Still (Northbound, #1)

***AUTHOR'S NOTE***

Still is written differently from my other books, and that difference was intentional.

I don’t write every story the same way. I’m deeply influenced by poetry, and I tend to let the emotional world of each book decide what the prose should sound like. My other book Blue for example, was written like one long poem, and one of my biggest style influences is Ellen Hopkins.

With Still, I wanted to try something different and for this story, a fragmented style felt right. Through shorter, choppy sentences, repetition, abrupt transitions, and moments where thoughts break apart.

Still deals heavily with grief, anxiety, depression, and emotional repression. Those experiences aren’t always neat or linear. Thoughts interrupt each other. Memories surface without warning. Emotions repeat. Some moments disappear quickly, while others refuse to leave.

I wanted the writing to move the same way.

That fragmented rhythm isn’t how I write every book, and it isn’t meant to be. I like allowing each story to have its own voice, structure, and cadence rather than forcing all of my books into the same style.

If you prefer smooth, traditional prose, this book may not be your jam, and that’s okay.

Thank you for reading!

DESCRIPTION

Jamie Nash has spent his whole life learning control.

Control on the ice. Control over his body. Control over every thought, feeling, and weakness that could ruin everything he’s worked for. As captain of Harlow University’s hockey team, control is the only reason he survives the pressure.

Then Rhys Callahan transfers in from Eldridge.

Rhys is reckless where Jamie is rigid. Loud where Jamie is silent. Infuriatingly talented. Impossible to ignore. And from the moment they meet, every interaction between them feels less like rivalry and more like a dare neither of them knows how to walk away from.

What starts as tension turns into something neither of them can name. Meaner. Messier.
Wanting each other becomes its own kind of violence.

Because both of them have spent years standing still inside the wreckage of who they used to be — trapped by grief, anger, fear, and the things they survived long before they met each other.

And the closer they get, the more dangerous it becomes.

Because Rhys sees too much.

And Jamie has spent years making sure no one ever gets close enough to.

Still is an emotionally intense MM romance featuring obsessive tension, emotional repression, explosive chemistry, high heat, trauma, and two men finally forced to want something more than survival.

Still is the first novel in The Northbound Series.