Book Beat: Mafia Romance, Historical Fiction, and More

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Welcome to Book Beat!

Book Beat aims to highlight other books we hear about from friends, social media, or other sources. We might see a great ad! Or find a new 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.

In a class of its own

Author: Kaia Alderson
Issued:
August 6, 2024 by William Morrow Paperbacks
Genre:
Historical: American

From the author of Sisters in Arms follows the incredible, untold story of Effa Manley, a Black businesswoman in the male-dominated baseball industry and currently the only woman inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

1930s, New York

The husband of an ambitious Harlem woman turns her social climb upside down when he buys a Negro Leagues baseball team and makes her the team’s business manager. Overnight, Effa Manley goes from civil rights champion of 125th Street to an interloper in the boys’ club that is professional baseball.

Navigating gentlemen’s agreements contracts, the very public flirtatious antics of superstar Satchel Paige, and a sports world that would much rather see this woman back in her “place” at home, Effa eventually whips her team, the Newark Eagles, into the 1946 Negro Leagues Champions. But how long will she be able to enjoy the fruits of her success before Major League Baseball tears everything apart?

Based on the incredible life of Effa Manley. An unforgettable and inspiring story about a woman with a dream who ended up on a baseball team.

Historical fiction about Effa Manley, who became part owner of the Newark Eagles Negro League baseball franchise in the 1930s.

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Mafia Mistress

FAUSTO

I am the darkness, the man whose illegal empire spans the globe. Not many have the courage to do what must be done to hold on to power…but I do.

And I always get what I want, including my son’s fiancée.

She is mine now, and I will use Francesca in any way I see fit. She is the perfect match for my twisted desires, and I will keep her close, ready and waiting at my disposal.

Even if she resists me every step of the way.

FRANSENCA

I was kidnapped and held captive in Italy, as a bride for the sole heir of a mafia king.

Except I am not innocent, and it is the king himself—the man called Il Diavolo—who speaks to me in sinful ways I could never have imagined. Fausto’s wickedness draws me in, his power like a drug.

And if the devil decides he wants me, I cannot resist him, even if it means giving myself to him body and soul.

He may think he can control me, but this king is now going to find out who’s really in charge.

MAFIA MISTRESS is a full length mafia romance written by a USA Today Bestselling author. It is the first book in the Italian Kings duet, **not** a standalone.

Did you know that Joanna Shupe writes mafia romances under a different pseudonym? Well, now you do!

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Night owls

In this thrilling, folklore-steeped paranormal YA romance debut, two estries (owl-shaping female vampires from the Jewish tradition) battle New York’s monstrous underworld to save the girl one of them loves, with help from the boy one of them fears, before they are all lost forever.

Clara loves rules. Rules are what have kept her and her sister, Molly, alive—or, rather, undead—for over a century. Working in their historic movie theater by day. Transforming into owls under cover of night. Feeding on men in secret. And never fall in love.

Molly is in love. And she is tired of keeping her friend Anat a secret. If Clara won’t agree to bend their rules a little, she will bend them herself.

Boaz is cursed. He can’t walk two city blocks without being cornered by something undead. At least at his job at the theater, he can flirt with Clara and wish she would want him back.

When Anat disappears and New York’s monstrous underworld emerges from the shadows, Clara suspects Boaz, their annoyingly handsome cashier, is behind it.

But if they are to find Anat, they must work together to face the demons and hungers they would rather bury. Clara will have to break all her rules—of love, of life, and of death itself—before her rules break everyone she loves.

In this standalone debut, AR Vishny weaves mystery, romance and lore into an irresistible tale of people who have lived in the shadows for far too long.

Elyse dropped this one on the SBTB Slack – Jewish teenage vampires who can also turn into owls with a touch of mystery, horror, and romance.

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This is gonna be fun

The Princess Bride meets People We Meet on Vacation in this cozy romance about a group of friends who once saved their magical land together but haven’t spoken in ten years. They reunite to attend a royal wedding, then embark on a new mission to defend the realm. It’s a story for readers of Legends and Lattes and Shrek fans.

Ten years ago they saved the empire. It ruined their lives.

In the magical realm of Mythria, everyone remembers how best friends Beatrice and Elowen, ex-bandit Clare, and their heroic leader Galwell the Great defended the kingdom from the darkness. Ten years later, the former heroes have never recovered from the cost of their famous quest, including Galwell’s life. No one ever planned to speak to the others again. Until they receive an invitation they can’t refuse: the wedding of the Queen of Mythria, whose life they saved when she was a princess.

Reunited on the road, reliving their original heroic quest, is no picnic for Beatrice and Clare—Clare still reeling from the one-night stand in their past, Beatrice unable to forget the man who once held her heart—and neither is Elowen, who is unprepared for the return of her former flame, the charming and cunning Vandra. While reuniting with ex-friends and ex-lovers is challenging enough, their new journey turns perilous when the kidnapping of the groom reveals the resurgence of dark forces from the heroes’ past, plotting a domination that only Mythria’s former defenders might—just might—be able to defeat.

Dusting off old weapons and instincts, they come face to face with undead enemies, unquenchable passions, crystal caves, coffee houses, enchanted swords, magical games of Truth or Dare. And most difficult of all: their pasts, full of wounds that never healed and romances that never forgot.

With such partners, every love story is a quest for a long and happy life.

This one isn’t out until late October, but the marketing blurb suggests it’s an interesting mashup!

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