Book picks similar to
Beauty's Beast by Paulina Woods


fantasy
retellings
romance
bad-execution-of-a-good-premise

The Inaccessibility of Heaven


Aliette de Bodard - 2020
    

Forever Mine


Monica Burns - 2014
    With an endearing cast of characters this multiple award-winner is sure to earn a place on the keeper shelf. ✱ ✱ CAVEAT EMPTOR ✱ ✱ Please note that if you hated A Knight In Shining Armor by Jude Deveraux, it is quite likely you *will not* like this book.If you believe men in the 1800s didn't use foul language, you *will not* like this book. See disclaimer below.Thrown back to the year 1897, Victoria Ashton is mistaken for, and forced to impersonate, the spiteful, unfaithful Countess of Guildford, who's been missing for three weeks. Despite Victoria's attempts to convince the earl she's not his wife, her double's infidelity and lies make it difficult, especially when Victoria falls in love with a man who loathes her. Nicholas Thornhill, Earl of Guildford, is plagued with rumors he murdered his missing wife. When she unexpectedly reappears, he scoffs at her latest in a long string of lies. But the changes in Victoria make him to alter his opinion as he forges a bond with her that crosses the boundaries of time. NOTE: This book is a 125,000 words. For readers who do not enjoy sex scenes, there is 3.75% (16 pgs out of 443) of sexual content in this book. The F-word occurs 34 times in this 443 page book or 1% of the entire book.Men as a general rule have used the F-word long before the Victorian era, which this book is set in. The difference between the men in the past & men of today is that they didn't use the word in the company of women. The author chose to use the F-word because it fits a male reaction to frustration and anger. It is a visceral word with a guttural sound that projects the emotion of outrage in a harsh and visceral manner. Say it out loud with force. Men are sometimes crass & crude with other men. In contrast to the use of the F-word the author refuses to use the word sh*t as it evokes an image of filth and bodily waste. Please factor this information into your buying decision. If you are uncomfortable with these numbers, it is doubtful you will enjoy the read. For readers of time travel romance who enjoyed OUTLANDER and A KNIGHT IN SHINING ARMOR.... “Forever Mine is the best time travel romance I've ever read, rivaling Jude Deveraux for intensity and chemistry between the hero and heroine.” — Lucy Monroe, USAToday bestselling author "With Forever Mine, Monica Burns delivers another gorgeous and deeply emotional story with a smart, strong-willed heroine and a tortured and oh-so-sexy hero." -- Vanessa Kelly. Bestselling author of historical romance "Monica Burns has once again gotten me to read and love a historical romance! Forever Mine is a phenomenally written story of a love that surpasses the barriers of time. At the end I cried ugly, gut-wrenching tears which I rarely do. The emotional last few chapters bled through my Kindle and directly into my soul. Monica Burns has written something truly magical. Forever Mine surpassed my expectations by miles and then kept on going." -- Nikki Brandyberry, Ramblings from a Chaotic Mind This book is like the center of an Oreo, the best part of the cookie. Monica Burns has captured true [time travel] romance and woven it into a time travel/reincarnation tale. The characters are so well developed and true. -- Joann Ferrara Maggio Reader Review "FOREVER MINE is a time travel romance to place on your keeper shelf where you store all your favorite time travel romances, Regency, Victorian,

Truth Or Lie


Lynn Lorenz - 2013
    Why would Anthony Pappas, an adorable second grade teacher, be interested in him? Travis is willing to find out, if Anthony will give him a chance.Being descended from a goddess, Anthony Pappas possesses a unique gift—he can tell when people are lying. Sounds good, until your boyfriends all end up lying to you. Anthony's tired of it. It's easier not to get involved than to have your heart broken time and time again.When a little redheaded boy brings the men together, these two heroes will have to find the courage to take a leap of faith and follow their hearts...

