Closely Guarded 

Author: Jamie Deacon

Publisher: Ink Lane Publishing

Cover Artist: Natasha Snow

Release Date: October 12, 2026

Tense/POV: first person/present tense/single perspective

Genres: Young adult, Contemporary M/M Romance, Mystery subplot

Tropes: Forbidden love, slow burn, friends to lovers, student/staff relationship

Themes: Trust and betrayal, self-worth, family and found family, finding your own path

Heat Rating: 2 flames

Length: 82 000 words/284 pages

It is part of the Boys on the Brink Universe, but all the stories are standalone. It does not end on a cliffhanger.

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A Gay YA Forbidden Romance

Blurb

Hex thinks he’s safe, but he forgot to guard his heart…

Six years ago, Hex arrived at Ravenswood an unruly eleven-year-old, starved of affection. Since then, the prestigious boarding school has become his home. Now in his final year, Hex refuses to think about the future, determined to enjoy the time he has left. This plan unravels on the very first night of term when he breaks curfew and runs straight into Jayce—the infuriatingly calm, frustratingly attractive new security guard.

What begins as mutual irritation soon sparks into something more, something forbidden. Hex knows falling for Jayce is against the rules, yet he can’t seem to stay away. But the closer he gets, the more he senses Jayce holding back. And Jayce isn’t the only one with secrets. As Hex’s world fractures around him, he discovers that Ravenswood is no longer the sanctuary he once believed it to be.

Excerpt 

Beyond the rugby pitch, where the north and east walls meet, grows an ancient cedar. Not only is it a doddle to scale with plenty of hand- and footholds, but one of its sturdy branches forms a perfect bridge between the trunk and the top of the boundary wall. We’ve shared many a daring escapade, this tree and I. It has waved me off on countless nights out, kept my secret when I emptied a gut load of Bacardi and Coke into its roots.

With the instinct of long practice, the toe of my trainer finds the first ridge in the bark, and I begin to climb. In a matter of moments, I reach the fork and inch my way along the branch on my belly, fingers grasping for the wall.

Almost there.

“Mr. Reid-Fox?”

I nearly topple head first out of the tree and onto the lane below. Heart pounding, I dig my nails into the brickwork. What to do… Should I make a dash for it, dive over the wall and run? But, no, he used my name. How could whoever it is have recognised me in the dark? He can’t have followed me all the way from Nightingale…can he?

I pull myself upright to sit on the wall. No choice other than to brazen it out. “That’s me. Lovely evening for a walk.”

“A walk.” The statement drips scepticism. Anyone would think he’s never heard of a moonlit stroll before.

His tone catches me off guard. Not hostile, exactly—it’s too calm for that—but several light-years away from friendly. I narrow my eyes, peering into the darkness. I can just make out the solid outline of a figure in the shadow of the tree. Too stocky to be Ryan, and Omar left last year to become a bodyguard to some oil mogul. Besides, I’d recognise their voices. When you’ve spent your school career testing boundaries, you get to know the security guards pretty well.

“Sorry.” I adopt my best dinner-party manners. “I don’t think we’ve met.”

“Indeed. And we’re meeting here, now, half an hour after curfew, because…?”

“Oh. Well, the thing is, I suffer from the most crippling insomnia. Stretching my legs is the only cure.”

“I see.”

Still not so much as a flicker of amusement. If I could see the guy’s face, I’m betting it would be set harder than the bricks beneath me, but his features are a blur in the gloom. I frown. Ryan always chuckles at my attempts to wriggle out of trouble, while Omar treated me with wry exasperation. This new guard, if that’s even who he is, will need more coaxing onto my side.

“Absolutely,” I assure him, all earnest sincerity. “Fresh air and exercise are so beneficial for sleep.”

“And the pub has nothing to do with it, I assume.”

Well and truly busted. Not that I really thought he’d buy my tale of insomnia; I just didn’t expect him to call me out so blatantly.

“The pub?” If only it were daylight, I could dazzle him with the full force of my blue-eyed innocence. “I’m not sure what you mean. No, I like to come and sit up here sometimes…for the view.”

“The view. Right.”

This guy isn’t giving me a millimetre. My evening of drinking and flirting skitters away through my fingers.

Time to try a different tack.

About the Author

Jamie Deacon is an award-winning author of young adult LGBTQ+ fiction with a passion for weaving stories about friendship, falling in love and finding the courage to be true to yourself. Their debut novel, Caught Inside, won two Rainbow Awards and was nominated for a Lammy, a Bisexual Book Award and a Next Generation Indie Book Award.

Jamie was born with Retinitis Pigmentosa, a degenerative eye condition that left them registered blind by their mid-teens. Now only able to view their surroundings in light and indistinct shadow, Jamie creates vivid settings inside their head and brings them to life through the magic of words.

Jamie lives with their childhood sweetheart close to the River Thames in Berkshire, England. When not curled under a blanket with a book, they enjoy British comedy, are a huge dog lover, and get way too competitive at family games nights.

