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No one escapes a fairytale unaltered.
All Raegan Maeve Overhill wants is to survive another October. The month is a painful anniversary of the worst thing that ever happened to the 30-year-old journalist: the unsolved disappearance of her father nearly two decades ago. But when mysterious drownings grip the city, her mourning rituals are shattered. Raegan's editor asks her to lead the newspaper's investigation. To her shock, she discovers startling connections between the drownings and her father's disappearance.
Raegan's relentless pursuit of the connection takes her into dark corners of her city—places humans aren't supposed to go. In those shadowy depths, she discovers that supernatural beings exist and magic is real. The creatures she'd spent her childhood reading about—kelpies, faeries, gods and more—are no longer illustrations on a page, but flesh and blood, and incredibly deadly. It's not long before her meddling attracts the attention of the terrifying yet alluring Unseelie King. Unwilling to give up on her father, Raegan makes a dangerous bargain with the King by the skin of her teeth.
As she ventures deeper into the world-behind-the-world with an ancient Fey king at her side, Raegan quickly discovers she's missing more than a parent—and that forces as large as Fate and Time themselves have their eyes on her. A quest for her father transforms into a battle that holds the fate of magic itself in the balance, and her distaste for the cold, beautiful and predatory King blooms into something else entirely. Despite all her knowledge of the Fair Folk and their cruel games, she still wants him—badly. Not only is the King as relentless and strange as she is, but he also seems unaffected by her ferocious temper and single-minded determination. In fact, Raegan begins to wonder if he might even enjoy her jagged edges.
Set in the city of Philadelphia and inspired by Welsh mythology, Slavic folklore and Arthurian myth, Beyond the Aching Door is an urban fantasy romance for fans of Ninth House, A Discovery of Witches, Tithe and Dark Night, Golden Dawn. Mier's debut novel is at once an exploration into the ways grief transforms us, and a spellbinding, lush quest for all those who yearn for a more magical world.
By Victoria Mier. Hardcover. 547 pages. Expected publication March 26, 2023.