The female heirs of two opposing families must duel for guardianship of the land in this stunning fantasy adventure debut!
Merriment Feast's life is one constant party, complete with dazzling gowns and delicious pastries. Everything is perfect...except for her aunt's physically grueling training. Merri believes it's her responsibility to protect her family's traditions and the power they've held for generations.
Rue Famine knows that only Feasts benefit from Feast rule. As the heir of House Famine, she spends her days studying potion-making in an enormous, dusty library and learning how to use her magic to help others.
Custom dictates that the heirs of Feast and Famine must duel on their thirteenth birthday. Only one family can rule the land of Fauret, and Merri and Rue have been raised as rivals.
But as the contest draws near and dangers escalate, their true enemy may be a shared one…
In San Francisco in 1866, an Irish nun, abandoned following a torrid relationship with a Chilean aristocrat, gives birth to a daughter named Emilia del Valle. Raised by a loving stepfather, Emilia grows into an independent thinker and a self-sufficient young woman.
To pursue her passion for writing, she is willing to defy societal norms. At the age of seventeen, she begins to publish pulp fiction using a man’s pen name. When these fictional worlds can no longer satisfy her sense of adventure, she turns to journalism, convincing an editor at The Daily Examiner to hire her. There she is paired with another talented reporter, Eric Whelan.
Madeline has always been extremely close to her family, so she is shocked when her older brother gets engaged without including them (or even giving them a heads up!). Mads has never been the biggest fan of his fiancée, Katie, so in order to remain one happy family, she is determined to bond with Katie before the big day, which includes reluctantly agreeing to be a bridesmaid.
During a late-night bridesmaids-only game of "Truth or Dare" Mads is cornered into revealing she has never been kissed or even been on a date, which spurs the other girls to unite on a quest to find Mads the perfect plus-one for the wedding. Next thing she knows she's navigating a series of disastrous dates that include some major misunderstandings and mishaps.
All of a sudden Mads finds her heart tugged in different directions: to Connor, the boy next door who knows her best. To Marco, the former classmate who knows how to push all her buttons. And to some of the new suitors who surprisingly aren't all bad.
As the wedding draws nearer, Mads has to figure out who she wants most as a dance partner, while also making sure her brother isn't making the biggest mistake of his life.
Jackie Howard returns to the Walter ranch after a summer in New York. She needed space―and got it. But she doesn't know where things stand with her and Cole Walter after that goodbye kiss. Over the summer, she stopped texting him. She never stopped thinking about him.
Still, with Cole living off in town to work at Tony's garage before he heads off to college, Jackie thinks it'll be easy to avoid him―only to find that when she sees him face to face at last, it's, well... impossible to resist him. Things are getting complicated: he's the boy she can't get off her mind, and the Walters have become the family she loves and needs. How can Jackie move forward when she's afraid of taking the next step?
He's the most beautiful man I've ever seen…and the most dangerous. Eternally young and full of a brilliant passion that may ultimately be the end of me: my perfect Dorian Gray.
The painting that's kept Dorian Gray flawless for over a century is beginning to fall apart, rotted by his life of reckless decadence. Desperate, he seeks out the only person who might be able to save him: a talented young painter descended from Dorian's first love.
Baz may have the same magical gift as her ancestor, but she's vowed never to paint anyone's likeness again. Haunted by the memory of the terrible price her talent can exact, she swears she will not be swayed—not even by the seductive words dripping like venom from the lips of the most beautiful man she's ever met.
Yet as Dorian tries to persuade Baz by any means possible, they become aware of a darker, deadlier magic awakening around them. Dangerous forces, long dormant, have been stirred by Baz's presence…and are determined to have her no matter the cost. As tensions rise and desire flares ever-hotter, Baz and Dorian become trapped in a complex web of conflicting motives, messy emotions, and a growing, desperate passion that may well consume them both.
Florence, the 1550s. Lucrezia, third daughter of the grand duke, is comfortable with her obscure place in the palazzo: free to wonder at its treasures, observe its clandestine workings, and devote herself to her own artistic pursuits. But when her older sister dies on the eve of her wedding to the ruler of Ferrara, Modena and Reggio, Lucrezia is thrust unwittingly into the limelight: the duke is quick to request her hand in marriage, and her father just as quick to accept on her behalf.
Having barely left girlhood behind, Lucrezia must now enter an unfamiliar court whose customs are opaque and where her arrival is not universally welcomed. Perhaps most mystifying of all is her new husband himself, Alfonso. Is he the playful sophisticate he appeared to be before their wedding, the aesthete happiest in the company of artists and musicians, or the ruthless politician before whom even his formidable sisters seem to tremble?