About the Book:

Title: The Beautiful Maddening 

Author: Shea Ernshaw 

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers 

Release Date: June 3, 2025

Pages: 304

Genre: YA Fantasy, YA Contemporary 

Synopsis:

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Shea Ernshaw comes a haunting romantic contemporary fantasy about a teen navigating her family’s love curse that blooms with their enchanted tulips every year.

Seventeen-year-old Lark Goode wants only one to escape her small town of Cutwater and the history of her family name. It’s a history that began during the Dutch tulip mania of 1636, when Lark’s ancestor stole the last remaining tulip bulbs and fled to America. But when the tulips bloomed on American soil, madness sprouted from their snowy white petals.

The madness was love.

Now, generations later, the Goodes remain cursed—the unnatural flowers outside their home causing locals to fall helplessly in love with anyone carrying Goode blood in their veins. While her brother embraces the strange power, Lark wants nothing more than to be free from it.

But when she meets a boy who seems unaffected by the family curse, Lark finds herself falling headlong into a feeling she’s spent her whole life trying to avoid. Yet, all curses and magic come with a price, and the town of Cutwater soon sinks into a dangerous sickness tied to Lark and the ill-fated tulips.

To save the town, Lark will need to sacrifice everything—even true love—to break the spell. Because in the Goode family, love has a way of destroying everything.

Review:

*I received an e-arc via Netgalley and the publisher. Thank you for the opportunity to review. All thoughts are my own*

Shea Ernshaw is one of my favorite authors, and she continues to amaze me with her writing. I literally will read anything that she writes!  The Beautiful Maddening was magical, bewitching, and ethereal. I really enjoyed it! 

This story was inspired by the tulip madness and the main characters are a set of twins, Archer and Lark Goode. They are cursed to be loved by everyone. Archer seems to like the attention the tulips bring, while Lark resents it and tries to keep everyone at a distance. 

Lark meets someone who seems unaffected by the family curse and finds herself falling headstrong into a feeling she’s been spending her life trying to avoid. Like all magic, the magic of the tulips comes with a price. The town of Cutwater falls into a sickness that’s tied to Lark and the tulips. 

To save the town, Lark needs to sacrifice everything, even true love. Will she be able to do it?

I took off one star as the ending wasn’t quite as satisfying as I had hoped. Other than that, it was a great read!

I definitely recommend for fans of YA and fantasy! 

 

About the Author:

Shea Ernshaw is the #1 New York Times, USA Today, and Indie Bestselling author of THE WICKED DEEP, WINTERWOOD, A WILDERNESS OF STARS, LONG LIVE THE PUMPKIN QUEEN, and A HISTORY OF WILD PLACES. Her novels have repeatedly been chosen as Indie Next Picks and A HISTORY OF WILD PLACES was a Book of the Month selection. She is also the winner of the Oregon Book Award.
She often writes late, late, late into the night, enjoys dark woods, scary stories and moonlight on lakes.