However, they can’t sew a dress without more material, and the secret to starlight’s origins has been lost for decades. She commissions Quinta and Twain to make her a starlight dress and will reward them handsomely enough to make their dreams come true. Soon, their lace catches the eye of the Casorina, the ruler of Severon. Two, they enter the store and discover a book that teaches them how to weave starlight into lace. When Quinta meets Twain outside of the Emporium, two things happen: One, Quinta is sure she’s infatuated with this starlight boy, who uses his charm to hide his scars. Meanwhile, Quinta, the ordinary daughter of an extraordinary circus performer, chases rumors of the shop, the Vermilion Emporium, desperate for a way to live up to her mother’s magical legacy. On the morning Twain, a lonely boy with a knack for danger, discovers a strand of starlight on the cliffs outside of Severon, a mysterious curiosity shop appears in town. The heart-wrenching story of The Radium Girls meets the enchanting world of Howl’s Moving Castle in a story of timeless love and deadly consequences.

She is the New York Times bestselling author of The Ones We're Meant to Find, Descendant of the Crane, and the forthcoming Strike the Zither, the first in a duology.

She studied Psychology and East Asian Languages and Cultures at the University of Pennsylvania and currently writes in Chicago. At a young age, she received classical instruction in oil painting before discovering that storytelling was her favorite form of expression. Joan He was born and raised in Philadelphia but still will, on occasion, lose her way. But there are more enemies than one-and not all of them are human. When Zephyr is forced to infiltrate an enemy camp to keep Ren’s followers from being slaughtered, she encounters the enigmatic Crow, an opposing strategist who is finally her match. Orphaned at a young age, Zephyr took control of her fate by becoming the best strategist of the land and serving under Xin Ren, a warlordess whose loyalty to the empress is double-edged-while Ren’s honor draws Zephyr to her cause, it also jeopardizes their survival in a war where one must betray or be betrayed. The realm has fractured into three factions and three warlordesses hoping to claim the continent for themselves. The year is 414 of the Xin Dynasty, and chaos abounds. A dazzling new fantasy from New York Times and Indie bestselling author Joan He, Strike the Zither is a powerful, inventive, and sweeping fantasy that reimagines the Chinese classic tale of the Three Kingdoms.

The vermilion emporium by jamie pacton