If you want a story that will change your life, Chiron’s bookshop is where you go. For Cassandra Fairfax, it’s a reminder of everything she lost, when Chiron kicked her out and all but shuttered the shop. Since then, she’s used her skills in less ethical ways, trading stolen books and magical readings to wealthy playboys. Then Chiron dies under mysterious circumstances. And if Cassandra knows anything, it’s this: the bookshop must always have an owner. But she's not the only one interested. There's Lowell Sharpe, a regrettably handsome bookseller she can't seem to stop bumping into; rival owners who threaten Cassandra from the shadows; and, of course, Chiron's murderer, who is still on the loose. As Cassandra tries to uncover the secrets her mentor left behind, a sinister force threatens to unravel the world of the magical bookshops entirely.

Violet Everly is the last of her line. For centuries, her family has seen their best and brightest taken as punishment for a crime no one remembers, for a purpose no one understands. Violet has 10 years to find her mother, Marianne, the latest victim of the curse. If she fails, she will take Marianne's place. As her hunt leads her into a seductive magical underworld of power-hungry scholars, fickle gods and monsters bent on revenge, time starts to run out. Violet will have to travel to the edges of the world to find Marianne and the key to the city of stardust, where the Everly story began.