Author of strange steampunk and inverted fairy tales, Kelsey Josephson's stand-alone fairy-tale retelling of Beauty and the Beast set in a fantasy world with steam-powered airships, sentient automatons, and slow-burn romance.
An unconventional beauty, a tormented beast, and the ether that binds their fate...
After her own father sells her to the Ringmaster, Belle thinks she'll spend the rest of her days performing strongwoman stunts until she succumbs to her ether-poisoning, a deadly condition that has disfigured her appearance and given her unnatural strength. A chance encounter with a beast by her solitary campfire changes everything.
With fractured memories of the horrific experiments that transformed his body, Beast's only desire is to escape his creator. When he encounters the camp of the Circus Illume, a strange but kind woman awakens what's left of his humanity...and unwittingly leads to his capture.
Belle hatches a daring escape plan to free them both, but freedom is fragile. With both the Ringmaster and Beast's creator pursuing them, Belle and Beast must learn to trust strangers and the complicated desires of their hearts.