Brenda Novak is a popular romantic suspense thriller and romance novels author. With around 70 books written to date with series like the Evelyn Talbot Chronicles, Stillwater Trilogy, Whiskey Creek series, and Silver Sprint series, she has long climbed to the ranks of internationally bestselling authors crossing two genres and more.
For readers that only enjoy romantic suspense thrillers but not contemporary or historical romances, the author has plenty of books to keep you entertained. And pure romance novel lovers will enjoy the numerous books Brenda Novak has written for the last 20 years and more.
Here are the Brenda Novak books in order for her various series, listed by genre: romantic suspense, thriller, and romance.
New Brenda Novak Books
Romantic Suspense Series
Stillwater Trilogy
- Dead Silence (Stillwater #1), 2006
- Dead Giveaway (Stillwater #2), 2007
- Dead Right (Stillwater #3), 2007
Last Stand Series
- Trust Me (Last Stand #1), 2008
- Stop Me (Last Stand #2), 2008
- Watch Me (Last Stand #3), 2008
- The Perfect Couple (Last Stand #4), 2009
- The Perfect Liar (Last Stand #5), 2009
- The Perfect Murder (Last Stand #6), 2009
Dept 6 Hired Guns Series
- White Heat (Dept 6 Hired Guns #1), 2010
- Body Heat (Dept 6 Hired Guns #2), 2010
- Killer Heat (Dept 6 Hired Guns #3), 2010
Bulletproof Series
- Inside (Bulletproof #1), 2011
- In Seconds (Bulletproof #2), 2011
- In Close (Bulletproof #3), 2011
- Blood In, Blood Out (Bulletproof #3.5), 2018
Fairham Island Series
- The Secret Sister (Fairham Island #1), 2015
- The Secrets She Kept (Fairham Island #2), 2016
Evelyn Talbot Chronicles
- Hanover House (Evelyn Talbot #0.5), 2015
- Her Darkest Nightmare (Evelyn Talbot #1), 2016
- Hello Again (Evelyn Talbot #2), 2017
- Face Off (Evelyn Talbot #3), 2018
- Blind Spot (Evelyn Talbot #4), 2019
Romance Series
9 Months Later Series
- Snow Baby (9 Months Later #1), 2000
- Baby Business (9 Months Later #2), 2000
- Expectations (9 Months Later #3), 2000
Dundee, Idaho Series
- That One Night / A Baby of Her Own (#1), 2002
- Falling For You / A Husband of Her Own (#2), 2003
- First Love, Second Chance / A Family of Her Own (#3), 2004
- Say You Love Me / A Home of Her Own (#4), 2004
- Meant for You / Stranger in Town #5), 2005
- Big Girls Don’t Cry / Finding You (#6), 2005
- The Other Woman (#7), 2006
- Coulda Been A Cowboy #8), 2007
- A Dundee Christmas (Dundee, Idaho #8.5), 2017
Whiskey Creek Series
- When We Touch (Whiskey Creek #0.5), 2012
- When Lightning Strikes (Whiskey Creek #1), 2012
- When Snow Falls (Whiskey Creek #2), 2012
- When Summer Comes (Whiskey Creek #3), 2013
- Home to Whiskey Creek (Whiskey Creek #4), 2013
- Take Me Home for Christmas (Whiskey Creek #5), 2013
- Come Home to Me (Whiskey Creek #6), 2014
- The Heart of Christmas (Whiskey Creek #7), 2014
- This Heart of Mine (Whiskey Creek #8), 2015
- A Winter Wedding (Whiskey Creek #9), 2015
- Discovering You (Whiskey Creek #10), 2016
Silver Springs Series
- Finding Our Forever (Silver Springs #1), 2017
- No One But You (Silver Springs #2), 2017
- Until You Loved Me (Silver Springs #3), 2017
- Right Where We Belong (Silver Springs #4), 2017
- Unforgettable You (Silver Springs #5), 2019
- Christmas in Silver Springs (Silver Springs #6), 2019
- California Christmas (Silver Springs #7), 2020
Standalone Brenda Novak Books
- Of Noble Birth, 1999 (historical romance)
- We Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus, 2001 (contemporary romance)
- Shooting the Moon, 2002 (contemporary romance)
- Taking the Heat, 2003 (romantic suspense)
- Cold Feet, 2004 (romantic suspense)
- To Win Her Heart, 2004 (contemporary romance)
- Every Waking Moment, 2005 (romantic suspense)
- The Bastard, 2011 (historical romance)
- Through the Smoke, 2013 (historical romance)
- A Family by Christmas, 2013 (contemporary romance)
- A Matter of Grave Concern, 2014 (historical romance)
- Love That! Brenda Novak’s Every Occasion Cookbook, 2015, with Jan Coad (non-fiction)
