{WATTYS 2020 WINNER} {FEATURED BOOK} Paris, 1663. 500 girls selected by King Louis XIV embark on a journey across the seas from their homeland. Each is given a dowry, and the expectation that they are to marry a French settler, in order to increase the population of New France. They are the historic Daughters of the King, or "les filles du roi." Eighteen-year-old Celeste Dubois is a free-spirited, educated and headstrong girl. She comes from a wealthy Parisian family that has squandered their money and is subsequently forced to journey to New France. However, Celeste doesn't plan on marrying a complete stranger. She hopes to use the dowry and the free voyage as a way to escape the poverty and social ranks of Paris. Matters are complicated when against her will, she falls in love. Romantic, kind and stunningly beautiful Lorraine Leblanc is a girl from a large family with children to spare. Unlike Celeste, she happily dreams of the day she will meet her future husband in New France. When she marries a mysterious widower with two young children of his own and still reeling after his broken heart, she realizes that married life isn't all she had hoped it would be, and begins to question her new husband's complicated past. - Wattpad Picks Blast to the Future Past list 2018 - The 50 Best Wattpad Stories of 2018/19 by Design Wizard - 2018 Youngblood Awards Winner (Romance) - 2018 True North Awards 2nd place for Historical Fiction and 2nd place Truly Canadian special category award - Featured by Wattpad Historical Fiction profile under Kings, Courtships and Empires, Young Adult Fiction profile under Love, Actually and Romance profile under Time will Tell *Please be aware that since this book covers the colonial period, it does contain sensitive themes of racism and violence that readers will find disturbing. There are resources at the back of the book that prompt further learning in the Historical Notes section.*

Ember Ryvergrave is tired and alone. Her mother is dead, her twin sister doesn't need her, and her best friend is in love with another. She feels as though she has no purpose anymore. She's a trained assassin. A killer. Surely she shouldn't be feeling so dejected from the people around her, yet those feelings linger deep inside her stomach. Along with the secret magic that resides in Ember's bones. The magic that would cost her her life if anyone knew about it. She's prepared to live a life of solitude and coldness until a strange boy with mint eyes and golden hair sees her and her magic. Ember's world flips upside down. He comes with news. Ember's fellow assassin has been taken. She has been tasked with retrieving the assassin and bringing them home. However, Ember has to cross through her country and go into the capital. Where the King resides. The man who wishes her dead. Though, she doesn't journey alone. The mint-eyed boy insists on coming. Now she must watch out for him . . . and herself. Trouble stirs and old demons come back to haunt Ember. Especially two men who are on the hunt for her. Ember's past is coming back to life and it's worse than anything she has ever imagined. Will she be able to save her fellow assassin? Or will she perish before she even reaches the capital? TWs: sexual assault, mentions of sexual assault, violence, gore, obscene language, depression, suicidal thoughts. Please take note of these before reading! 214K words *COVER ART IS NOT MINE* Len Yan is the artist of the cover, I got it off of pinterest!

Forced into a marriage by her parents, Rowan struggles with her feelings about her new fiancé. He's brash, rude and unapproachable. After calling a truce, will he change for the better? And will she give him a second chance?