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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.

  • A Flame in the North

    A Flame in the North by Lilith Saintcrow

    Author: Lilith Saintcrow
    Released:
    February 13, 2024 by
    Orbit
    Genre:
    Science Fiction/Fantasy
    Series: Black Land’s Bane #1

    From New York Times bestselling author Lilith Saintcrow comes the first book in a thrilling Norse-inspired epic trilogy about ancient myth and magical destiny.

    The Black Land is a myth: Centuries have passed since that Great Enemy was slain. Yet old fears linger, and on the longest night of the year, people in the South still light ritual bonfires to banish the dark.

    In her village, this duty falls to Solveig, a girl favored by the gods with powerful fire magic. But when her brother kills a Northern lord’s son during the ritual, it is Sol who faces punishment, by being weregild—part hostage, part guest—in the North for a year and a day.

    As she journeys to her captivity, Sol starts to realize that the Black Land is no myth. The forests teem with foul beasts. Her travel companions are not what they seem, and their plans for her magic are shrouded in secrecy.

    With only her loyal shieldmaiden and her own wits to rely upon, Sol must learn to master her powers and wrest control of her fate. For the Black Land’s army stirs, ready to cover the world in darkness—unless Sol can find the courage to stop it.

    Lilith Saintcrow, who I’m familiar with through her urban fantasy novels in the early 2000s, is now writing epic fantasy!

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  • A Step Past Darkness

    A Step Past Darkness by Vera Kurian

    Author: Vera Kurian
    Released:
    February 20, 2024 by
    Park Row
    Genre:
    Mystery/Thriller

    SIX CLASSMATES. ONE TERRIFYING NIGHT. A MURDER TWENTY YEARS IN THE MAKING…

    There’s something sinister under the surface of the idyllic, suburban town of Wesley Falls, and it’s not just the abandoned coal mine that lies beneath it. The summer of 1995 kicks off with a party in the mine where six high school students witness a horrifying crime that changes the course of their lives.

    The six couldn’t be more different.

    • Maddy, a devout member of the local megachurch
    • Kelly, the bookworm next door
    • James, a cynical burnout
    • Casey, a loveable football player
    • Padma, the shy straight-A student
    • Jia, who’s starting to see visions she can’t explain

    When they realize that they can’t trust anyone but each other, they begin to investigate what happened on their own. As tensions escalate in town to a breaking point, the six make a vow of silence, bury all their evidence, and promise to never contact each other again. Their plan works – almost.

    Twenty years later, Jia calls them all back to Wesley Falls—Maddy has been murdered, and they are the only ones who can uncover why. But to end things, they have to return to the mine one last time.

    Kurian’s previous thriller was pretty good, but my thriller-loving friends seem divided on this one after reading their respective reviews on Goodreads.

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  • Death in the Spires

    Death in the Spires by KJ Charles

    The newspapers called us the Seven Wonders. We were a group of friends, that’s all, and then Toby died. Was killed. Murdered.

    1905. A decade after the grisly murder of Oxford student Toby Feynsham, the case remains hauntingly unsolved. For Jeremy Kite, the crime not only stole his best friend, it destroyed his whole life. When an anonymous letter lands on his desk, accusing him of having killed Toby, Jem becomes obsessed with finally uncovering the truth.

    Jem begins to track down the people who were there the night Toby died – a close circle of friends once known as the ‘Seven Wonders’ for their charm and talent – only to find them as tormented and broken as himself. All of them knew and loved Toby at Oxford. Could one of them really be his killer?

    As Jem grows closer to uncovering what happened that night, his pursuer grows bolder, making increasingly terrifying attempts to silence him for good. Will exposing Toby’s killer put to rest the shadows that have darkened Jem’s life for so long? Or will the gruesome truth only put him in more danger?

    Some secrets are better left buried…

    From the bestselling, acclaimed author of The Magpie Lord and The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen comes a chilling historical mystery with a sting in the tail. You won’t be able to put this gripping story down!

    KJ Charles has a historical mystery coming out and I expected way more buzz! 

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  • Never Been Better

    Never Been Better by Leanne Toshiko Simpson

    A hilariously offbeat and tender comedy about one bipolar woman’s messy search for love at a seaside wedding where no one can stay afloat.

    Is she falling in love, or falling apart?

    Dee, Misa, and Matt were the “three musketeers” of the psych ward. A year after discharge, Dee is eager to convince everyone that she’s finally turning things around. But Matt and Misa are tying the knot in Turks and Caicos, surrounded by guests who have no idea where they met, and the secrecy isn’t sitting well with Dee, who has been hopelessly in love with Matt since before she got kicked out of the hospital.

    So, when Dee arrives at the swanky resort with her high-voltage sister, Tilley, it’s now or never to confess how she feels. But disrupting her best friends’ nuptials would jeopardize the entire support system that holds the trio together. When it comes to happily ever afters, how is a girl supposed to choose between love and recovery?

    Introducing a sparkling new voice in commercial fiction, Never Been Better revels in the heartache and hilarity of falling in love when you haven’t quite figured out how to live with yourself.

    This may be more women’s fiction than contemporary romance, but I’m drawn to the main character’s bipolar representation. The author herself has also been open about her bipolar diagnosis. 

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