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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Ace of Spades
Author: Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé
Released: June 1, 2021 by Feiwel & Friends
Genre: Mystery/Thriller, Young AdultAn incendiary and utterly compelling thriller with a shocking twist that delves deep into the heart of institutionalized racism, from an exceptional new YA voice. Welcome to Niveus Private Academy, where money paves the hallways, and the students are never less than perfect. Until now. Because anonymous texter, Aces, is bringing two students’ dark secrets to light. Talented musician Devon buries himself in rehearsals, but he can’t escape the spotlight when his private photos go public. Head girl Chiamaka isn’t afraid to get what she wants, but soon everyone will know the price she has paid for power. Someone is out to get them both. Someone who holds all the aces. And they’re planning much more than a high-school game..
Source: @Faridahliketea on Twitter
I’ve seen marketing copy where it says this has some Get Out vibes and I’m interested!
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Key to Your Heart
Author: Necole Ryse
Released: February 20, 2021 by Necole Ryse Enterprises
Genre: Mystery/Thriller, NovellaJaimee Holloway never thought she’d spend ten weeks on a private island competing for a man, especially not international R&B superstar Pierre “Key” Heart. But when she wakes up on his bedroom floor, bruised and covered in blood, she realizes that someone will stop at nothing for a chance at love.
Shaundra Belle couldn’t care less about a TV show. She wants one thing, and one thing only: to leave paradise with her man by her side. With her eyes set on the prize, she won’t let anyone stand in her way. How far will she go to get her happily ever after?
Identical twins Wednesday and Friday Mann are all about securing the bag. When Friday is presented with an offer she can’t refuse, she ends up with more than she bargained for. Can Wednesday, her overprotective sister, save her again without revealing her own secrets? Or does she have too much to lose this time?
With the walls closing in, can the four women come together to figure out who killed the King of R&B? Or is the killer hiding in plain sight?
Key To My Heart is a reality show whodunit that will leave you guessing until the very end!
Source: @NecoleRyse on Twitter
A murder mystery set on a reality show!
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Sacrifice
Author: Katee Robert
Released: September 24, 2020
Genre: Erotica/Erotic Romance, Paranormal, Romance
Series: Bloodline Vampires #1All my life, I’ve wanted nothing more than to escape my father’s compound. Half human, half vampire, I have none of the perks and all of the weaknesses. Well, my father’s finally found a use for me. He’s sent me to Malachi Zion, the last vampire in his family. My role is to play resident blood bank and, should Malachi knock me up, my father gets access to a whole new bloodline to control.
No one asks me what I want.
But the longer I spend with Malachi, the more I realize that he’s not the monster I first thought, which makes it harder to resist the heat that flares between us. And then his two friends show up and complicate things exponentially.
As long as we’re stuck in this house together, I’m a trap just waiting to be sprung. But if we break free, there’s nothing holding these vampires to me…
In gaining the one thing I want more than anything—my freedom—I might just lose everything.
CW: Dubious consent, blood play, breeding, abusive parent (father), cliffhanger
Source: @Katee_Robert on Twitter
You had me at “MMMF” and vampires, Katee!
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Under a Winter Sky
Author: Jeffe Kennedy
Released: November 19, 2020 by Brightlynx Publishing
Genre: Fantasy/Fairy Tale Romance, Paranormal, Romance, Science Fiction/FantasyFive powerhouse authors of fantasy and urban fantasy bring you a feast of romantic midwinter holiday adventures. These heartwarming and pulse-pounding tales celebrate Hanukah, Christmas, the solstice, Yule – and holidays from worlds beyond our own. With fancy-dress balls, faery bargains, time travel, blood sacrifice, and festive cocktails, these stories will delight lovers of fantasy and romance, with a dash of seasonal joy.
Ballgowns & Butterflies by Kelley Armstrong
The North Yorkshire moors are always a magical place, but they’re particularly enchanting at the holidays…especially if one gets to travel back in time to a Victorian Christmas. For Bronwyn Dale, it is the stuff of dreams. Fancy-dress balls, quirky small-town traditions, even that classic one-horse open sleigh, complete with jingle bells. There’s just the tiny problem of the Butterfly Effect. How does a time-traveler make a difference without disrupting the future forever?
The Long Night of the Crystalline Moon, a prequel novella to Heirs of Magic, by Jeffe Kennedy
Shapeshifter Prince Rhyian doesn’t especially want to spend the Feast of Moranu at Castle Ordnung. First of all, it’s literally freezing there, an uncomfortable change from the tropical paradise of his home. Secondly, it’s a mossback castle which means thick walls and too many rules. Thirdly, his childhood playmate and current nemesis, Lena, will be there. Not exactly a cause for celebration.
Princess Salena Nakoa KauPo nearly wriggled out of traveling to Ordnung with her parents, but her mother put her foot down declaring that, since everyone who ever mattered to her was going to be there to celebrate the 25th year of High Queen Ursula’s reign, Lena can suffer through a feast and a ball for one night. Of course, “everyone” includes the sons and daughters of her parents’ friends, and it also means that Rhyian, insufferable Prince of the Tala, will attend.
But on this special anniversary year, Moranu’s sacred feast falls on the long night of the crystalline moon—and Rhy and Lena discover there’s more than a bit of magic in the air.
Blood Martinis and Mistletoe by Melissa Marr
Half-dead witch Geneviève Crowe makes her living beheading the dead–and spends her free time trying not to get too attached to her business partner, Eli Stonecroft, a faery in self-imposed exile in New Orleans. With a killer at her throat and a blood martini in her hand, Gen accepts what seems like a straight-forward faery bargain, but soon realizes that if she can’t figure out a way out of this faery bargain, she’ll be planning a wedding after the holidays.
Echoes of Ash & Tears, an Earthsinger Chronicles Novella, by L. Penelope
Brought to live among the Cavefolk as an infant, Mooriah has long sought to secure her place in the clan and lose her outsider status. She’s a powerful blood mage, and when the chieftain’s son asks for help securing the safety of the clan, she agrees. But though she’s long been drawn to the warrior, any relationship between the two is forbidden. The arrival of a mysterious stranger with a tempting offer tests her loyalties, and when betrayal looms, will Mooriah’s secrets and hidden power put the future she’s dreamed of—and her adopted home—in jeopardy.
A Memory Of Summer, a Wraith Kings Novelette, by Grace Draven
Spinsterhood has never bothered or embarrassed the independent Emerence Ipsan, and the winter festival of Delyalda keeps her far too busy managing her father’s shops to worry about matters as trivial as marriage.
Until the arrival of a young Quereci warrior with old eyes and an admiring gaze makes her question that notion.
Source: Lesley Penelope on Instagram
Now this is my kind of holiday romance!
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I did not know CD Reiss, one of my favorite writers, had published a new book (this is what I get for not being on social media), but by chance I saw MAFIA BRIDE—first book in Reiss’s DiLustro Arrangement trilogy—had dropped on March 16, so I immediately grabbed it. Reiss is always good at taking tropes—in this case, forced/arrange mafia marriage—and putting her own unique spin on things. So far, the book is on the darker side of Reiss’s work and there are obviously going to be some challenging times ahead for the heroine—a nursing student suddenly forced into a marriage with the mafia capo of her Italian-American community.
Interesting picks; Key to Your Heart is on my TBR pile.