GRIM LOVELIES

A centuries-old system of magic is about to be turned upside down—by a lowly witch's maid.

In a beautiful Parisian townhouse, Anouk sweeps the floors. Years ago her mistress, the 400-year old Montmartre Witch, enchanted animals into human servants, called beasties: a driver, a gardener, a thief, an assassin, and a maid—Anouk. Anouk has been living in Mada Vittoria's Parisian townhouse for over a year, but has yet to set foot in the city. As she watches the lovelies walking by outside, she wonders what it's like to be one of them: Beautiful. Human. Free. Anouk may envy the lovelies, but she knows something they don't: Mada Vittoria is a member of the Haute, a society of magic handlers who control everything. When Mada Vittoria is murdered, Anouk and her fellow beasties only have three days before the spell fades and they turn back into animals forever, unless they can find a way to hold on to their humanity. Anouk must now step into the
"Pretty World” where she discovers that beasties can do more than sweep floors and hang up coats. They exist for a far more deadly reason.

New York Times bestselling author Megan Shepherd grew up in her family's independent bookstore in the Blue Ridge Mountains. She is the author of several acclaimed young adult series and the middle grade novel The Secret Horses of Briar Hill. She now lives and writes on a 125-year-old farm outside Asheville, North Carolina, with her husband, two cats, and an especially scruffy dog.