Sixteen-year-old Mila has caught the attention of the (soon-to-be) widowed king. She, however, has no desire to be queen, much less the wife of the disgusting old man. She longs for the freedom to develop her rare and forbidden gift of magic and to choose a future with her lifelong best friend, Alfrid. But what little hope she has for autonomy is lost when the Queen of Direwood plummets to an untimely death. She soon finds herself the reluctant bride of the vile, controlling king, step-mother to his dead-eyed twelve-year-old daughter and an unprepared participant in the trials of court politics. Her only comfort comes from the apothecary-who offers the young queen an opportunity to cultivate her magic and a plan to secure her future. But in time, the entire palace begins to doubt Mila's ability to provide an heir. Desperation turns to resentment when she discovers the king's mistress is with child. But it is the vindictive actions of the king that lead Mila to realize that he'll destroy her if she doesn't destroy him first, tempting her to use her gifts in darker, dangerous ways.

|| WATTYS 2021 SHORTLIST || Hindsight isn't always twenty-twenty. A head injury has left a critical gap in seventeen-year-old Allyson's memory, so she barely recognizes her little sister, Lindsay, who's grown sullen and antisocial. What happened to the silly and fun girl who used to call Allyson her best friend? The answer starts to take shape when Allyson unlocks an instant messaging app and delves into the archived conversations. The more she learns about the person she was before her accident, the more she wants to stop reading. She's ashamed of the way she treated Lindsay, but despite her efforts to reconcile, Lindsay remains distant. She seems to be harboring some terrible secret herself. Allyson needs help to solve the mystery, but she's afraid to challenge her parents' fragile pretense of normality. And Noah, the boy Allyson doesn't remember falling for the first time, is reluctant to dig up the past. Her only choice is to find the courage to meet her former BFF-a stranger who knows all the unsavory details. Allyson will have to own her lies and accept one heartbreaking truth if she's going to keep her family from falling apart. |Cover design by Phillip Hilliker: www.philhilliker.com. Illustration from postermywall.|