On the eve of the Coronation, aspiring newspaper columnist Penelope Beaumont is assigned the story of a lifetime-revealing the Crown Prince isn't the rightful heir to Loirehall's throne. Desperate to leave her dysfunctional step-family, and tempted by the chance to fulfill her deepest wish and claim her late father's former column in The Loirehall Times, Penelope accepts the job. But a fateful encounter with Crown Prince Nicholas Garcon brings their shared history into question, and together, they uncover darker secrets about the Royal Family and the Yorkson Tragedy-the event that claimed the lives of both of their parents. Will the connection between Nicholas and Penelope be strong enough to overcome the story between them, or will lies and rumors upend the long-awaited Coronation Ball and change the future of the Royal Family forever?

Eighteen-year-old pencil artist Elizabeth Rhodes is on the cusp of a breakthrough art commission that could cement her future career: the debut of her drawings at L'étoile dans les Ténèbres, the social calendar's biggest art auction hosted by renowned art collector and gracious philanthropist Madame Penelope Garcon. Concealing her true identity as the mysterious artist Briar Rose-whose name and fame she inherited at the deathbed request of her beloved Aunt-Elizabeth decides to accept the terms her dapper and elderly benefactor Sterling Figgleston negotiates for the debut of Briar Rose's new series, Hearts. But when the mental illness she's been hiding threatens to expose her charade to the boy she's loved since childhood, and with her estranged parents slated to make an appearance at L'étoile dans les Ténèbres, will Elizabeth find the courage to break the curse and open her heart, or will she lose her one chance at true love by revealing her heart's darkest secrets?