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.
House of Monstrous Women
Author: Daphne Fama
Released: August 12, 2025 by Berkley
Genre: Gothic, Horror, Mystery/ThrillerA young woman is drawn into a dangerous game after being invited to the mazelike home of her childhood friend, a rumored witch, in this gothic horror set in 1986 Philippines.
In this game, there’s one rule: survive.
Orphaned after her father’s political campaign ended in tragedy, Josephine is alone taking care of the family home while her older brother is off in Manila, where revolution brews. But an unexpected invitation from her childhood friend Hiraya to her house offers an escape….
Why don’t you come visit, and we can play games like we used to?
If Josephine wins, she’ll get whatever her heart desires. Her brother is invited, too, and it’s time they had a talk. Josephine’s heard the dark whispers: Hiraya is a witch and her family spits curses. But still, she’s just desperate enough to seize this chance to change her destiny.Except Ranoco house is strange—labyrinthine and dangerously close to a treacherous sea. A sickly-sweet smell clings to the dimly lit walls, and veiled eyes follow Josephine through endless connecting rooms. The air is tense with secrets and as the game continues it’s clear Josephine doesn’t have the whole truth.
To save herself, she will have to play to win. But in this house, victory is earned with blood.
A lush new voice in horror arises in this riveting gothic set against the upheaval of 1986 Philippines and the People Power Revolution.
Gothic horror with Filipino folklore!
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Author: Ursa Dax
Released: July 9, 2024 by Peace Weaver Press Inc.
Genre: Western, Romance, Science Fiction/Fantasy
Series: Cowboy Colony Mail-Order Brides #1A quiet alien cowboy, a human woman on the run, and one very messy marriage of convenience. What could possibly go wrong?
In debt and on the run from a crime lord whose nose I may or may not have broken, I take the first ticket off-world that comes my way. It’s an all-expenses-paid, one-way trip to an isolated ranching outpost.
The only catch?
I have to marry an alien cowboy.My plan is simple enough. Shack up with my groom Silar and convince him to keep me during the first month of our marriage. As long as he doesn’t decide to send me packing after the thirty-day trial period, I’ll be safe.
But maybe my plan isn’t so great after all. Silar talks more to his animals than he does to me, seems perplexed by every wifely duty I try to perform for him, and goes to offensively great lengths to avoid touching me.
Other than his eyes glowing bright white every time he looks at me, I have no idea what’s going on in my new husband’s head. Meanwhile, he shows me in subtle, wordless ways just how good a man he can be when he thinks that no one’s watching.
Yup. My plan officially sucks. Because now, it’s not just my life at risk if Silar sends me away after thirty days…
It’s my stupid human heart.
Welcome to the cowboy colony planet, where men outnumber women ten to one and cattle outnumber them all…
I’m getting Ice Planet Barbarians but make it Western.
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Author: Natasha Pulley
Released: March 19, 2024 by Bloomsbury Publishing
Genre: LGBTQIA, Romance, Science Fiction/FantasyA compulsively readable queer sci-fi novel about a marriage of convenience between a Mars politician and an Earth refugee.
Named a Best Book of 2024 by The Washington Post * Amazon * Book Riot * LitHub * Paste Magazine * HuffPost
In the wake of an environmental catastrophe, January, once a principal in London’s Royal Ballet, has become a refugee in Tharsis, the terraformed colony on Mars. There, January’s life is dictated by his status as an Earthstronger-a person whose body is not adjusted to lower gravity and so poses a danger to those born on, or naturalized to, Mars. January’s job choices, housing, and even transportation are dictated by this second-class status, and now a xenophobic politician named Aubrey Gale is running on a platform that would make it all worse: Gale wants all Earthstrongers to naturalize, a process that is always disabling and sometimes deadly.
When Gale chooses January for an on-the-spot press junket interview that goes horribly awry, January’s life is thrown into chaos, but Gale’s political fortunes are damaged, too. Gale proposes a solution to both their problems: a five year made-for-the-press marriage that would secure January’s future without naturalization and ensure Gale’s political success. But when January accepts the offer, he discovers that Gale is not at all like they appear in the press. They’re kind, compassionate, and much more difficult to hate than January would prefer. As their romantic relationship develops, the political situation worsens, and January discovers Gale has an enemy, someone willing to destroy all of Tharsis to make them pay-and January may be the only person standing in the way.
Un-put-downably immersive and utterly timely, Natasha Pulley’s new novel is a gripping story about privilege, strength, and life across class divisions, perfect for readers of Sarah Gailey and Tamsyn Muir.
Elyse posted about this one in our slack with just the words “Queer fake marriage ballet sci fi.” What a lovely combo of words.
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Author: L.K. Steven
Released: July 29, 2025 by Del Rey
Genre: Romance, Science Fiction/Fantasy
Series: Silvercloak Saga #1In this addictive new fantasy series set in a world where magic is fueled by pleasure and pain, an obsessive detective infiltrates a brutal gang of dark mages—knowing that one wrong move will get her killed. . . .
“A dazzling (and frequently sizzling) new fantasy.” —Kiersten White, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Lucy Undying
Two decades ago, the Bloodmoons ruthlessly murdered Saffron Killoran’s parents, destroying her idyllic childhood. Hell-bent on revenge, she lies her way into Silvercloak Academy—the training ground for her city’s elite order of detectives—with a single goal: to bring the Bloodmoons to justice.
