The Beautiful Maddening, Shea Ernshaw
The Beautiful Maddening, Shea Ernshaw
List: $24.99 | Sale: $17.50
Club: $12.49

The Beautiful Maddening

Author: Shea Ernshaw

Narrator: Kimberly Woods

Unabridged: 8 hr 57 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 06/03/2025


Synopsis

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.

About Shea Ernshaw

Shea Ernshaw is a #1 New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author of The Wicked DeepWinterwoodA Wilderness of Stairs, Long Live the Pumpkin Queen, and A History of Wild Places. Her books have been published in over twenty countries and repeatedly chosen as Indie Next Picks. She lives in a small mountain town in Oregon and is happiest when lost in a good book, lost in the woods, or writing her next novel. Visit her online at SheaErnshaw.com.  


Reviews

Goodreads review by clara on February 28, 2025

thank you netgallery for providing me with the book! i promise that all my opinions are my own and not influenced by anything <3 ★★★★☆ ⤷ minimal spoilers (quotes) "Heartbreak is a powerful thing," she says. "It casts spells and conjures up dangerous magic-I've seen it happen. Never stand in the way o......more

Thank you NetGalley and Simon and Schuster for this arc in exchange for an honest review! "We write our own story, not what anyone else tells us it should be." Great writing with a story I wasn't sold on. Mixed feelings seem to be typical for me when reading Shea Ernshaw's books. Her writing is SO goo......more

Goodreads review by Patty (IheartYA311) on June 06, 2025

The Beautiful Maddening was one of my most anticipated reads of the year. Ernshaw is a favorite author of mine, and an auto-read. I love the writing style. The story was unique, mostly paced well, and interesting. I enjoyed the characters and their development a lot. The conclusion felt rushed, thou......more

Goodreads review by Jackie on March 01, 2025

What is love if not madness? Set in the town of Cutwater, where the Goode family's tulips bloom with an intoxicating magic each spring, creating an alluring, dangerous atmosphere to anyone who draws too close. Archer welcomes the attention and gifts that the tulips bring, his sister Lark dreads the......more

Goodreads review by Keisha | A Book Like You on April 27, 2025

In the spirit of this story, I’m pretty convinced that Shea Ernshaw is carrying around an enchanted tulip that keeps drawing me back to her work. 🌷 I have read, or attempted to read, every book she’s ever published. I don’t think I realized that until I looked back on my previous reviews. It’s been a......more