"Hi, I'm Mason, and though I have no doubts everyone within earshot heard that spectacular display my girlfriend just put on, I'd really rather we pretend you didn't just hear that."

"I'm Callie, and I'm not sure what display you're talking about. I didn't see a display."

Callie wasn't looking for anyone. She was just trying to survive a sleigh ride at the world's most awkward moment. Instead she got Mason, a stranger with a mysterious warning she can't shake.

"It's important to remember, looks can be deceiving."

Then there's the locked chest in her parents' attic. Her mom tells her not to worry about it, which is basically a dare. Inside: dozens of old leather journals. Callie takes the oldest one back to her room and starts reading.

Big mistake. Or possibly the best decision she's ever made.

The dreams start that same night, and they don't feel like dreams. The snow is cold. The wolf is real enough to make her heart pound. The ropes leave marks she can't explain the next morning.

Callie's life was supposed to be predictable. College, a job, the occasional bad date. Instead she's falling for two different men, split between two worlds, never sure which one she'll wake up in.

Then the beast is shot in front of her, and she's stuck. Trapped, with no way back and no idea if he's alive. No explanation for why Mason went quiet too.

When she finally makes it back, war has already started without her. Then Callie is captured.

She knows the fairy tale. What she doesn't know is why the men holding her captive, who are supposed to be enemies, are suddenly on the same side.

Now she has to save herself, the beast, and a kingdom that's starting to feel like home.

This Beauty and the Beast retelling is a slow burn romance. He falls first, and she is the chosen one. It is book one in a series of interconnected fairy tale retellings.

A full content warning list is available in the book preview and on the author's website.