Book picks similar to
Once upon a Rose: A Beauty and the Beast Retelling by A.R. Summers


beauty-and-the-beast
classic-retold
romance
fairy-tales-and-folklore

A Real Christmas


Christie Logan - 2017
    Her lonely boss who hates Christmas. As they rediscover the magic of the holiday, will they also find love?  Christmas hasn't been the same for Allison Voss since losing her husband, but she's determined to make it merry for her daughters' sake. She's between jobs and simply managing day to day is a struggle until she meets Ward Haysgard. His act of kindness and offer of employment just might turn her luck around.Ward is not a fan of Christmas. As a district manager for a large department store, he's seen plenty of greed and selfishness and not much good will toward men. But Allison's plight touches him. As he gets to know her and her girls, they work their way into his heart. A heart he thought had hardened long ago, when he lost the loving grandmother who raised him.As the holiday approaches, an old secret from Ward's past emerges and threatens his closeness to Allison. Will he leave her heartbroken? Or will she and Ward discover together what makes Christmas real? Read all the stories in the Holidays in Applewood series by Christie Logan: A Real Christmas (Holidays in Applewood 1)Dear Acquaintance (Holidays in Applewood 2)A Gentle Heart (Holidays in Applewood 3)

Dragon Guard


Eric J. Krause - 2013
     Sophomore Ben Phillips thought his biggest problems were homework and his bickering parents, but when he runs into a couple of wandering zombies on his way to school, he realizes there is a whole multiverse of worse things out there. His life gets even weirder when he falls for the new girl at school, Andi Thomas, who is a 758 year-old dragon in a fifteen year-old girl's body. If all of that isn't enough, fate has decided that Ben should be Andi's Dragon Guard, her soul-bound mate with superpowers straight out of comic books and video games. When a demon-infused necromancer kidnaps first Ben's parents, and then Andi's, those powers are the only thing that could save them. Unfortunately, Ben and Andi are only partially bound, meaning their powers aren't anywhere near full strength. Will they be strong enough to save the day? Oh, and there's also the matter of a mysterious prophecy that Ben and Andi are at the center of … NOTE: This book was originally published in 2013 by Hunt Press with a different cover. This is no longer a Hunt Press publication. I've made a few minor changes in the text, but nothing changed plot or structure-wise. If you already own Dragon Guard, there is no need to purchase this edition.

Angel


Danielle Carriere - 2019
    However, Angel’s plans are disrupted when she becomes stranded in an unfamiliar town. With no means to leave and no place to stay, Angel finds aid in an unexpected place: Nathan, a childhood acquaintance with scars of his own.All nineteen-year-old Nathan wants is to leave every memory of his father far, far behind. But when Nathan’s path leads him to Angel, he begins to realize that his father’s influence has reached further than he could ever have imagined.As Nathan and Angel face the prejudices of the townspeople together, their tenuous friendship begins to grow into something more. However, when Nathan’s father returns, Angel and Nathan must decide whether they are willing fight for the life they’ve created for themselves, or whether they will once again leave everything they love—including each other—behind.

Beasts


Emilia Hartley - 2020
    By the time you reach the end you'll be begging for more! With No cliffhangers, no cheating, and plenty of steam this is one boxed set you do NOT want to miss!Book 1 - The Tiger's Lover:When Sadie Holliday finds her six-year-old turned into a bear cub in the kitchen, she knows she has to get help. She has no idea how to raise a young shifter. But the boy’s father is long gone, and the town’s local alpha is a harsh beast of a man, Dante Oberon. Even after she meets him and feels the pull of attraction between them, she’s not at all sure he’s someone she wants in her son’s life.Dante’s getting along just fine, thank you very much. Townspeople may look at his shifters askance, but they’re no longer the out-of-control gang of thugs that they were under the previous alpha. They hold down jobs, and they keep their tempers reined in—mostly. When they don’t or can’t, Dante takes care of it. It works.Or at least, he thinks it’s working until he sees his life through the eyes of the sexy, fearless single mom who comes to him asking for help with her son. Suddenly, he’s less sure of himself and his methods. But can he afford to be the kind of alpha who loves?Book 2 - The Hyena's Hope:When Lily catches her boyfriend of six years cheating on her, she kicks him to the curb and holes up in her apartment. To her chagrin, her friends won’t let her wallow. They drag her down to the local shifter bar, where she meets Roderigo, a gorgeous and thoughtful shifter who could almost be torn from the pages of one of her favorite romance novels. The trouble is, just when she’s beginning to think there might be something between them, he disappears on her.When Roderigo meets Lily, he feels peace for the first time since he’s been changed. Before long, he’s sure that she’s his mate. But something evil is preying on his pack, and whatever it is threatens to hurt Lily if he doesn’t stop investigating. He knows he can’t fail his pack, but he can’t put her in danger, either.He wants her.He wants her to be safe even more.He’ll do whatever it takes to make her safe.Even break both their hearts.Book 3 - The Lion's Loyalty:As second in command, Van has always been the steady one in the pack, the voice of reason, the brains behind the brawn. But now Carol has returned to them shaken from her ordeal with the mad scientists, and Van can hardly control himself. He’s furious at the world for hurting her and at his pack for forgetting about her. Most of all, he’s furious at himself for failing her. He doesn’t deserve his fated mate if he can’t take care of her.Before she was changed, Carol was an EMT, a lifesaver. Now she starts at small noises, worries about shadows, and can’t handle the smell of antiseptic. Only around Van does she find any peace at all. But she’s sure Van only sticks around because the alpha told him to keep an eye on the unreliable, broken member of the pack. Sometimes she thinks the world, the pack, and even Van would be better off without her.She refuses to be a burden.For both their sakes, Van must convince her she isn’t one.Content Warning: This series contains lots of sexy shifter action, irresistible mates and steamy love scenes. Tons of mouth watering Paranormal Romance bonus content included!