Wonder Tales: Six French Stories of Enchantment


Marina Warner - 1994
    Telling stories resourcefully and artfully was a key social grace, and when they recorded theseelegant narratives they consciously invented the modern fairy tale as we still know it today. For this beautiful anthology of six masterpiece wonder tales, Marina Warner gathered five writers with a special sympathy for the French stories they render here in burnished, cunning and amusing English. The stories, The White Cat (translated by John Ashbery), The Subtle Princess (GilbertAdair), Bearskin and Starlight (Terence Cave), The Counterfeit Marquise (Ranjit Bolt), and The Great Green Worm (A.S. Byatt), are as unforgettable today as they were when first published centuries ago. Wonder is the key to the stories, and each tale abounds with transformation and magic.Wonders can be benign (like the garden fruits that come when you whistle) or baneful (like the bad fairy Magotine's spells), producing dread and desire at the same time. But, fortunately, they almost always punish those who deserve it: tyrants, seducers, and other forces of malevolence. Heroes and heroines are put to mischievous tests, and their quest for love is confounded when their objects of desire change into beasts or monsters. Still, true understanding and recognition of the person beneath the spell wins in the end, for after wonder comes consolation, and after strangesetbacks comes a happy ending. In Wonder Tales, a magical world awaits all who dare to enter.

Between the Devil and the Pacific Blue


Charlie Cochet - 2015
    his rounds lead him to the radio room where the handsome and mysterious Franklin Fairchild sits listening to waltzes as old as the hotel itself. James is drawn to Franklin, but Franklin is a man at the end of his rope, and James has no intention of getting caught up in whatever trouble Franklin is in. A heated encounter late one night sends James down a disturbing path and has him questioning everything around him, including his very sanity.

Secret Sister


Emelle Gamble - 2013
    this story has a twist of the paranormal that will have you willingly stretching your belief in order to enjoy the plot. Emelle Gamble has created a story that will tear your heart out." LONG AND SHORT REVIEWS, AUGUST, 2013What if everything about you changed in an instant...Nick & Cathy and Roxanne. Two best friends. One husband. An extraordinary twist of fate. How much do you really know about your husband? Your best friend? Yourself? Cathy Chance knows she loves her husband, Nick, with the same passion she had when she married him seven years ago, and he adores her. She also knows that she and her best friend, Roxanne, are closer than most sisters. But on a sunny summer day, these three are hurled into an astounding new reality which forces each to reconsider everything they thought was true about themselves, and one another.

Savage


J.E. Cluney - 2019
    Toying with them is just a bonus. Too bad it always ends with them dead.But when I find four men at my door wanting to kill me for crimes against innocents, my whole world is flipped on its head.Four hot supes? Check.Life taking an interesting turn? Duh.Throw it all in a blender? Why not?We’re all drawn together in one big whirlwind of a mess. Lies are revealed, truths discovered, and my life will never be the same.This huntress is about to become the hunted, and these four strangers are my new lifeline.Just dandy.Welcome to the Institute of Supernaturals.Please note this is a RH, fast-burn.

To Feel the Sun


Marie Sexton - 2013
    Very sweet.This story also available in print in the anthology Ever After: The Collected Short Works of Marie Sexton.

The White Queen


Addison Cain - 2017
    But unless he can corrupt sweet Alice, he cannot claim her—for one cannot steal a soul that isn’t tainted. That is... unless an innocent offers it of her own free will.THE WHITE QUEEN is a tale of pure horror by USA Today bestselling author Addison Cain. There is no romance, no white knight. For the twisted Hatter lurks in these pages, ready to devour your soul and haunt your dreams.

Emmy's Journey (Two Feather's Legacy Book 2)


Lila M Beckham - 2015
    Determined to do exactly what she sets her mind to, she explores the mountains and valleys around her home with an unquenchable thirst for knowledge and a keen eye that misses nothing. When her mother dies, Emmaline, Emmy for short, is thrust into the mystical, spiritual world of her mother’s native peoples, the Tsalagi, better known as the Cherokee. Given the power of observation and shape shifting by her immortal g-great-grandfather Two Feathers, who is the keeper of the Sacred Fire’s Ashes, Emmy is told that she must carry on her mother’s duties and is charged with the task of becoming the family “Ka no he ha Ka no Ge sdi,” the Storyteller. She is supposed to remember and pass down her family’s history and tell about their ancestors. As Emmy grows older and matures, her explorations become more advanced. She discovers a hidden path that takes her beyond an ancient willow tree to a layer of the world that at first seems much like her own, but she soon discovers that it is quite different… When she stays longer than allowed a mortal, she discovers that her grandfather can travel between space and time and communicate with all peoples between the layers of her world. Emmy’s Journey is a voyage through time and into the mysterious spiritual and mystical realms of the Cherokees and a world that most never knows exists.

