Spotlighting the Round One books I enjoyed that did not advance to Round Two.
There were 190 entries for BBNYA 2026.
Round One consisted of 2,000 word excerpts.
I read 23 excerpts.
17 ~ I really liked.
11 advanced to Round Two
3 ~ I thought were okay.
0 advanced
3 ~ I did not like.
0 advanced
Scoring was very tight, so while I'm disappointed that these 6 did not make it through,
I can now read the entire books on my own time. Woot!
Round Two consists of 80 10,000 word excerpts.
We'll be getting those soon!
Historical Fiction | Mystery
"Are there any experiences you wish you could wipe from your memory?"
"I don't think forgetting would make it better."
Northern Ontario, 1953. When O.P.P. Detective Victor Lapointe is called to investigate a murder in a small town, he's faced with an unexpected victim, a witness with no memory and the biggest mystery of all...who was the real target.
At Sudbury General, psychologist Eleanor Dupuis feels the isolation that comes with being the hospital's first female doctor. When a patient with no memory of a brutal crime is placed in her care, she's caught between a victim who doesn't want to remember and a Detective who needs her to.
For Eleanor, failure could cost her more than her professional reputation; a life may depend on her patient's fractured memory.
For Victor, catching the killer means untangling secrets and distorted truths before the one person who needs him most slips beyond his reach.
Fantasy | LGBTQIA+
300 years ago, a god was murdered.
Blue, once the deity's most faithful general, made immortal through her service, has wandered the fractured land ever since.
Her inability to die is a curse she strives to end.
Chance has her collide with Sarai, a guard captain who possesses an ancient memoir detailing the events of the god's death. If Blue can find the weapon used in that divine assassination, perhaps it can end her life, too.
Fuelled by a death drive developed over centuries, Blue seeks out the blade with Sarai at her side. Their hunt will take them across the blood-soaked extents of the broken empire, where the violently faithful battle for the right to name themselves the next God-Emperor.
But a blade that can kill one god can also make another, and Blue isn't the only one who desires that weapon.
Acts of Deicide is a dark, visceral fantasy that explores immortality, the unreliability of memory, and the nature of faith and godliness in a world destroyed by the death of its divine ruler.
Fantasy
The author is doing a re-write of this, so it may not be available in ebook.
He will either be the bridge between races or the one who turns them to dust.
Joran, prince of Lothara, carries the blood of a dragon queen and a slayer king—and a sealed power even he doesn’t understand. Haunted by a past no one sees and protected by an enchanted amulet, he leaves the safety of the palace to forge peace in a realm that hunts magical creatures like prey.
But the world is broken, and Joran’s presence may fracture it further. As old fears stir and hidden enemies close in, one question
Will he heal the realm… or set it ablaze?
This book contains mature themes that may be distressing to some readers.
"We are our own worst enemy," so how can we become our greatest ally? John was raised to be an all-American man, another shining example of patriotism like his forefathers. That is, until a powerful civil rights movement changes his future and sense of self, forever. He's a young man now but more unsure than ever about his place in the world. As America is half-jokingly praised for being a "utopia", John feels like his heritage is being unjustly stripped from him. With the loss of his mother, John's grief becomes unbearable, and he suddenly finds himself in an unthinkable situation; arrested and convicted of a hate crime.
In jail, John is forced to confront his true worst enemy; himself. Through therapy, friendships, and hardships, John learns to become his own greatest ally. However, the world outside his prison refuge has been anything but quiet... Soon, America's ugly past comes knocking on his door, taking him on a ride that will have him questioning everything, but especially what it means to be a man.
Fantasy | Mythology
Fire. Blood. Darkness. The tears of her parents were all she could remember.
Valhalla Ӧnníka has lived with the Aesir since her fifth spring, since the day the God of Mischief took everything from her. Taken in by the Aesir and valkyries, she found some contentment, but past wounds have a way of returning.
Years later, a clue embedded in the back of a dragon leads her to a confrontation with the god who murdered her family. Though training with blade and flame had made Valhalla fierce in her own right, she was still no match for him.
Barely escaping with her life, the All Mother ordered Valhalla to cease her investigation, instead giving her a new focus. A mysterious letter found its way into the halls of Asgard, addressed solely to her. She was to meet with the High Queen of the lands of Veerence.
Death. Submission. Pain. Nightmares were all he ever knew.
Alistair Hilliard II was the High Prince of Veerence. His life should’ve been one of luxury and indulgence, and would’ve been were he anywhere else. Being born a man in Hilliard’s royal family, his duty was to obey, keep silent, and endure. By night, he belonged to the women of high society—a thing to be used—and by day he was charged with protecting the High Queen and her heir.
The Prince was stretching ever closer to the end of his rope, worn ragged by the cost his duties levied upon his body, mind, and soul. Alistair’s mother had grown increasingly distant since his twenty first name day. His sister, whose personal mission to see him suffer through nightly torments, had gone quiet. Terrible rumblings began to spread, rumors of an attempt on her life.
Regardless of her hatred for him, she was still Alistair’s little sister and it fell upon his shoulders to find out the truth.
When Valhalla and Alistair’s paths cross, their fates will intertwine, finding themselves at the center of events that will reshape Midgard and ripple across the nine realms.
New Adult/Epic Fantasy Book 1
Sci-Fi
October 1998. Charlie is adrift, tending bar in pre-gentrified, slacker-era Austin, drowning in '90s ennui and quietly wondering if life has anything better to offer. She doesn't believe in dreams-just survival, solitude, and the rare high of cooking a perfect meal.
But when she crosses paths with a wounded extraterrestrial hiding out in a local park, everything shifts. Before she knows it, she's behind the wheel of her beat-up Corolla, tearing across the Lone Star State with an alien hitchhiker and no clue what she's chasing, or why, for the first time in her life, it suddenly feels like everything matters.
Funny, fierce, and surprisingly tender, with plenty of grunge-era angst, pop culture deep cuts and the restless energy of a generation raised on mixtapes and midnight movies, The Whole Enchilada is a tall Texas tale for the end of the 20th century.
Take a road trip through the wide-open question of what comes next-and discover that the biggest mystery isn't in the sky. It's in the rearview mirror.
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