Acclaimed author Veeda Bybee shares a teen romance set at the Jane Austen Finishing School in England, where a determined outsider discovers that fitting in may matter less than finding where she truly belongs.
Evie Young arrives at the Jane Austen Finishing School with two goals in mind: honor her Regency-loving late mother and win a full-ride, four-year college scholarship awarded to the student with the most scholarly knowledge of Austen, etiquette, and the 1800s. With her impulsive father's impending second marriage and her mother's expensive medical bills, this is just the prize Evie desperately needs to break free from her family's turmoil. Besides, how hard can tea parties and cross-stitch be?
Overconfident with all the Austen background her family has forced upon her over the years, Evie thinks she is a shoo-in for the scholarship and can easily glide through the school. But she has no patience for handwritten letters, no cell phones, and etiquette protocols about becoming a "lady," so when she finds herself failing, she feels farther from her mother and her goals than ever.
Headmistress Lang, however, is determined to have Evie succeed and assigns the maddeningly reserved August Spencer to help her. Evie pegs him as an intellectual snob and number one competitor for the scholarship--and their reluctant partnership ignites sparks neither of them wants.
The race for the life-changing scholarship grows more complicated as Evie is torn between August and new rockstar crush Jun Blue Song. As her feelings are tested and the final ball approaches, she'll have to decide what--and who--is truly worth fighting for. What begins as an opportunity for Evie becomes far more consequential--and far more transformative--than she ever expected.
