The New Next One

Bethesda Barracudas Hockey, Book 2

By: Ryan Taylor, Joshua Harwood

Narrated by: Nick J. Russo

How much are you willing to give up for the man you love?

Best friends Nick Johnson and Tyler Jensen seem to have the world by the tail. The 18-year-old stars of their school’s hockey team are looking forward to playing in college and hoping for careers with the pros.

Nick and Tyler know a lot about each other, but there are a few important details they haven’t discussed. To start with, neither man knows the other is gay. Making things interesting, Nick has a massive crush on Tyler, something he’s kept to himself for a long time. And although he’s never said a word about it, Tyler has wanted to date Nick since they met.

On a cold Minnesota night after a big win, Tyler finds the courage to confess his feelings to Nick. When Nick admits his attraction to Tyler, their relationship turns on a dime. As they fall in love, they skate around the challenges of a secret romance in an all-male boarding school, but what will happen when the stakes rise dramatically in a sport not known for being gay-friendly? Will Nick and Tyler make the easy choice or the hard one?

The New Next One is a new adult, friends-to-lovers romance featuring young athletes, plenty of steam, and a lot of emotion. Besides learning the background for Nice Catching You, you will meet the main characters for the authors' book Fire in the Ice.

©2021 Ryan Taylor & Joshua Harwood (P)2024 Ryan Taylor & Joshua Harwood

Loved but broke my heart

Loved hearing about Nick’s first love. It was cute and sweet and the way, Nick Russo narrated had me tearing up how sadly they had to part. Nick Russo always does an amazing job. I will listen to anything he narrates, but I do love this series and I love the epilogue because I know who Nick end up with.

SHORT, SWEET PRELUDE TO "NICE CATCHING YOU"

This book gives us the backstory of Nick Johnson... one of the main characters in "Nice Catching You". The story is about two high school seniors (Nick and Tyler) getting ready to go off to college and their dealing with their first love and their first sexual experiences. This is a short, sweet story with an ending that while sad, is preordained and sets things up for Nick's next chapter in life in "Nice Catching You". I really enjoyed the last few lines of the epilog (set two years in the future)... such a clever way to end this book. Apparently Tyler and Kevin reappear again in book #3... namely "Fire in the Ice".

Enjoyable series of books... and highly recommended.

This should have been book 1

I just finished Nice Catching You and was looking forward to the next book. I had to check Amazon because this seemed like a younger Nick Johnson’s story. I realized this is a prequel. I wish I read this first before Nick and Jacob’s. I love friends to lovers and I’m now wishing it should have been Nick and Tyler. Ugh.

The New Next One

𝘠𝘰𝘶’𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘹𝘪𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘐 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘬𝘯𝘦𝘸. 𝘠𝘰𝘶’𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘣𝘴𝘰𝘭𝘶𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘨𝘰𝘳𝘨𝘦𝘰𝘶𝘴, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘪𝘵’𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶-𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺, 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘳𝘦. 𝘕𝘰𝘣𝘰𝘥𝘺 𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘥𝘴 𝘢 𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘕𝘪𝘤𝘬 𝘑𝘰𝘩𝘯𝘴𝘰𝘯.

Nick and Tyler have been best friends since the start of prep school and have secretly crushed on each other for the entire time. Tyler finally gets the courage to say something and their relationship changes into something great but with college around the corner, they will need to make a tough decision.

I loved this look back into Nick and Tyler’s beginnings and getting to see what led to the future events. Although they are adorable together, I loved their individual stories. I would recommend reading this book first before the rest of the series but either way you read it, it is still enjoyable.

Nick J. Russo does another amazing job at bringing the characters and story to life.

The New Next One contains… mm, prep school, sports (hockey), first times, closeted, secret relationship, single first-person point of view.

4.5 Maple Leafs

Young love

It’s sweet seeing first time love bloom knowing how both MCs have their HEAs with other people within this series. First love is something to cherish for sure.

Nice little short story

Sweet and sad and explained a little about book one and book three relationships. Live the writing and the narration of this whole series. get them all!!!

Young love is always the hardest

What an incredible first, young love experience! Having only previously read Nick’s HEA, excites me to continue with the series for Tyler’s!

Now having a better understanding of Nick’s hesitancy with coming out, answered a lot of my own curiosity. My impatience for Tyler’s HEA has me rushing into the next book because Josh and Ryan broke me with this ending. Granted Tyler has met someone, there’s still an uncertainty of if he’s the one.

Loved it!

Ryan Taylor and Joshua Harwood have done it again. The New Next One is a heartwarming story that is full of hope, first love between two up and coming young hockey players, coming of age, and challenges. It is the prequel to Nice Catching You. I’ve read both stories and loved them both. The New Next One is a must listen and if you haven’t listened to Nice Catching You make sure you listen to that too. You won’t regret it.

Beautiful Story of First Loves and Hard Decisions

I’ve read and listened to Nice Catching You and simply adore Nick. I enjoyed learning about parts of his life that made him into the ‘Nick’ I met in Nice Catching you. If you haven’t met Nick, you can start here and then read Nice Catching. The books were written in a way you can read them in any order, or you can read them in order. Both ways are enjoyable ways to do it. It will just come down to a personal preference - particularly the first time you read them.

Even though this is a short book, nothing felt rushed or forced. We learn they’ve been friends for a long time, along with other tidbits I won’t spoil for you. This story felt genuine and sincere. It was full of all the idealism of youth we all remember, yet it touches elements of growing up, as they are both 18 years old. They’re about to embark on adulthood, so we witness the two stages merging.

This was a well-written story full of charm, laughter, first love, friendship, hope, and promise. As I’ve said, I adore Nick, and it wasn’t hard to like Tyler. Kevin was a fun surprise. These authors are truly talented, not only with their ability to create heartfelt and engaging stories but in developing wonderfully imperfect characters that are made perfect just the way they are. You can’t help but fall in love with them; you can’t help but want more.

I felt Russo did an excellent job capturing the strong emotions in this story. I felt everything while reading it, but it was even more intense in audio. I cannot express enough how much I love this series. It has me exercising my emotional range, and I love every minute of it!

This story is worth the credit

First I need to say Nick J. Russo is very good at his craft, he brought the MCs to life and gave this story heart.
Thank you Nick Russo for being so awesome. XoXo
This is a very good story, I like Nick even more now. His dream became a reality when he met Jacob on the bus 😊
I look look forward to Ty & Kevs story.
If your an emotional Man or Woman, be sure to have tissue handy, the last 15m broke my heart 💔