Wielding the Scepter of Fire, Alyssa Montague, descendant of the original Alice, saved a fairytale world from the evil forces of the Red King. Now, with new conflict brewing and the final fate of the Red King still unclear, disquiet is spreading with random attacks popping up all over Artemysia.

A sensible woman would know when to give up…
But Pip Knight has loved Viscount Drummond since she was a very little girl. And just because he doesn’t believe he can love her doesn’t mean she shouldn’t watch over him. Pip knows Beau’s secret, that he works with a clandestine group of gentlemen called Drake’s Rakes to help protect England. She also knows he is in danger and would do anything to protect him. Unhappily for them both, that means a forced marriage. The question is now whether to fight for a marriage with a man who has long since buried his heart and blames her for it.

Jacqueline Finch is a lifelong book lover, which is why it was a literal gift from the Universe when she inherited Three Tomes Bookshop at the ripe old age of forty-eight.

But she’s had a few adjustments to make along the way, including the fact that her bookshop seems to be a haven for literary characters to come alive…and to stick their noses into things that aren’t any of their business—including Sherlock Holmes’s landlady, Mrs. Hudson, who is constantly bickering with the dour housekeeper from Rebecca, Mrs. Danvers.

And then there are the three old ladies down the street, whose resemblance to Macbeth's Witches Three cannot be ignored.

Nevertheless, Jacqueline is happy in her new life and everything seems to be going well…until she hears the ominous sound of a book falling off the shelf—which can only mean one thing: someone else has come out of a book.

One thing is certain: whoever it is, it’s going to cause a problem that Jacqueline’s got to solve if she wants her life to get back to normal.