Perfume Therapy


Kirsty McManus - 2016
    Sure, she’s leaving behind an office that doesn’t seem to be able to run without her, and Mia has invited a bunch of her narcissistic friends along to join them, but a holiday is a holiday, right? Wrong. Pickpocketed on her first night and separated from everyone, Chloe soon finds herself stranded in the back streets of Bangkok. Fortunately, her saviour arrives in the form of charismatic perfumer Daniel Richards, whose Scottish accent and amiable nature immediately put her at ease. With Daniel’s help, Chloe is soon back on the metaphorical horse. But with several more unfortunate events befalling her over the following days, she is forced to rely on Daniel again and again to help bail her out. Throw in a jealous absentee boyfriend, a wild neighbour with the propensity to meddle, and a strangely aggressive staff member at Daniel’s perfumery, and Chloe finds herself on the trip of a lifetime. It’s not quite the one she was expecting, but it might just be the shake-up she needs.

The Mist on Brontë Moor


Aviva Orr - 2012
    Heather gets her wish when her concerned parents send her to stay with her great-aunt in West Yorkshire. But shortly after she arrives, she becomes lost on the moors and is swept through the mist back to the year 1833. There she encounters fifteen-year-old Emily Bronte and is given refuge in the Bronte Parsonage.Unaware of her host family s genius and future fame, Heather struggles to cope with alopecia amongst strangers in a world completely foreign to her. While Heather finds comfort and strength in her growing friendship with Emily and in the embrace of the close-knit Bronte family, her emotions are stretched to the limit when she falls for Emily's brilliant but troubled brother, Branwell. Will Heather return to the comforts and conveniences of the twenty-first century? Or will she choose love and remain in the harsh world of nineteenth-century Haworth?

Her Grace, the Governess


Emma Linfield - 2021
    No. It is the birth of vengeance... Raised by her neighbors after she was orphaned at a young age, Veronica McLusky knows what it means to lose everything overnight. Armed with determination and a basket, her nightly excursions around town to help the less privileged are her greatest secret.Phineas Desmond, newly appointed Duke of Norhall, can’t bring himself to mourn for his recently deceased father. Feeling responsible for his mistakes, Phineas dons a hood and helps the common folk under the cover of night. When he saves a young lady from a pair of thieves though, he never expected to see her outside his house the very next day, introducing herself as his siblings' new governess.When omens of death show up outside their doorstep, Phineas realizes that his efforts to distance himself from his father's past were for naught. To atone, three lives must be sacrificed. Starting with Veronica.

To Dare the Beastly Duke


Ava MacAdams - 2021
    A desperate young beauty… Pressured to marry for the sake of her sisters, Lady Bridgette Farbridge has no choice but to accept the scoundrel her uncle chose for her. Until his untoward advances earn him a much deserved slap that deem her ruined.Deformed and dejected after his return from the war, Isaac Lennox, the Duke of Calder, wants nothing to do with people. And rage is an understatement for his feelings when his aunt invites her own guests to his estate.Fleeing to the country until the scandal dies down, Bridgette never imagined that her mother had more in store for her. And maybe charming the beastly Duke is her only chance to save herself. The problem? He can’t stand the sight of her.

Double Jeopardy


Donna Schlachter - 2020
    Now his murder bequeaths her a mystery, a ramshackle homestead, and a silver mine.Zeke Graumann signs on as Becky’s foreman to keep his portion of his family’s ranch. He shares the workers’ reservations about a woman boss, especially one who burns water and prances around in dungarees. Even though she did look awful good in the dungarees.Then a series of accidents add threat to tension. Can Becky trust Zeke, find her father’s killer, and turn her mine into a profitable venture? Will Zeke be forced to give up his ranching dream to win Becky’s heart?“With a feisty heroine and a secret hero, sparks fly.” —Lena Nelson Dooley, editor, speaker, and author of fifty Christian novels

Christmas and Commitment (Omega Mu Alpha Brothers Book 6)


Kimberly Loth - 2018
     But not this year. This year, I’m stuck at a ski resort where I know no one and I have to explain to every bell boy and waiter that I’m there alone because my fiancé is a jerk and I’m not actually celebrating my honeymoon and I’ve taken a vow of celibacy for life. I’d rather be at home with my hot chocolate and my fire, but it seemed stupid to let the resort go to waste. I plan on holing up in my suite with a bottle of wine and my suitcase full of books. No trips to the bar where my vow could be at risk. But when the eye candy in the suite next to me shows up at my door half dressed looking for his dog, my vow might have to go out the window.