But when Saff’s deception is exposed, rather than being cast out, she’s given a rare opportunity: to go undercover and tear the Bloodmoons down from the inside.
Descending into a world where pleasure and pain are the most powerful currencies, Saff must commit some truly heinous deeds to keep her cover—and her life. Not only are there rival gangs and sinister smuggling rings to contend with, but there’s also her growing feelings for the kingpin’s tortured son, with his vicious pet fallowwolf, his dark past, and the curious prophecy foretelling his death at Saffron’s hand.
With each day testing her loyalties further, Saff finds her web of lies becoming harder to spin. And when one false step could destroy everything and everyone she’s ever loved . . . the detective who’s dedicated her life to vengeance just might die for it.
Book One of the Silvercloak Saga
“Magic is fueled by pleasure and pain” gives me slight Kushiel’s Dart vibes, and I see that as a good thing.
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The only one of these I have read is The Mars House but I absolutely super recommend.
Pulley has written several books that feel gratifyingly geared towards my personal interests – queer fake marriage ballet scifi sounds like someone went fishing in my dreams. Solzhenitsyn but make it gay romance? I can’t tell you how many people have mystifyingly not been interested in that description, not even with a pet octopus. Pet octopus! Quick, mashup The Bacchae and the Trojan war, kkw needs a book about ptsd and Dionysus with a happy ending.
Nothing is perfect, mind. I don’t love how she writes women characters, and if you are sensitive towards fridging you might want to be careful with her work. I don’t remember if it wasn’t a problem in this one or if I hadn’t read enough of her books to see it as a pattern.
But if you find yourself even mildly intrigued by the back cover copy of one of her books, rest assured it’s like a gentle angst coated dopamine pill of whatever is promised on the tin.
ALL THE SCI FI MOC!!!! Thank you!
Oh, some of these look fuuun!
Has anyone read the Alien Cowboy one? I’m curious about how baby-centric it is. I would love to read the Ice Planet Barbarian books, but they are too baby focused for my taste.
@DangerNoodle, I haven’t read them but it appears 2 other books in the same series are on Hoopla
Mars House was a DNF for me and the rare 1-star DNF (I usually don’t rate my DNFs). I started to get eugenics vibes early on and also struggled with world building that seemed to rely on a reverse racism/colonialism theme where white people are refugees who lack full citizenship rights living in a Chinese Mars colony. The negative reviews on GR note stuff that other readers (including POC readers) found problematic that I didn’t read far enough to encounter. But the reviews are all over the place — the positive reviews are absolutely gushing. I was really intrigued the first chapter or two; I wanted to like it! But it quickly turned in a direction I did not want to follow. YMMV.
@squee_me, thanks for pointing that out… I read some more reviews and think I’m going to pass, alas.
@squee_me @flchen1 Pulley is at best problematic and I would never fault anyone for avoiding her work. I am adding a few other (spoilery) caveats, because you’ve reminded me that they are absolutely called for! In no particular order:
If you need the science in sci fi to work, this doesn’t. The way gender works here, well, it also doesn’t imo, but the best case scenario is that there is a lot of misgendering and misunderstanding on the road to a ‘my gender only matters if we’re fucking’ endgame so. Yeah. That’s a big ol minefield. I don’t remember any female characters in this at all, but if there are any I’m sure warnings for misogyny apply. There is a lot of racism in the future, and some of it is explicitly there to be fought against but some of it may just be embedded in the author’s worldbuilding because it’s there in her actual perspective, and either way readers might want to steer clear. Pulley has a lot of fascist love interests, which is …concerning, shall we say, definitely worrisome once, much less as a trend. I personally don’t think that xenophobic eugenicist politicians get redeemed, even if told off by telepathic Martian woolly mammoths, but I enjoyed the fantasy. YMMV. My *hope* is that she is playing at the extreme edge of a wouldn’t it be nice if fix-it, but there are absolutely legit concerns that it’s just apologies and normalizing of this bullshit. Iirc the ending involves a *really nice* refugee detention center. I am not making any of this up, but it’s been a while since I read it. One of the characters spends time in prison, and most of his time in a (wearable) cage, so definitely heads up for that. There’s a real control dynamic thing, what with one character owning the key to the other’s cage. The ballet dancer almost certainly has body dysmorphia/fat phobia. What else? I was actually impressed that there was still an earth to be evacuated a few hundred years in the future but certainly the climate crisis apocalypse might get one down. I am sure I am forgetting things. There is a *lot*. Pulley’s books are batshit! This is one of the most wtf of all her wtfery, which is a thing I really enjoy but it was irresponsible and lazy of me to recommend without drawing more attention to that.
Dangernoodle, I love the alien cowboys series and no babies.
Thanks @kkw for your thoughtful comment! I think it’s good for readers to go into this book forewarned. What initially took me out of the story was the suggestion that evolution can happen in seven generations. That’s not really how evolution works, and imo it’s dangerous, and veers toward eugenics, to suggest it can. I thought the writing style was quite lovely, and the world building is strong, I just didn’t want to spend time in the world she built. I do wonder if I might like one of her other books better.
Thank you for the additional thoughts, @kkw! Very helpful!
The Mars House was a wall-throwing DNF for me. It started out strong—I’ll give it that. I found the first chapter really compelling. But everything that happens on Mars? Huge no thank you from me.
I couldn’t get passed the first 50 pages of Mars House. It fully enraged me.