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From A to Us by Amy Aislin

NEW RELEASE

Book Title: From A to Us

Author and Publisher: Amy Aislin

Series: Vermont Trailblazers 3

Cover Artist: L.C. Chase

Release Date: October 6, 2026

Tense/POV: third person past tense

Genres: Contemporary MM hockey romance

Tropes: Friends to lovers, coach’s son, sister’s ex, age gap, forced proximity

Heat Rating: 3 flames: 

Length: 66 125 words / 220 pages

It is the final book in a trilogy but stands on its own.

It does not end on a cliffhanger.

Goodreads

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Amazon  |   Apple  |   B&N   |   Kobo     

Buy direct to get the bonus scene included

Blurb

Eli worked his butt off to earn a spot with the Vermont Trailblazers, and he has absolutely no intention of losing it. Unfortunately, his second NHL season has brought a sophomore slump, an endless parade of team obligations, and the possibility that enthusiasm might not be enough to keep his plates spinning—or keep him from being sent to the minors. So naturally, this is the perfect time for Nolan Madolora—his coach’s son, his sister’s ex, and the man Eli had an impossible crush on a decade ago—to walk back into his life.

Nolan knows a thing or two about not fitting in, which makes getting paid to figure out why the Trailblazers work so well together almost funny—he’s in Vermont to conduct a team culture audit and deliver an objective assessment. What he shouldn’t do is get involved with one of the players, especially when that man is Eli Parker: his ex’s little brother, ten years his junior, and all grown up in ways Nolan is trying very hard not to notice.

When Nolan and Eli stumble across an old set of unsent letters at the arena, amateur sleuthing gives them an excuse to spend more time together—and makes ignoring their growing attraction increasingly impossible to resist. Eli’s old crush has a chance of becoming something very real, while Nolan’s carefully maintained objectivity doesn’t stand a chance against the one person he never thought to look at twice. The closer they get—to the truth and to each other—the harder it becomes to remember all the reasons getting involved is a terrible idea.

99c/99p SALE

Book one in the series, The Best Parts of Him (Vermont Trailblazers 1), 

is on sale for $0.99/£0.99 until October 13.

Buy Link for Book 1

Excerpt from From A to Us

“Okay, wait. Wait-wait-wait-wait.” An hour and a half later, Nolan sat back in his seat and waved his hands, cutting Eli off. “You’re saying that if you had the option to know how you die, you wouldn’t take it?”

Eli’s grin was a little tipsy. Nolan had lost track of the number of beers Eli had consumed to Nolan’s one, but as Eli went to rest an elbow on the table and missed it entirely, Nolan mentally revised tipsy to most of the way drunk.

“Noooooo way,” Eli said, red-cheeked from too much booze but not slurring his words. So there was that. “If I knew how I died, I’d be constantly thinking about the future, just waiting for that day to come instead of living in the moment, and that would suck the joy right out of life. Would you want to know?”

“Yeah. I think so. That way I could avoid the thing that eventually kills me and maybe prolong my life a little longer. Do the things I want to do, accomplish what I want to accomplish, say the things I need to say.”

“But what if the thing that kills you is cancer or some other disease? Can’t avoid that.”

“Maybe not, but I can get screened earlier than I might’ve otherwise and try to catch it early. You really wouldn’t want to know?”

“Absolutely not,” Eli said. “Because what if I die, like, choking on a bagel or something? Then breakfast becomes a high-stakes event for the rest of my life.”

“You could cut the bagel into small pieces,” Nolan offered.

“And engineer my carbs around fate?”

“You could just not eat bagels.”

Eli gasped so hard that Nolan thought he’d choke on his own spit. “Rude, Nolan. Don’t get between a hockey player and his carbs.”

Nolan laughed. “Duly noted.”

“Hey, guys.” Their server appeared between them and placed the bill on the table. “We’re closing in a few minutes, so you can settle up at the bar.”

Nolan checked his watch. Almost midnight. Damn, they’d shut the place down. He hadn’t done that since his university days.

“You can pay.” Eli slid the bill Nolan’s way. “Since you invited me.”

“Sure,” Nolan said, laughing as he stood. “Be right back.”

He’d invited Eli out tonight because Eli was the only person he knew in Burlington aside from his dad. He was friendly with a few of the Trailblazers—had even attended a Trailblazers event or two in the four seasons Dad had been head coach—but he didn’t know them enough to call them up to hang out.

Eli, though? Nolan didn’t know him well enough either, but he had been a familiar face from his past. Nolan hadn’t expected to enjoy getting to know him as someone other than Michelle’s little brother as much as he had. Hadn’t expected to have this much fun or to wish the night would last longer. Hadn’t expected an Eli who was both funny and smart and wiser than Nolan would’ve given him credit for.

About the Author 

Amy’s lived with her head in the clouds since she first picked up a book as a child, and being fluent in two languages means she’s read a lot of books! She first picked up a pen on a rainy day in fourth grade when her class had to stay inside for recess. Tales of treasure hunts with her classmates eventually morphed into love stories between men, and she’s been writing ever since. She writes evenings and weekends—or whenever she isn’t at her full-time day job saving the planet at Canada’s largest environmental non-profit.

An unapologetic introvert, Amy reads too much and socializes too little, with no regrets. She loves connecting with readers. Join her Facebook Group to stay up-to-date on upcoming releases and for access to early teasers, find her on Instagram, or sign up for her infrequent newsletter.

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