From the bestselling author of Anatomy of a Misfit comes a subversive and feminist take on Sleeping Beauty , sure to appeal to fans of Damsel and To Kill a Kingdom.
CREEPING BEAUTY
by Andrea Portes
HarperTeen, July 2023
Bitsy is no one’s ideal princess. She’s heard it all: that it’s a shame she’s so plain, so lacking in grace. That the best thing for her to do is hope some prince will grant her a happy ending. Then Bitsy pricks her finger on a spindle and falls into a world where cutthroats and con artists are more common than curtsies. As fate spins her deeper into this unknown place, she discovers that there’s much more to her than meets the eye, too.
A sharp critique of patriarchal norms in fairytales as well as an inspiring journey of a young woman’s agency and strength, CREEPING BEAUTY is a fairytale retelling for our modern times.
Andrea Portes is the bestselling novelist of two critically lauded adult novels: Hick, her debut, which was made into a feature film, and Bury This. Her first novel for young adult readers, Anatomy of a Misfit , was called “perfection in book form” by Teen Vogue.
Mistake number one: Fun-loving Jake tells his girlfriend Jessica that they have to go to Tegan’s end of summer party in their tiny California beach town. Jessica doesn’t like parties and she doesn’t like Tegan, who has an obvious, obsessive crush on Jake. But Jessica agrees to go, to make Jake happy. 
Twelve years after the events of House of Salt and Sorrows, the Thaumas sisters are scattered across Arcannia. Camille rules over Highmoor as an efficient duchess. Annaleigh, Keeper of the Light, runs Old Maude with husband Cassius. Lenore is long gone, wandering throughout Arcannia. Honor is a governess in Foresia and Mercy lives at court, a companion to the two princesses. Despite dreams of adventures, almost-eighteen year old Verity has remained at Highmoor. She has no memory of the tragic events or her part within them. She spends her days filling hundreds of sketchbooks and canvases with portraits and paintings. Unfortunately, not all her subjects are alive. Verity is still seeing ghosts, she just doesn’t know it. When Mercy sends word that the Duchess of Bloem is interested in having Verity paint a portrait of her son, Alexander, Verity jumps at the chance. Verity is also quickly drawn to Alexander Laurent. Though a childhood accident left him without the use of his legs, Alexander roams the estate in a wicker wheelchair, taking Verity on adventurous and romantic outings as they grow closer. When he proposes she joyfully accepts. Even the constant revelry can’t hold back a new series of nightmares from plaguing Verity. She longs to confide in Alex but finds him much changed since the engagement. When she spots him walking through the halls of Chauntilalie one night, she fears that nothing is as it seems.
It’s summertime in New York City and Magnolia Wu is stuck helping her parents at the family-owned Bing Qi Ling Bubbles Laundromat. While her classmates are off at summer camps and on vacation, Magnolia longs to escape the daily monotony of laundromat life. Luckily the Wu family keeps a sock board where all the lost socks get pinned. With her dog, Mister Pants, as her sidekick, Magnolia becomes New York’s leading Sock Detective, venturing into the city’s chaos to return every sock to its rightful owner.