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Joanna Shupe

@joannashupe

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1249

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USA Today bestselling historical romance author. Writes darker as @mila_finelli_author
🥀 THE GILDED ROSE out now

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💫COVER REVEAL 💫 THE GILDED ROSE

🥀 A darkly romantic Beauty and the Beast retelling set in the glittering chaos of Gilded Age New York.

Love isn’t always a fairy tale.

Charming and popular, Orson Grey is the most sought-after bachelor in Manhattan. When Caroline pledges to spend her life with him, it feels like the beginning of a fairy tale.

The fairy tale quickly turns into a nightmare.

Behind closed doors, Orson is controlling and cruel. Trapped by laws that prevent women from leaving unhappy marriages, Caroline has no choice but to endure her husband’s behavior. Each day grows more intolerable, and her frustration and resentment mounts. Even her passion for rare books is stifled, leaving her isolated and lonely, a fading rose trapped under glass.

When Caroline is offered the opportunity to catalogue a private library, she seizes it like a lifeline. Exploring the literary treasures, she discovers a friend in the library’s owner, Zane Bishop—a brilliant, wealthy recluse who was disfigured in an explosion years ago.

Thoughtful and kind, Zane is everything Orson is not. As their trust builds, Zane realizes that Caroline’s pain runs much deeper than she lets on. He suffers with her, knowing precisely of Orson’s cruelty firsthand. Zane will stop at nothing to set Caroline free, even if it means risking everything.

Coming October 13, 2026 from @avonbooks
Available for preorder now

Cover design: Lucy Rose

#historicalfiction #historicalromance by @joannashupe

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4 months ago

Dear friends,

With all the uncertainty surrounding our social media, if you want to stay in touch with me, the best way is through my newsletter!

JoannaShupe.com/Newsletter

You'll get a bonus story, The Knickerbocker Bride, for free upon singing up. After that, you'll get my weekly newsletter, Our Wicked Folly, exploring and contrasting the Gilded Age to today.

xxoo, Joanna #joannashupe by @joannashupe

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🅑🅞🅞🅚 🅡🅔🅥🅘🅔🅦ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ 5/5⁣
🥀 𝒯𝒽𝑒 𝒢𝓊𝒾𝓁𝒹𝑒𝒹 ℛ𝑜𝓈𝑒 🥀 ⁣
As a massive Beauty and the Beast fan, I absolutely devoured this retelling! I loved the clever twist of Belle (Caroline) marrying an attentive Gaston (Orson) and taking a job in the “Beast’s” (Zane) home library.⁣
⁣
Right after the wedding, Orson reveals his true colors, turning cruel and abusive, making him the actual monster of the story. Set against the backdrop of Gilded Age New York, the dark reality of Caroline’s marriage is swept under the rug as “private husband-and-wife business.” ⁣
⁣
Enter Zane: a reclusive, temperamental hero who secretly works behind the scenes to help her, evolving into the generous, kind man she wishes she had married all along.⁣
⁣
🅠🅞🅣🅓: 𝘞𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘣𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘭𝘪𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘱𝘢𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘖𝘙 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵?

#theguildedrose #bookishlatina #avonbooks #netgalley #joannashupe

Thanks to @avonbooks @netgalley and @joannashupe for the free audiobook. taken in BOOKSTA by @joannashupe

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I devoured this historical beauty and the beast retelling ✨🥀😮‍💨!!

📚 The Gilded Rose by @joannashupe

Thank you @avonbooks for the eARC, ALC and finish copy ✨🫶!!

#beautyandthebeastretelling #historicalromance #historicalromancebook #romancebookrecs #romancereadersofbookstagram @harpercollins by @joannashupe

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2 days ago

🌹 This book had me in a chokehold and I couldn’t help but finish it in less than 36 hours!

I loved that this was a retelling of Beauty and the Beast, and as a story set in the late 1890s, the historical fiction angle was just what I needed.

The Gilded Rose contains sensitive topics so please take care in checking the warnings at the beginning of the book before proceeding. Although the book begins quite heavy and dark, there was banter as well as lighter exchanges throughout the book. The yearning and build up was slow but worth the payoff. I just couldn’t get over how thoughtful and kind Zane is, and I admired the lengths he went to to protect Caroline.

Most of all, I enjoyed the educational aspects of the book, particularly parts pertaining to divorce laws and women’s rights. Some of the things that happened in the book blew my mind, and then learning it was only until recently that no-fault divorces came to be?!? Astounding.

Thank you @avonbooks for the #gifted copy! All opinions are honest and my own.

✨ what’s the last historical fiction/historical romance you read?

🏷️: historical romance • book recommendations • book edits • book aesthetic • bookish • bookworm • The Gilded Rose • beauty and the beast • Avon books • romance • add to TBR • fall TBR • fall reading taken in BOOKSTA by @joannashupe

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2 days ago

😍 Look at Zane and Caroline! I am in love with this artwork from THE GILDED ROSE from the very talented
Erin Dameron-Hill of @edhprofessionals.

... AND If you attend one of my tour stops, you'll get a vellum print of this artwork with your paperback copy of The Gilded Rose! Stops still to come: Boston, NYC, and Chicago! Grab your tickets at the link below:

🥀 joannashupe.com/events

*while supplies last by @joannashupe

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Thanks to @avonbooks and @librofm for the gifted copies!

❓️What's your favorite story to see retellings of?

