The Books
And nothing but the books.
Dear Miss Penelope Essex, on account of your unforgivably bookish ways and abysmal attempts at conversation, Her Majesty has deemed your Season a failure. With no marriage proposals, no dowry and no prospects, you are hereby ordered to attend The Monsters Ball.
Confirmed wallflower Penelope Essex has every intention of tending her brother’s library for the rest of her days. But first, she must survive the Monsters Ball.
Held at a remote gothic estate, the three-day ball is rife with monstrous nobles all determined to claim a mate. They’ll do whatever it takes to seduce her into hidden corners, to tempt her into signing a marriage contract. Escaping with her spinsterhood intact seems impossible, until she spots her childhood crush: the now monstrous Duke of Roth.
Lord William Warwick is normally as cool as the cold fire covering his body. When he became a frost-flame demon, he swore he’d never take a mate. Yet when he sees Penny Essex struggling to resist three monstrous nobles, he rushes to her side and pretends to be her fiancé.
A fake betrothal is the perfect cover. Except the longer they’re together, the more she wants his fire to claim her. But will her duke treasure her heart and her beloved books, or will their passion send them both up in flames?
Enter a monster-filled version of 1820s London, where creatures of myth walk the bustling streets, ladies with claws are taught to hide their strength, and a clever detective faces an impossible crime…
When the harpy who haunts Theo Essex’s dreams walks into his crumbling London office, the stern attorney knows he’ll do whatever the lady asks—including chasing a ghost into the city’s monstrous underbelly.
Wealthy heiress Enid DeWhitt might have wings and talons, yet she remains a lady bound by the strictures of Society. But when the specter of her estranged sister haunts the family estate before she’s declared dead, Enid will break any rule to discover the truth.
Convinced sinister intrigues are afoot, she turns to the only man she can trust: Theo Essex—a reserved gentleman with impossibly quick wits and an inexplicable air of danger. One forbidden night together might have thoroughly ruined her for other men, but her heart isn’t the priority.
While the passion between them flares to a fever pitch, they plunge into the mystery surrounding her sister’s death.
A web of lies binds the DeWhitts to her sister's husband and the cousin Enid is expected to marry—a wicked deception that blurs the line between identity and insanity.
All roads lead to Bedlam. And Enid and Theo must race against time to unmask the truth before events reach their deadly destination.