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Gracelyn "Grace" Rivers has spent her whole life feeling like something is wrong with her.
With violet eyes, silver-purple-blue hair, unpredictable magic, and a strange ability to calm frightened magical creatures, Grace has always stood out at Aurelia Academy. Her final year is supposed to be simple: survive the bullying, graduate, and earn her place as a zoologist at the Northern Creature Sanctuary.
Then the academy welcomes a group of exchange students from protected non-human communities.
Grace is chosen as their student ambassador-and assigned a new roommate.
Zaryn is quiet, guarded, and impossible to read. They are also a Keryndra: a rare golden deer shapeshifter from a people believed nearly extinct after a brutal raid destroyed their homeland. Beneath Zaryn's careful distance is someone fiercely protective, deeply lonely, and drawn to Grace in ways neither of them understands.
As their bond grows, Grace begins to uncover the truth behind her own strange magic. The ache between her shoulder blades becomes wings. Hidden markings begin to glow beneath her skin. And the girl who has always felt too different to belong may be part of an ancient winged people thought to be lost forever.
But old enemies are still watching. Poachers are hunting. Grace's past is full of secrets. And Ian Quinn-the sanctuary zoologist who has loved Grace longer than she ever knew-may complicate everything between her and Zaryn.
Together, Grace and Zaryn must decide whether they can trust the bond forming between them... and whether love can become a sanctuary for two people who have never truly had a home.
*Golden Heart is a slow-burn fantasy romance about magical creatures, found family, healing from fear, awakening magic, and choosing the people who make you feel safe.*