by Zilla N.

We received an Advance Reader Copy of Beneath the Starlit Sea by Nicole Bea, and we could not have been happier.

I ONCE WAS a little girl with an affinity for fire. Now, many moons later, I am a king’s sorceress from Strandkant with a weakness for staying alive.

As a sorceress living among humans, Illyse’s life is marked by loneliness. She has her three foxes, and she has the energy the land gives her for fire, but she is kept apart from others by prejudice and by the King’s law. Magical and non-magical people are forbidden to be in love.

The King takes her solace from her, throttles her magical connection to the earth with an iron bracelet. Two of her foxes die in the task he sets for her, working alongside his trusted advisor, Garit, to solve magical murders. But Illyse is not left alone. She has her fox, Thierry. And she finds a companion in Garit, who is willing to defy his King for love.

Nicole has a gift for language, for turns of phrase that perfectly capture a mood or a moment. She captures perfect details–a fox playing with a stick, the sweetness of a candy, the heat of a fire. It’s a fairy tale, a fantastical story of love in a world that holds a mirror to our own.

Nicole will capture your heart when you read this, as she always does in her stories. 

Get your copy here.