beautiful beast by Neva Altaj | when the beauty hacks a mafia leader, so he kidnaps her

In this week’s episode of The Book Fix, Yajaira and Cheli unpack Beautiful Beast, Neva Altaj’s mafia-dark-romance twist on Beauty and the Beast. Our “beauty” is Vasilisa, a genius hacker who gets kidnapped by Rafael who is a scarred, ruthless mafia kingpin. He needs her to fix his compromised systems which she may or not have a hand on, oops! What should’ve been a simple captor-captive standoff becomes messy fast when Rafael finds himself obsessed with her brain, her bravery, and… everything else.

As Vasilisa fights to protect her family and outsmart the monster holding her, the line between danger and desire blurs. The hosts break down the tension, the possessive-hero moments, the hacker-girl power, and whether this fairytale retelling really gives us love beyond appearances, or just a beast who refuses to let his beauty go.