Seventeen-year-old Anouk envies the human world, where people known as Pretties enjoy fast cars, high fashion, and the freedom to fall in love. She can never have those things, because she is not really human. Enchanted from animal into a human girl and forbidden to leave her Parisian prison, Anouk is a Beastie, spelled into existence by the witch Mada Vittora and destined to serve her.
That changes the day Anouk finds her mistress murdered in a pool of blood — and is accused of the crime. Pursued through Paris by the underground magical society known as the Haute, Anouk and her fellow Beasties have only three days to find the real killer before the enchantment keeping them human fades. If they fail, they lose the only lives they have ever known; if they succeed, they may prove more powerful than anyone bargained for.
The first book in Megan Shepherd's Grim Lovelies duology, concluded in Midnight Beauties, this is a glittering YA fantasy set in a hidden magical Paris where friends can become enemies and humanity itself comes at a price.