TAJoseph
When it's rumored that the kingdom needs a new Lily Maid, ambassadors of perfume magic, Zipporah Monrose journeys to the capital for the coveted title, stirring up long-held prejudices and a scandal behind a Lily's death that could threaten her tenure as a Lily Maid.
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Eighteen-year-old Zipporah Monrose wants nothing else but to be a Lily Maid--beautiful ambassadors of enchanted perfumes known to beguile the senses. The weekly wages could sustain her family out of impoverishment. When it's rumored that the kingdom needs a new Lily, she departs from her small town for the title.
A stay at a boarding house acquaints her with Perley Elliot, a faultless, budding Lily. Perley's selected to compete in the Lily Trials--an assessment of their grace, poise, and affinity with fragrance. Begging is Zipporah's last hope. Perley's pitying plea, and that The Crown prides itself on its progressiveness, plants Zipporah in the competition as a Lily Bud, against twenty-four ambitious girls. Scandalous gossip about the death of Claudie Beary, the Lily they're vying to replace, doesn't dishearten them. Zipporah's social status makes her susceptible to their disparagement. Her presence in the Trials has also garnered her Perley's cold shoulder.
Except Zipporah owns one bestowed spritz of perfume from her oldest friend, a former Lily. The perfume makes itself into an indispensable fragrance, enough to win the Lily Trials. But no amount of perfume can mask her predecessor's loveliness. Zipporah fails to exceed Claudie in every way. As Claudie's assailant remains at large, Zipporah puts her life in peril when she uncovers incriminating letters between Claudie and her paramour.
In a realm where Lily Maids are more coveted than perfume, the only thing worse than an undesirable Lily is a dead one.
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