Creeping Beauty

From the bestselling author of Anatomy of a Misfit comes a subversive and feminist take on Sleeping Beauty, sure to appeal to fans of Damsel and To Kill a Kingdom. The dark and deadly world of Heartless meets the empowering twist of Cruel Beauty in this thrilling, unpredictable, multigenre retelling of one of the most beloved fairy tales: where instead of falling asleep to await her prince, this sleeping beauty finally wakes up.Bitsy is no one’s ideal princess.She’s heard it all: that it’s a shame she’s so plain, so lacking in grace. That the best thing for her to do is simply wait (and wait some more) and hope some prince will grant her a happy ending.Then Bitsy pricks her finger on a spindle and falls down, down, down.Into a world where cutthroats and con artists are more common than curtsies. Where no one ages and everyone is beautiful. Where an inscrutable evil rests at its core.A land where Bitsy’s fate and her future are solely in her own hands—and neither are what she expects.

Praise for Andrea Portes: “[Portes] tempers gruesome scenes with Daffodil’s likable and chatty personality, and creates a memorable novel reminiscent of John Bellairs stories.” — Publishers Weekly “The chills here are on par with The Shining. Readers [will] know to be very, very afraid.” — Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books “For all that the title claims, something spooky is happening in this house. This is a horror book that pokes fun at itself and the genre, managing to be both spooky and funny…[with] an interesting twist at the end.” — School Library Journal Praise for ANATOMY OF A MISFIT: ?“It’s rare that a book can be as funny and absolutely delightful as it is moving and thought provoking, and Anatomy of a Misfit is both.” — Lauren Oliver, author of Before I Fall "A self-deprecating and highly memorable heroine whose bawdy, laceratingly funny narration makes her instantly endearing while also revealing her flaws, uncertainties, and ethical quandaries." — Publishers Weekly (starred review) "A romance filled with seriously funny dark humor and tragedy.” — Kirkus Reviews "Anika’s droll voice shines, and her emotions are palpable. After a heartbreaking tragedy, Anika’s ending . . . will leave readers cheering." — School Library Journal "Fifteen-year-old Anika Dragomir throws her arms around us and draws us in from the very beginning… Droll, intimate, often laugh-out-loud funny narration carries the reader through more than 300 pages... Anika’s winning voice may just be the star of Portes’s first young adult novel." — New York Times Book Review "Anika Dragomir is the funniest, snarkiest, most insightful misfit a reader could ever hope to meet. I laughed my way through Anatomy of a Misfit right up until the very end, when the book broke my heart into a million pieces. This is a beautiful, brave and powerful novel." — Melissa Kantor, author of Maybe One Day and The Breakup Bible  “Portes writes with such cool grace we almost forget to be astonished by her narrative’s complexity.” — Matthew Specktor, American Dream Machine "Portes’s short chapters and staccato narration make for a quick and compulsive read." — Publishers Weekly "Andrea Portes writes with the tip of a knife, shape-shifting between characters and laying bare their darkest secrets." — Dylan Landis, Normal People Don't Live Like This

Andrea Portes is the bestselling novelist of two critically lauded adult novels, Hick, her debut, which was made into a feature film starring Chloë Grace Moretz, Alec Baldwin, Blake Lively, Eddie Redmayne, and Juliette Lewis, and Bury This. Her first novel for young adult readers, Anatomy of a Misfit, was called “perfection in book form” by Teen Vogue. Her other YA novels include The Fall of Butterflies and Liberty: The Spy Who (Kind of) Liked Me. Andrea Portes’s spooky, timeless middle grade debut is Henry & Eva and the Castle on the Cliff.Andrea grew up on the outskirts of Lincoln, Nebraska. Later, she attended Bryn Mawr College. Currently she lives in Los Angeles with her husband, Sandy Tolan, their son, Wyatt, and their dog, Rascal. You can visit her online at www.andreaportes.squarespace.com.