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 Wolf for a Spell
Author: Karah Sutton
Released: December 1, 2020 by Knopf Books for Young Readers
Genre: Middle Grade, Science Fiction/FantasyThe Girl Who Drank the Moon meets Pax in this fantastical tale of a wolf who forms an unlikely alliance with Baba Yaga to save the forest from a wicked tsar.
Since she was a pup, Zima has been taught to fear humans—especially witches—but when her family is threatened, she has no choice but to seek help from the witch Baba Yaga.
Baba Yaga never does magic for free, but it just so happens that she needs a wolf’s keen nose for a secret plan she’s brewing… Before Zima knows what’s happening, the witch has cast a switching spell and run off into the woods, while Zima is left behind in Baba Yaga’s hut—and Baba Yaga’s body!
Meanwhile, a young village girl named Nadya is also seeking the witch’s help, and when she meets Zima (in Baba Yaga’s form), they discover that they face a common enemy. With danger closing in, Zima must unite the wolves, the witches and the villagers against an evil that threatens them all.
Source: @KitLitKat on Twitter
A middle grade debut with characters befriending Baba Yaga. The cover is gorgeous in person.
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His Beauty
Author: Jack Harbon
Released: November 17, 2020
Genre: Erotica/Erotic Romance, Fantasy/Fairy Tale Romance, RomanceAn act of sacrifice and the consequences that follow.
When Isla’s father doesn’t return home on time, she’s certain something is wrong. A deft pickpocket his whole life, it’s unlike him to take so long on a run. It isn’t until her sister informs her of where he went that Isla understands just how much danger he’s put himself in.
Highburn Hold.
The castle no man or woman dare enter on their own. Ruled by a bloodthirsty abomination with a cruel streak and penchant for imprisonment. Finding her sickly father locked in one of the cells in Highburn’s dungeon, she knows in order to save him, she must offer the beast something else.
Something her father cannot.
Something the beast is hungry for.
Source: @JackHarbon on Twitter
I know Beauty and the Beast retellings are always of interested to the Bitchery.
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Paws and Prejudice
Author: Alanna Martin
Released: June 29, 2021 by Berkley
Genre: Contemporary Romance, Romance
Series: Hearts of Alaska #2It’s up to a trio of adorable rescue huskies to make two lonely hearts in a coastal Alaskan town realize that true love is worth too much to turn tail and run.
Glaciers have nothing on Kelsey Porter when she decides to freeze someone out. After getting burned once, she’s not about to let it happen again. And right now all that icy contempt is focused on one annoyingly attractive and entitled interloper: Ian Roth. Not only is he looking to take advantage of her quaint, coastal community, tainting the small-town charm of Helen, Alaska, but he has committed the one crime she can never forgive–he doesn’t like her dogs.
Unlike what Kelsey believes, Ian loves Helen’s charms as much as she does. That’s partly why he’s determined to open a brewery there, and he’s not about to let anything or anyone stop his dream from coming true. But he didn’t count on the beautiful, prickly woman getting under his skin. Or having to be within hand-biting proximity of her three huge huskies.
When Kelsey’s family conscripts her into helping Ian get his brewery off the ground, she finds herself caught between a rock and a hard . . . muscular . . . man who has a fear of dogs. But the longer they work together, the more she can feel herself begin to thaw. Now she’ll have to choose: let sleeping dogs lie to protect her heart, or mush head-on toward love.
Source: @TA_Martin on Twitter
I love puns, enemies to lovers, and grumpy characters. Very curious about this one!
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Rosaline Palmer Takes the Cake
Author: Alexis Hall
Released: May 18, 2021 by Forever
Genre: Contemporary Romance, Romance
Series: Winner Bakes All #1Fans of Casey McQuiston, Christina Lauren, and Abby Jimenez will love this scrumptious and sweet romantic comedy from the “dizzyingly talented writer” of Boyfriend Material (Entertainment Weekly)!
Following the recipe is the key to a successful bake. Rosaline Palmer has always lived by those rules—well, except for when she dropped out of college to raise her daughter, Amelie. Now, with a paycheck as useful as greaseproof paper and a house crumbling faster than biscuits in tea, she’s teetering on the edge of financial disaster. But where there’s a whisk there’s a way . . . and Rosaline has just landed a spot on the nation’s most beloved baking show.
Winning the prize money would give her daughter the life she deserves—and Rosaline is determined to stick to the instructions. However, more than collapsing trifles stand between Rosaline and sweet, sweet victory. Suave, well-educated, and parent-approved Alain Pope knows all the right moves to sweep her off her feet, but it’s shy electrician Harry Dobson who makes Rosaline question her long-held beliefs—about herself, her family, and her desires.
Rosaline fears falling for Harry is a guaranteed recipe for disaster. Yet as the competition—and the ovens—heat up, Rosaline starts to realize the most delicious bakes come from the heart.
Source: Christina Lauren on Instagram
New Alexis Hall with a Great British Bake Off vibe!
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I loved His Beauty! It’s a Beauty and the Beast retelling where the Beast stays a beast.
I have HIS BEAUTY on the never-ending tbr list. I think I’m going to have to move it up a few notches.
I love the fact that Alexis Hall—who wrote one of the best, angstiest, most emotional (and explicit) m/m bdsm romances ever (FOR REAL) has now achieved fame as a writer of almost-closed-door rom-coms. It shows his range as a writer and the romance genre’s range of style & subject matter.
Wait, @DiscoDollyDeb – “wrote one of the best, angstiest, most emotional (and explicit) m/m bdsm romances ever”: color me interested! Which one is that one??
@Shawna: I realized after I posted my comment that it appeared I was saying FOR REAL to intensify my comment, but that’s actually the name of the book: FOR REAL. Lol. It’s a beautifully-written m/m bdsm romance with an age gap (almost 20 years) and, surprisingly, the younger man is the dom. It was one of my favorite reads of the year I read it (2018 or 2019). Highly recommended.
https://www.amazon.com/Real-Spires-Book-3-ebook/dp/B07BRD69LV/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=alexis+hall+for+real&qid=1610835470&sr=8-3
Funny, the Fated Mates podcast *just* released an episode about Hall’s For Real which made new realize I needed to go back to it. I’d started it when I was not in a headspace to handle it and left it unfinished.
Their conversation was eally interesting (& they both loved the book).
Yep, His Beauty is on my TBR pile. I’ll see how it works for me!
So I love my dog more than anything and am a huge animal lover so I don’t want to read a book in which someone gets rid of her dogs bc she’s dating a man who is afraid of them (seems very unlikely that is the plot). But I also feel like I don’t like the other option of having someone who is afraid of dogs just get over it for love? I’m tired and don’t know if I can properly explain why it doesn’t seem to sit right with me but it doesn’t. I think it would be different if it was “isn’t as big of an animal lover” vs what is described as an actual fear…
@DiscoDollyDeb I really did take it as glowing enthusiasm – thank you!