But her life takes a strange turn when she is trapped by magic inside her favourite fantasy series, and she finds herself pitted against her suddenly living and breathing crush, the 'Once and Forever Emperor'. In a palace on the brink of war, she has become the villainess in his tale, and she needs to take control of the narrative before it, and the Emperor, take control of her... fatally.

This adult epic fantasy debut from Sarah Rees Brennan puts the reader in the villainess's shoes, for an adventure that is both 'supremely satisfying' (Leigh Bardugo) and 'brilliant' (Holly Black): expect a cast of dilettante aristocrats, knights-in-armour, magic-wielding warriors, sarcastic servants and one particularly murderous, if annoyingly handsome, bodyguard.