Ember Blackburn is the second child her mother never wanted, a rejected half witch with a dangerous gift for lies—and ruining lives when she tells them. Ignored by her witch relatives and shut out of Everden, Ember settles for a magicless existence, taking care of her human father on a quiet cul-de-sac in Pennsylvania. Then, a mysterious male witch is ordered to retrieve her, and Ember’s dragged to the picturesque world of witches where she knows she isn’t wanted.
Lethal, truth-telling, and devastatingly handsome, Leland Stray is bound to protect the half witch—an impossible task in a realm taught to despise her for her human breeding. Soon after Ember’s arrival, innocent witches start to go missing, and Ember, the target of every witch with a vendetta against humans, becomes the prime suspect in the disappearances.
A life-or-death entanglement with Leland means Ember must find a way to convince Everden she isn’t a threat, or Leland will suffer. But, haunted by a feeling that something is incalculably wrong with her, Ember will first have to stop being her own worst advocate and convince herself—then the realm—that she belongs.