Welcome to Book Beat!
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.
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A Pho Love Story
Author: Loan Le
Released: February 9, 2021 by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Genre: Contemporary Romance, Romance, Young AdultWhen Dimple Met Rishi meets Ugly Delicious in this funny, smart romantic comedy, in which two Vietnamese-American teens fall in love and must navigate their newfound relationship amid their families’ age-old feud about their competing, neighboring restaurants.
If Bao Nguyen had to describe himself, he’d say he was a rock. Steady and strong, but not particularly interesting. His grades are average, his social status unremarkable. He works at his parents’ pho restaurant, and even there, he is his parents’ fifth favorite employee. Not ideal.
If Linh Mai had to describe herself, she’d say she was a firecracker. Stable when unlit, but full of potential for joy and spark and fire. She loves art and dreams pursuing a career in it. The only problem? Her parents rely on her in ways they’re not willing to admit, including working practically full-time at her family’s pho restaurant.
For years, the Mais and the Nguyens have been at odds, having owned competing, neighboring phở restaurants. Bao and Linh, who’ve avoided each other for most of their lives, both suspect that the feud stems from feelings much deeper than friendly competition.
But then a chance encounter brings Linh and Bao together despite their best efforts and sparks fly, leading them both to wonder what took so long for them to connect. But then, of course, they immediately remember.
Can Linh and Bao find love in the midst of feuding families and complicated histories?
Source: Anticipated reads thread from @magical_reads on Twitter
I am always here for any enemies-to-lovers foodie setup.
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Guarding His Heart
Author: Synithia Williams
Released: July 1, 2018 by Harlequin Kimani Romance
Genre: Contemporary Romance, Romance
Series: Scoring for Love #3Sizzling-hot basketball star Kevin Koucky plans to end his career with a bang by posing au naturel in a magazine feature. When photographer Jasmin Hook agrees to take the assignment, she never expects the risqué photo shoot to end with a sensual slam dunk. But the handsome athlete comes with children and an ex-wife—emotional baggage Jasmin can’t handle. Little does she know that Kevin always plays to win…
Source: @SynithiaW on Twitter
Synithia promises sexy banter, as well as a tatted hero and a pierced heroine.
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In the Vanishers’ Palace
Author: Aliette de Bodard
Released: October 16, 2018 by JABberwocky Literary Agency, Inc.
Genre: LGBTQIA, Novella, Science Fiction/FantasyFrom the award-winning author of the Dominion of the Fallen series comes a dark retelling of Beauty and the Beast.
In a ruined, devastated world, where the earth is poisoned and beings of nightmares roam the land…
A woman, betrayed, terrified, sold into indenture to pay her village’s debts and struggling to survive in a spirit world.
A dragon, among the last of her kind, cold and aloof but desperately trying to make a difference.
When failed scholar Yên is sold to Vu Côn, one of the last dragons walking the earth, she expects to be tortured or killed for Vu Côn’s amusement.
But Vu Côn, it turns out, has a use for Yên: she needs a scholar to tutor her two unruly children. She takes Yên back to her home, a vast, vertiginous palace-prison where every door can lead to death. Vu Côn seems stern and unbending, but as the days pass Yên comes to see her kinder and caring side. She finds herself dangerously attracted to the dragon who is her master and jailer. In the end, Yên will have to decide where her own happiness lies—and whether it will survive the revelation of Vu Côn’s dark, unspeakable secrets…
Source: @aliettedb on Twitter
“Dark Beauty and the Beast f/f retelling, Vietnamese style, with a dragon.”
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They Never Learn
Author: Layne Fargo
Released: October 13, 2020 by Gallery/Scout Press
Genre: Mystery/ThrillerFrom the author of the “raw, ingenious, and utterly fearless” (Wendy Walker, USA TODAY bestselling author) Temper comes a dynamic psychological thriller about two women who give bad men exactly what they deserve.
Scarlett Clark is an exceptional English professor. But she’s even better at getting away with murder.
Every year, she searches for the worst man at Gorman University and plots his well-deserved demise. Thanks to her meticulous planning, she’s avoided drawing attention to herself—but as she’s preparing for her biggest kill yet, the school starts probing into the growing body count on campus. Determined to keep her enemies close, Scarlett insinuates herself into the investigation and charms the woman in charge, Dr. Mina Pierce. Everything’s going according to her master plan…until she loses control with her latest victim, putting her secret life at risk of exposure.
Meanwhile, Gorman student Carly Schiller is just trying to survive her freshman year. Finally free of her emotionally abusive father, all Carly wants is to focus on her studies and fade into the background. Her new roommate has other ideas. Allison Hadley is cool and confident—everything Carly wishes she could be—and the two girls quickly form an intense friendship. So when Allison is sexually assaulted at a party, Carly becomes obsessed with making the attacker pay…and turning her fantasies about revenge into a reality.
Featuring Layne Fargo’s trademark “propulsive writing style” (Kirkus Reviews) and “sinister, of the moment” (Chicago Review of Books) suspense, They Never Learn is a feminist serial killer story perfect for fans of Killing Eve and Chelsea Cain.
Source: SB Sarah!
She was telling me about this one on a Twitch stream last week! It sounds amazing and cathartic. I think it’d be great for people who liked Jane Doe.
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I’ve had a Pho Love Story on my TBR for awhile; excited to give it a read!
Adding Williams’ book as well!
I saw the review Carrie S wrote for HOW THE MULTIVERSE GOT ITS REVENGE by K. Eason and could have sworn I’d read the first book, HOW RORY THORNE DESTROYED THE MULTIVERSE. Lucky me, I hadn’t and now must squee about the joy that is that first book. It had everything I want–space, snark, emotion and complicated characters involved in a crazy-pants plot(s). So very enjoyable.
I loved In the Vanisher’s Palace! That was the book that really hooked me on de Bodard’s work.