- Just Like the Ones We Used to Know, 2017 (novella)
- On a Snowy Christmas, 2018 (novella)
- Before We Were Strangers, 2018 (romantic suspense)
- One Perfect Summer, 2020 (romantic suspense)
Brenda Novak Biography
Brenda Novak was born in 1964 in Vernal, Utah, as the youngest child of two government employees. Her father was working for 30 years for the Bureau of Reclamation, and her mother was a member of the Chandler City Council. When Brenda was around 8 years old, her mother became ill with multiple sclerosis, which hampered her life quite a lot, although she still remained active in her membership at the Council.
At the age of 10, Brenda moved with her family to Arizona, after her father retired. Her mother was a religious person, so she grew up in a rather uptight environment. She always got A in school, so she was a good student. She attended Brigham Young University on an academic scholarship with a focus on business.
In 1984 she married Ted Novak, and together they moved to California. Over the years, she helped her husband start and run various businesses, and she has also worked as a real estate agent, an antique dealer, a loan officer, as well as an aide for Senator John T. Doolittle.
Ten years later, in 1994, Brenda decided that she wanted to devote her time writing books from home. In part, this decision was sparked by an incident while she was working as a loan officer and had three small children at home. One day she caught her daycare provider giving Tylenol and cough syrup to her children to keep them asleep. This shook Brenda to the core, seeing how the woman was basically abusing and endangering her kids, so she decided that she would work from home. And what better way to work from home than writing fiction books. When her sister gave her a Jude Devereaux novel to read, she began wondering whether she could write like that as well.
She wrote her first book in 4-5 years while she also learning the art and craft of writing, and it took her one more year to sell that initial book, but that was the start of the bestselling author Brenda Novak. Initially, she wrote super romances and historical romances, and after a few years, she began writing romantic suspense and thriller novels as well. She always found writing contemporary romance novels easiest, while the historical ones were longer and more engaged. Brenda Novak found the romantic suspense novels most difficult to write because there is not only a layer of romance but also crime, mystery, and suspense involve that weaves throughout the plot with the romance aspect.
Reading the Brenda Novak books in order for her numerous series – especially the romantic suspense is worth it because, while most stories are standalone, the main characters have meaningful interactions and developments throughout the series.
One of her newer romantic suspense series focuses on Dr. Evelyn Talbot, a psychiatrist who has dedicated her life to learning what makes true psychopaths tick. Her dedication was sparked by a horrible incident several years ago involving her at-the-time high-school boyfriend, Jasper Moore, who tortured her and left her for dead. Now, this very ex-boyfriend is following her every step with a very dark and determined mind.
Evelyn is the mind behind Hanover House, a facility catering to imprisoning and studying the worst of the worst humanity has to offer: those hardcore psychopaths that are the most dangerous to society. The facility is located in Hilltop, Alaska, which is also the setting for the Evelyn Talbot series.
The series was, in part, created based on the author’s own strong interest in how psychopaths’ minds work. In an interview, she mentioned,
I’ve always been curious about what causes it, how it’s detected, how it manifests, if there’s any treatment, if there’s a biological component. Creating Evelyn Talbot gave me a great excuse to explore all of that, to essentially study right along with her.