📖 Happy publication day to one of my favorite reads of the year! I ate this book up in a day because I didn't want to put it down. It is a dark retelling of Beauty and the Beast set during the Gilded Age where our Belle character, Caroline ends up married to a version of Gaston. He was as despicable as you'd expect him to be and I was rooting for his downfall the whole book. It was so sweet to see Zane fall for her knowing that she is married and he can never hope for a romantic future with her but still determined to care for her in any way he can. Zane was the perfect gentle hero to contrast with her husband's brutality. Their romance was really sweet and I totally understood why they fell for each other. I appreciated how the author drew attention to the oppressiveness of marriage laws (that were in some places only recently changed). I had such a marvelous time with this book and I was bereft when it ended. If you are looking for a dark Gilded-Age histrom to pick up I cannot recommend this one enough! Definitely check trigger warnings first though because this is absolutely a darker retelling of the original Beauty and the Beast story.

🎧 Both narrators did a fantastic job bringing this story to life with duet narration! Eva Kaminsky's earnest delivery captured Caroline's distress at her current sitatuation and Aaron Shedlock's gruffer performance emphasized the difference in social status between our two main characters. by @joannashupe

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The Gilded Rose
By @joannashupe
Out today & thank you @avonbooks for the #free advanced copy.

When I pick up a historical romance, I do always expect immaculate characters and a compelling love story. But what I don’t expect is for my heart to ache and for my rage to be fanned. The Gilded Rose is a story about women’s lack of autonomy in their marriages in the nineteenth-century. Joanna in the acknowledgements talks about wanting to write a book about the divorce laws in America, and how truly one sided they were until the 1980s. Women were the property of their husbands. The husband assumed all control of the wife’s identity, money, property and self.

In The Gilded Rose, our main character Caroline is love-bombed by the Gaston-inspired character, in this Beauty and the Beast retelling. Gaston puts on a prince charming act until the second they are married. Then he begins to sexually and physically and verbally abuse the FMC. I think Shupe treats the darkness of the subject with extreme care.

Caroline’s paths cross with “The Beast” who has been a childhood rival and enemy of her husband, and the two slowly fall into a lovely friendship as Caroline works on his library. Both incredibly broken characters find happiness through one another, and I thought Zane was perfect in every way. Broody, grumpy, a little overbearing, but willing to recognize and atone when being so. I thought these two were perfect for one another, and even though I usually lean towards a slower burn, it worked in this story as they were both so love starved.

The Gilded Rose is an incredibly timely read with the tragic state of the world. Women are losing autonomy daily. One in Five women experience some form of sexual assault in their lifetime while only 8% of reported cases end in conviction. As a SA victim, I am one of those one in five women. We are all Jane Doe until none of us are. I am always here for you if you need it. by @joannashupe

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5 days ago

Happy Release Day!!!! Go Check the new Joanna Shupe!!!!

#historicalromance #romance #romancebook #joannashupe #bookrecs by @joannashupe

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🥀 It’s here!!! Today is release day for The Gilded Rose. 🥀

The Gilded Rose is a Beauty & the Beast retelling that asks: What if Belle makes a mistake by marrying Gaston first? Then the Beast develops a crush on her, but how can she escape a terrible marriage when divorce is impossible?

It’s dark. It’s angsty. It’s full of yearning. It does have a giant library.

And it also has an HEA, I swear.

Thanks to everyone who gives it chance. Im proud of this one and love it a whole lot.

@avonbooks #historicalfiction #historicalromance by @joannashupe

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ALMOST SOLD OUT! Boston area friends! Come join me and @sarahmaclean at @lovestruckbooksandcafe next Monday night for laughs and fun to celebrate the release of The Gilded Rose! 🥀 joannashupe.com/events by @joannashupe

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BOOK REVIEW
🌹I’m trying something new, to read my full review swipe and read the caption for each image in order! 🌹I read with my eyes AND my ears and have included a bit of that commentary too.

This is GREAT storytelling. This is the kind of book you begin reading and are hit with a WHOA, that got heavy really quickly, but know you need to keep reading because you trust the author and trust her purpose. So let me say that the prologue and other points of this book may be difficult for some readers. Marital trauma is a key plot point and it is very much on page. Skip the prologue, the second half of chapter 1, and Caroline’s perspective in chapter 6 if you have triggers.
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As I mentioned, this storytelling hooked me and could not put it down. It’s a Beauty and the Beast retelling imagined in the Gilded Age of New York where our Belle (Caroline), has been hoodwinked by Gaston (Orson Grey) into believing hers will be a marriage of love. With the help from the fire-scarred Beast (Zane Bishop), Caroline will find an escape and possibly freedom from her brutal marriage. You will HATE Orson. His character is so irredeemable that it would be easy to see Zane as the white knight, swooping in to save Caroline (and believe me, he wants to), but Shupe carefully lays the ground for Caroline to make big decisions for herself and to have the autonomy to learn what it means to have her own voice when society and limited womens’ rights aim to stifle it.
➡️

As dark as this book is, it is also deeply sensual and fans of Finelli’s dirty talking mafiosos will be thrilled to see that voice liberated here. Despite the rocky sexual beginnings, The Gilded Rose is a book that amplifies female sexuality from the use of prophylactics (ladies, you can’t count on anyone except yourself) to a hero adamant about the pleasure of a woman being first and foremost. He relishes in giving pleasure to our heroine so much that he is barely able to restrain himself from setting up residence and making her nether regions a new zip code.
➡️

I devoured this book, reading it in a weekend. It’s not exactly the Joanna Shupe of yore; this has a grittier feel and is just as much an exploration on divo by @joannashupe

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