Welcome to Book Beat! Think of Book Beat as Hide Your Wallet, Part Two!
In Hide Your Wallet, we talk about books coming out in a particular month that we really want to read. But there’s more to good books than just new releases!
Book Beat aims to highlight other books that we may hear about through friends, social media, or other sources. We could see a gorgeous ad! Or find a new-to-us author on a list of underrated romances! Think of Book Beat as Teen Beat or Tiger Beat, but for books. And no staples to open to get the fold-out poster.
Aisha
Author: Ikhlas Hussain
Released: August 3, 2016
Genre: Contemporary Romance, New Adult, RomanceTwenty-two year old Aisha Ali doesn’t believe in love. Or dating. What she does believe in is arranged marriage, and that’s exactly what she does at The Islamic Marriage Bureau: she matches people up. But when Adam Swift, a Muslim convert from Toronto, comes to small town Windsor Creek, Aisha’s views on men and marriage get shaken up.
When Adam proposes, Aisha rejects him in the same breath. (She’s of Pakistani background. He’s not. What would the aunties say?) Adam’s proposal forces Aisha to confront her prejudices, as she struggles to accept the man that her community never will. Torn between her Western upbringing and Eastern culture, Aisha sets out to change cultural expectations and maybe find herself along the way.
Source: Zoe York on Twitter
Muslim Emma retelling!
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As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
We also may use affiliate links in our posts, as well. Thanks!Diamond City
Author: Francesca Flores
Released: January 28, 2020 by Wednesday Books
Genre: Science Fiction/Fantasy, Young Adult
Series: The City of Diamond and Steel #1Good things don’t happen to girls who come from nothing…unless they risk everything.
Fierce and ambitious, Aina Solís as sharp as her blade and as mysterious as the blood magic she protects. After the murder of her parents, Aina takes a job as an assassin to survive and finds a new family in those like her: the unwanted and forgotten.
Her boss is brutal and cold, with a questionable sense of morality, but he provides a place for people with nowhere else to go. And makes sure they stay there.
DIAMOND CITY: built by magic, ruled by tyrants, and in desperate need of saving. It is a world full of dark forces and hidden agendas, old rivalries and lethal new enemies.
To claim a future for herself in a world that doesn’t want her to survive, Aina will have to win a game of murder and conspiracy—and risk losing everything.
Full of action, romance and dark magic, book one of Francesca Flores’ breathtaking fantasy duology will leave readers eager for more!
Source: Francesca Flores on Twitter
Bi Latinx YA fantasy heroine!
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As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
We also may use affiliate links in our posts, as well. Thanks!The McAvoy Sisters Book of Secrets
Author: Molly Fader
Released: July 16, 2019 by Graydon House
Genre: Literary FictionWhat drove their family apart just might bring them back together…
It’s been seventeen years since the tragic summer the McAvoy sisters fell apart. Lindy, the wild one, left home, carved out a new life in the city and never looked back. Delia, the sister who stayed, became a mother herself, raising her daughters and running the family shop in their small Pennsylvania hometown on the shores of Lake Erie.
But now, with their mother’s ailing health and a rebellious teenager to rein in, Delia has no choice but to welcome Lindy home. As the two sisters try to put their family back in order, they finally have the chance to reclaim what’s been lost over the years: for Delia, professional dreams and a happy marriage, and for Lindy, a sense of home and an old flame–and best of all, each other.
But when one turbulent night leads to a shocking revelation, the women must face the past they’ve avoided for a decade. And there’s nothing like an old secret to bring the McAvoy women back together and stronger than ever.
With warm affection and wry wit, Molly Fader’s The McAvoy Sisters Book of Secrets is about the ties that bind family and the power of secrets to hold us back or set us free.
Source: Molly O’Keefe on Goodreads
Meet Molly’s new pen name for contemporary fiction!
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As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
We also may use affiliate links in our posts, as well. Thanks!Sisters of the Vast Black
Author: Lina Rather
Released: October 29, 2019 by Tor.com
Genre: Novella, Science Fiction/FantasyThe sisters of the Order of Saint Rita captain their living ship into the reaches of space.
Years ago, Old Earth sent forth sisters and brothers into the vast dark of the prodigal colonies armed only with crucifixes and iron faith. Now, the sisters of the Order of Saint Rita are on an interstellar mission of mercy aboard Our Lady of Impossible Constellations, a living, breathing ship which seems determined to develop a will of its own.
When the order receives a distress call from a newly-formed colony, the sisters discover that the bodies and souls in their care—and that of the galactic diaspora—are in danger. And not from void beyond, but from the nascent Central Governance and the Church itself.
Source: Tor.com on Twitter
I saw “nuns in space.”
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Hello Molly O’keefe’s new pen name, delighted to meet you.
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Zoe York, the writer who made the AISHA recommendation, writes very good small town (including the Pine Harbour series) and SEAL romances. They lean toward the quiet/slow-burn end of the spectrum. Under her alternate pen name of Ainsley Booth, she writes much “spicier” stories, including the Frisky Beavers and Forbidden Bodyguards series.
I read AISHA and thought it was outstanding, a view into Canadian-Pakistani life that was all new to me. I particularly loved Adam’s commitment to Islam and Aisha’s really hard work to understand her own biases. There may have been tears, ultimately very satisfying.
So Aisha looks fabulous to me BUT I actively hate Emma and don’t tend to like retellings even of novels I enjoy, although there are exceptions. Can anyone tell me how much Aisha is like Emma as a book, and as a character, so I can manage my expectations going in?
@kkw: IIRC, the hardest part for me was Aisha’s rejection of Adam and her absolute insistence that she knew what was best for one of her clients. I don’t remember anything of EMMA, but this was my take on AISHA.
@kkw: Sorry, I don’t want to give the impression I didn’t like the book because I really did. The two things I mentioned just hurt to read. YMMV.