As to why she used Alaska as the main setting for her romantic suspense series (for example in her Hanover House series), she mentioned that Alaska could provide another antagonist for the main characters due to the harsh weather. Also, it is an interesting continent that Brenda Novak could learn more about for her research. Especially this series should be read from the first book to the last, as the backstory (and even current events) with Jasper Moore will have the most meaning then.
Over the years, the author Brenda Novak received and was nominated for several awards, including six RITA nominations, the National Reader’s Choice, the Write Touch Award, the Beacon Award for Published Authors, the Book Buyer’s Best, the Bookseller’s Best Award, as well as the Daphne, and the Silver Bullet.
For her writing process, Brenda Novak is more of a pantser (seat of the pants writer) who doesn’t outline her story. She begins with the story’s main conflict and then looks at the characters she would add to her novel that would be most challenged by the proposed conflict.
Besides writing books, Brenda Novak has also created a subscription-based service called the Professional Readers Box, which she runs with her daughter Alexa. The box brings each month two autographed books, one by an established author and another by an upcoming author to every subscriber. She and her daughter hand-select the two books that would be going out each month to the avid readers.
For 10 years, after learning one of her sons had Type 1 diabetes, she also ran Brenda Novak’s Online Auction for Diabetes Research. Currently, she runs Brenda Novak for the Cure, which has raised over $2.6 million for research so far.
Praise for Brenda Novak Books
Brenda Novak’s novels have it all: a mystery that keeps me guessing, a romance with heart and sizzle, and endings I don’t see coming. Thank you, Ms. Novak, for the hours of entertainment! (Erika Spindler)
A breathlessly suspenseful story… Leave a light on tonight! (Catherine Coulter on Blind Spot)
Dark and chilling. Brenda Novak’s latest taut thriller draws you in from the very first page. Another winner! (Laura Griffin on Face Off)
Riveting drama and suspense from a master of the craft. I loved this twisty tale of friends, enemies, lovers, liars, and a family fractured by secrets. It’s the perfect read to cozy up to on a long winter night.” (Susan Wiggs on Before We Were Strangers)
Brenda Novak’s seamless plotting, emotional intensity, and true-to-life characters who jump off the page make her books completely satisfying. Novak is simply a great storyteller. (Allison Brennan)
Brenda Novak is always a joy to read. (Debbie Macomber)
Brenda Novak doesn’t just write fabulous stories, she writes keepers. (Susan Mallery)
References
Books Reading Order » Thriller Authors »
Debbie Galvin says
Reading my first one now. “The Secrets She Kept” is hard to put down. Have 5 chapters left & reading during breaks, lunch & evenings. That’s why I am here finding out more about her & all the books she’s written. Keep up the good work!!
Wanell Howard Smith says
All I have to do is see her name on a book and I will buy it … I know it will be an all day or all night read as I can not put her books down!!!
Ruby Everett says
Her books have real characters, they are people you would like to know. I am always happy to find a new one in the bookstore. I just finished One Perfect Summer, and loved it. I would like a continuation of it to find out bows these sisters continue their relationships as they were so interesting.
Marge Tabler says
She is BY FAR my favorite author. I’m hooked on the first page and now have my husband reading her books…….just the mysteries or suspense. I can’t figure out how she can write so many books so quickly. Does she sleep?
I appreciate her dedication to Diabetes. I have two children with it and it is truly amazing the advancements that have been made …..not to cure but to give them a easier life. I am amazed at the progress since DAY 1 of my son’s diagnosis (smaller needles) and also sypathize with what the parents and the children went through years ago when there were no ingredients or carb labels on the food. Hopefully someday there will be a cure. Since juvenile diabetes is hereditary, I pray that this is not carried over to the grandchildren. So far we are OK!!!
Barbara mittelman says
I love her books. I have her new one ordered
Wanda says
There has never been a book by Brenda Novak that I did not love. Can’t stop reading a book till the end and wanting the next one to be published. Thanks for all your good reads. Sylacauga, Alabama.
Denyse Giammarco says
I love every one I read so far.
A perfect summer is by far the best.
When is ((the book store on the beach)) being release.
Thank you for good reading.
Cherie says
I love her books,there all page turners I can’t put down,I can’t wait for many more.