The Beast & the Beauty: A Bad Boy Romance Inspired by the Classic Fairy Tale


Nikki Steele - 2017
     When a prison visit goes sideways, I move fast. I rescue a petite, brunette beauty from the gangs. Bella is innocent. But my thoughts aren’t. She makes my body burn with lust. A sweet girl like her shouldn't be here, not with men like me. I'm more beast than human. The filthy things I want should frighten her. To wrap her dark hair around my fist and f*ck her hard. To make her mine. To have her scream my name in pleasure. But those eyes, there’s something there… She’s dangerous. Because she makes me want to be human. And in prison, abandoning the beast will get me killed. This is a standalone romance with a happy ending. It is a gritty, sexy, steamy retelling of Beauty and the Beast. It contains sizzling action so hot it will have you running to your nearest prison and begging to be locked inside.

Walking in Fire


Cathryn Cade - 2012
     When a young food blogger visits paradise, she falls for a big, handsome Hawaiian… but with glamorous women at his beck and call, she doesn't expect him to notice a freckle-face blonde like her. Until danger throws them together, and passion flows like molten lava on the flanks of Pele's volcano. Nawea Bay, on the Big Island of Hawaii, is just the place Melia Carson needs to escape the chill of rejection. But she soon finds herself swept up in a tropical heat wave, fueled by her attraction to a handsome local. Malu's big, powerful, hot enough to melt her defenses—and when he isn't rescuing her from trouble, he's poking fun at her naivete. But he’s no ordinary guy. How did he survive an injury that should have killed him… and why does she dream of him in traditional native finery and wreathed in flames? David “Malu” Ho’omalu is out to find and destroy a cache of 'Kona Kula' before the deadly, addictive drug can be sold to his people. Fending off amorous tourists is part of the job. But one look in Melia’s blue eyes, and he wants to claim her for his own. As they surrender to the passion burning between them, she discovers a man who'll descend into the molten heart of the volcano to protect his island. And he discovers a brave woman who will entrust her heart to him… if he can keep her alive long enough. Don't miss this sizzling, tropical paranormal romance--get your copy of Walking in Fire today!

Ella, The Slayer


A.W. Exley - 2015
     Except it wasn't flu, and death gave them back.Seventeen-year-old Ella copes the best she can; caring for her war-injured father, scrubbing the floors, and slaying the undead that attack the locals. Vermin they're called, like rats they spread pestilence with their bite. Ella's world collides with another when she nearly decapitates a handsome stranger, who is very much alive.Seth deMage, the new Duke of Leithfield, has returned to his ancestral home with a mission from the War Office -- to control the plague of vermin in rural Somerset. He needs help; he just didn't expect to find it in a katana-wielding scullery maid.Working alongside Seth blurs the line between their positions, and Ella glimpses a future she never dreamed was possible. But in overstepping society's boundaries, Ella could lose everything - home, head and her heart...

Pour On the Heat


Lily Rede - 2012
    He's been avoiding her for weeks, but when one of the football players starts failing her class, Jill decides to corner Liam in the locker room one night after hours, vowing to fight her attraction to the obnoxious man. However, she doesn't count on Liam being able to give as good as he gets, or the steamy seduction of a shower built for two...Liam can't help it if Jill Langer's prickly exterior turns him on, but he knows that the brainy literature professor must want better than a lowly football coach. His preconceptions are shattered the day he discovers that the prim Ms. Langer has a love of steamy, hardcore erotica. When she corners him in the locker room one night, he sets out to prove to her that they may have more in common that she thinks, and that he might just be the man to bring all of her naughty fantasies to life.

The Ring of Morgana


Donna Hosie - 2014
    Sixteen-year-old Mila Roth wants to be normal. It’s a phrase that has been drilled into her by her mother since she was born.But Mila Roth is anything but normal. For sixteen years her parents have hidden a secret from her. For Mila was born one thousand years ago in the land of Logres, and far from being a math teacher and a housewife, Mila’s parents are the awakened King Arthur and Gorian druid queen, Morgana.Two worlds, one thousand years apart. And those worlds are about to collide.The spirit of the malevolent Lady of the Lake has been contained for sixteen years in the fabled Ring of Morgana. When the ring curses Mila’s younger sister, Lilly, the Roth family has no choice but to return Mila to the land of her birth as they face a battle against time itself.Accompanied by her best friend, Rustin, Mila will have to decide whether to defy those she loves in order to save her sister. Should she trust the Gorian druids and the mysterious Melehan? What is the true cost to Mila’s heart as she strives to master the purple flame? And why have her mother and father denied the truth of her origins for so long?For she alone has the combined power of royalty and druid magic within her.And now only Mila can save Lilly and Logres.