Heart of the Hunter


Tina St. John - 2004
    Her only ally is Braedon le Chasseur, a formidable knight with a mysterious past, whose scarred face and brooding nature mask a soul filled with pain. Ariana fears this dangerous man and the secrets he strives to conceal—but Braedon’s touch is pure seduction, his kiss a potent lure that tempts her into a passion she is powerless to resist.Once known as The Hunter, now haunted by a dark legacy he struggles to deny, Braedon lives in a world of shadow and isolation—until he is thrust together with an innocent beauty in need of his protection. Embarking on a journey that will lead them to a legendary treasure, Braedon will be forced to confront old enemies and the stunning secret of his true nature—or risk losing Ariana and the only happiness he has ever known. . . .

Crossroads of Bones


Luanne Bennett - 2017
    . .a bunch of fat cat society folks smelled her out and made her an offer she couldn't refuse.Katie just wants to run her tattoo business quietly under the radar. But when a man walks into her shop and hands her a drawing of the same tattoo she's been dreaming about for weeks, things start to spin out of control. The last two people who tried to apply that tattoo are dead.Only half human, it's her other half that an elite group wants to hire-a group of Savannah's more privileged citizens, including the city's reigning coven of witches.There's a rogue god on the loose, and Katie is the only one who can send him back to hell before he breaks open the crossroads and lets the underworld waltz right in-if he manages to get that deadly tattoo inked onto his back.

When Gargoyles Rise


Ashley C. Harris - 2017
    Created by magic, the gargoyles were able to do and take whatever they wanted... Until the vampires came, and with them, they brought a curse.Almost five hundred years later, Rose awakens from stone in Washington DC, to a world that's very much changed. The kingdom of the gargoyles is no more; instead, the same group of blood suckers that cursed Rose's family now rule a hierarchy of shades and shadows.Desperate to awaken her loved ones and break the spell, Rose learns she must convince Sean Noble, a human, to fall in love with her. Something that should have been easy... if he and Rose weren't only seventeen, and required to attend school.Sean and his high school girlfriend dislike Rose as much as they do homework. And to make things worse, the handsome vampire prince, Adamus, who betrayed Rose in the year 1556, he and his bad boy brother have surfaced...Rose, before graduation, must find a way to keep her identity secret from Adamus, not let him get too close, and trick Sean into falling in love. Easy if you have wings, right? Not so much.Readers of Twilight, Vampire Diaries, and Shadow Hunters will love this story's female hero who brings a new level of fierce into a supernatural game.

To Love a Tormented Earl


Bridget Barton - 2020
    Time is running short, and if she doesn't find a suitor soon, her household may not survive. Her life takes an unexpected twist, though, when she suddenly comes across her former employer who was believed to be dead. Even though she knows that a romance with him would be a false hope, she can’t stop daydreaming about his captivating gaze. When he asks for her assistance to unveil a conspiracy that ruined his life, her generous heart compels her to agree. Will Emilia manage to overcome the barriers that go against her happiness? Would destiny hold for her a happy ending?After faking his own death three years before, Maximilian Emery, the true Earl of Ceastre, has returned to London to reclaim his estate and his name. But before he can do that, he must determine who is involved in the blackmail that prompted him to flee in the first place. When fate brings him together with a woman from his past, soon old feelings begin to resurface. But until he finds out who is hidden behind the evil plot against him, love will remain just a flight of fantasy, no matter how his anxious heart skips a beat everytime she is around. Will Max manage to solve a puzzle that has made his life a living hell? Will his only dream to live by Emilia's side come true?Despite their strong feelings, Max and Emilia‘s union seems impossible, as they come from two spheres of society not accustomed to mingling. To make matters worse, when Emilia discovers the reason for Max’s exile, she feels that everything is crashing down. Will the star-crossed lovers find a way through the obstacles that insist to keep them apart or will they accept a future without hope of true love?

Chosen


Jennifer Snyder - 2020
    On the run from her ex-boyfriend, Tris Abbott finds herself at Gem Creek Campground. A place that unexplainably feels like home, but holds secrets. It’s here Tris’s world flips upside down when she learns shifters are real and she’s chosen to save them.Before she can come to terms with the supernatural world she’s been introduced to, her past catches up.Face-to-face with her ex again, Tris must decide between fight and flight. Round two will be different though, because this time she knows what her ex is—a shifter.