Seventeen-year-old Fallon Bane was born with a devastating curse: a single touch from another person will cause her excruciating pain. Thus, she has accepted that she will die without ever being kissed, without even hugging her own father, though it breaks her heart every day.
But when her beloved father falls ill, she breaks into the magical Gilded City to find a healer fae that can save him. When handsome healer Ariyon Madden agrees to help, everything she knows about herself and her curse changes. Because during her father's healing, Ariyon reaches out and touches her bare skin. She waits for the agony… but it never comes. For the first time in her life, she imagines a new future for herself. However, that fantasy is quickly destroyed, because not only does Ariyon flee from her in disgust when he learns of her curse; he also reveals her existence to powerful fae who want to hurt her.
Fallon is then swept away to a magical academy, where she learns the terrifying truth about her family history and her dark magic. Her life and the future of fae everywhere hang in the balance, and all the while Fallon can't help but wonder if she will get to touch Ariyon Madden one more time before she dies…
Quell has lived her entire life on the run. She and her mother have fled from city to city in order to hide the deadly magic that flows through Quell s veins.Until someone discovers her dark secret.To hide from the assassin hunting her and keep her mother out of harm s way, Quell reluctantly inducts into a debutante society of magical social elites called the Order that she never knew existed. If she can pass their three rites of membership, mastering their proper form of magic, she ll be able to secretly bury her forbidden magic forever.If caught, she will be killed.But becoming the perfect debutante is a lot harder than Quell imagined, especially when there s more than tutoring happening with Jordan, her brooding mentor and assassin in training.
Despite dreams of adventures far beyond the Salann shores, seventeen-year-old Verity Thaumas has remained at her family’s estate, Highmoor, with her older sister Camille, while their sisters have scattered across Arcannia.
When their sister Mercy sends word that the Duchess of Bloem—wife of a celebrated botanist—is interested in having Verity paint a portrait of her son, Alexander, Verity jumps at the chance, but Camille won’t allow it. Forced to reveal the secret she’s kept for years, Camille tells Verity the truth one day: Verity is still seeing ghosts, she just doesn’t know it.
Twelve years after the events of House of Salt and Sorrows, the Thaumas sisters are scattered across Arcannia. Despite dreams of adventures far beyond the Salann shores, almost-eighteen year old Verity has remained at Highmoor, lending a helping hand to older sister Camille.
When Mercy sends word that the Duchess of Bloem wife to the celebrated botanist, Gerard Laurent is interested in having Verity paint a portrait of her son, Alexander, Verity jumps at the chance, but can’t understand why Camille won’t allow it. When an argument breaks out between the two, Camille reveals the truth: Verity is still seeing ghosts, she just doesn’t know it.
Stunned, Verity flees Highmoor that night and with nowhere else to turn—makes her way to Bloem. At first, she is captivated by the lush and luxurious province and is also quickly drawn to Alexander Laurent, finding the heir charming, witty, and impossibly handsome.
But it’s not long before she is plagued with nightmares, and the darker side of Bloem begins to show through its sickly-sweet façade.
Annaleigh lives a sheltered life at Highmoor with her sisters and their father and stepmother. Once there were twelve, but loneliness fills the grand halls now that four of the girls' lives have been cut short. Each death was more tragic than the last--the plague, a plummeting fall, a drowning, a slippery plunge--and there are whispers throughout the surrounding villages that the family is cursed by the gods.
Grow your heart three sizes—and dazzle your eyes—with this FULL COLOR edition of the beloved holiday classic How the Grinch Stole Christmas!—the perfect gift for under the tree and for Dr. Seuss fans and collectors any time of year!
This season of giving, give a gift that’s never been given before—a full color edition of How the Grinch Stole Christmas! Originally published in 1957 using just 2 different colored inks (red and black), this new, jacketed edition features Dr. Seuss’s original illustrations in full color for the very first time—the way he’d have likely colored them had he published the book today! While this edition is not a replacement for the original, we think it makes a cheerful addition to the Dr. Seuss cannon that is bound to appeal to Dr. Seuss fans of all ages. PS: The drabness of the Grinch’s life in his cave compared to the happy, vibrant life of the Whos in Who-ville has never been easier to see!