Books in the Rose Trilogy series

This is a splendid, heartwarming novel of pain, struggle, decency, triumph - and just what we need in these times - Frank McCourtIt is 1888 and Jack the Ripper is stalking the streets of Whitechapel. For the people that live there, he is just one more adversary in their everyday battle to survive. Despite working long days at the tea factory, and the constant threat of the Ripper, Fiona Finnegan knows that life is better for her than for many others. With a father in work, a roof over her head, enough to eat and a loving family to keep her warm, she is among 'the respectable working poor.' And she also has Joe. Fiona and Joe Bristow have been sweethearts for as long as anyone can remember, and are saving up their meagre wages so that some day, they can open their very own shop. But things take a terrible turn for Fiona when events conspire to tear her, Joe and her family apart, and she finds herself alone in the world. The East End is a dangerous place to be by oneself, and the Ripper isn't the only threat casting a dark shadow over her life. Somehow, she must escape, build a life for herself, and forget about Joe. But how can she? When Joe is the only man she has ever loved? The first instalment of Jennifer Donnelly's acclaimed romance trilogy, The Tea Rose will leave you breathless, exhilarated, and longing for more.

The Beast doesn't always wait for Beauty. Sometimes, Beauty is the Beast.Princess Mirabella is betrothed to a repulsive old man a year after her mother's death. She refuses the marriage, only to find out her betrothed is a sorcerer as well. He takes his revenge by transforming her into a savage and frightening beast, giving her an ultimatum: she has three years to solve the mystery of her curse—or die.Exiled to her mother's estate to hide the scandal, Mirabella learns that the sorcerer was not alone in keeping secrets. Her grandfather was murdered before Mirabella was born, and her mother's death is looking less and less as if it came from natural causes. The only point in common to all their ruined lives: her father, the king.Faced with a conflict between saving her family and saving her own life, the choices Mirabella makes will change the future of the kingdom—and magic—forever.