The Beautiful Maddening

For the first printing only! This hardcover features a white cloth case with gold foil embellishments while the special edition supply lasts.

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Shea Ernshaw comes an “electric romance that weaves together magic and suspense” (Publishers Weekly) about a teen navigating her family’s love curse that blooms with their enchanted tulips every year.

Seventeen year-old Lark Goode wants only one thing: to escape her small town of Cutwater and the history of her family name. It’s a history that began during the Dutch tulip mania of 1636, when Lark’s ancestor stole the last remaining tulip bulbs and fled to America. But when the tulips bloomed on American soil, madness sprouted from their snowy white petals.

The madness was love.

Now, generations later, the Goodes remain cursed—the unnatural flowers outside their home causing locals to fall helplessly in love with anyone carrying Goode blood in their veins. While her brother embraces the strange power, Lark wants nothing more than to be free from it.

But when she meets a boy who seems unaffected by the family curse, Lark finds herself falling headlong into a feeling she’s spent her whole life trying to avoid. Yet, all curses and magic come with a price, and the town of Cutwater soon sinks into a dangerous sickness tied to Lark and the ill-fated tulips.

To save the town, Lark will need to sacrifice everything—even true love—to break the spell. Because in the Goode family, love has a way of destroying everything.

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Published Jun 3, 2025

304 pages

Average rating: 4

3 RATINGS

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Community Reviews

Kristin Rose
Jun 24, 2025
8/10 stars
If only I had this book when I was 18. It has just the right amount of angst and atmospheric nostalgia, and the very relatable trope of “I need to leave this town to find myself.”

I loved Shea’s other two books set in this universe ~ The Wicked Deep and Winterwood, & it was nice to be brought back to The Wicked Deep world once again with the Easter egg.

The writing is flowery and ornate which I love, but some readers may not appreciate that. I thought this story was incredibly unique and enjoyable. I do wish the romance was a bit more developed but this is YA so expectations should be managed. Overall I highly recommend this magical story.

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