The Beautiful Maddening is the perfect haunting and heartfelt read about family, curses, and the line between love and obsession.

Every spring, when the cursed tulips bloom, the people of Cutwater can't help themselves from falling deliriously in love with the Goodes. All Larke Goode wants is to leave this town and run away from her family's curse, which has done nothing but break them apart. However, when a patch of tulips goes missing from the Goode's garden, a love madness sweeps through the town. At the same time, Larke feels drawn to a mysterious new boy who seems to be the first person immune to the tulips' love spell.

While many novels with the love-curse trope can feel ridiculous and cringe-worthy, I found Ernshaw's take to be very nuanced and realistic, focused more on the ways love and obsession can ruin lives rather than the hilarity of it all. The author's signature flowery prose really compliments this storyline, providing vividly romantic scenes and perfectly encapsulating the love-intoxicated madness that spreads through the town. Ernshaw really plays into unpredictability and open-endedness, keeping the reader both on the edge of their seat and deeply pondering the meaning of love.

Larke, despite having people casually fall in love with her left and right, was a very relatable character through her feelings of being trapped by a family legacy, craving a sense of self away from her suffocating small town, and her struggles with accepting love. This book not only dives deep into Larke's struggles with abandonment from her parents, but also the complex feelings of love and heartbreak that come with being human and deeply rooted trust issues. Her relationship with Oak was beautiful and complex, as their mutual infatuation becomes cause for passion and uncertainty in both their lives. It causes Larke to question everything she's ever known about love, as well as her own feelings, creating a complicated romance that really shapes the storyline.

While there are some aspects of the book I didn't feel were totally fleshed out, overall, it's a very enjoyable read that follows a unique storyline, setting it apart from other YA fantasy-romance books. I liked it!

A richly layered narrative that beautifully explores the complexity of love, identity, and sacrifice. I think everyone will be talking about this novel. Bravo, Ernshaw.

Thank you Netgalley and Simon and Schuster Children’s Publishing for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Shea Ernshaw’s “The Beautiful Maddening” is an atmospheric and haunting exploration of love, obsession, and fate. Set in the cursed small town of Cutwater, the story centers on 17-year-old Lark Goode, who is desperate to escape her family’s legacy and the supernatural tulips that have haunted her bloodline for generations. This richly imagined YA book combines magical realism with a deeply emotional story, making it an ideal read for those who love romance and enchantment with a dark twist.

The Goode family’s curse originates during the Dutch tulip mania of the 1630s, when Lark’s ancestor stole rare tulip bulbs and brought them to America. The tulips’ snowy white petals bloomed into a unique madness—love so intense that it borders on obsession. For centuries, anyone carrying Goode blood has been the object of uncontrollable desire for the townsfolk, thanks to the tulips growing outside their home. While her brother embraces this power, Lark resents it and dreams of breaking free from her small-town life and the curse that defines her. When Lark meets a boy who seems immune to the curse’s pull, she begins to question everything she thought she knew about love, fate, and freedom. However, as Cutwater sinks into a dangerous madness linked to the tulips, Lark must decide how far she’s willing to go to save the town—and herself.

Ernshaw’s prose is undeniably stunning, painting vivid scenes of the cursed tulips and the eerie atmosphere of Cutwater. The story’s magical realism is handled with nuance, drawing into its enchanting yet unsettling world. I loved the small town atmosphere that Ernshaw created in the book as it fully encapsulated how trapped Lark felt in the town where she feels defined by both the curse and her family. The exploration of love and obsession is both compelling and thought-provoking, blurring the lines between the two and leaving you pondering long after you’ve turned the final page on if love can exist without obsession.

Lark is a relatable protagonist for readers who’ve ever felt trapped by their circumstances or their family’s legacy, especially those who may relate to how Lark was abandoned by her mother. Her struggles with love, identity, and freedom make her journey both emotional and universal. Ernshaw also skillfully incorporates the themes of fate and free will, leaving the ultimate answer intriguingly ambiguous. The book’s ending is bittersweet, offering resolution while leaving certain threads open to interpretation.

The book’s pacing stumbles slightly at the beginning, with repetitive exposition about the tulips and their effects. Additionally, while the romance between Lark and the boy immune to the curse takes center stage, I did want more of a focus on the history of the curse. The lack of adult intervention in the escalating madness of the town, as well as some plot holes (such as why no one realized the tulips were the cause of the curse over dozens of years), may stretch believability.

Overall, “The Beautiful Maddening” is a gorgeously written and emotionally resonant story that blends magic and romance. While it has its flaws, the book’s exploration of the thin line between love and obsession, coupled with its atmospheric setting and thought-provoking themes, makes it a standout read. Fans of YA romance with a touch of magic will find much to love in this bittersweet and memorable story.

Shea Ernshaw’s The Beautiful Maddening is a haunting and beautifully crafted blend of magic, mystery, and tragic love. Centered on Lark Goode’s struggle to escape her family’s devastating curse, the story weaves a mesmerizing tale of sacrifice, fate, and the fine line between love and madness. With evocative prose, richly drawn characters, and a vividly atmospheric setting, Ernshaw delivers a captivating fantasy romance that lingers long after the final page. Fans of dark, emotional tales will find this a spellbinding and unforgettable read.

Shea Ernshaw’s The Beautiful Maddening is a mesmerizing blend of magic, mystery, and tragic love, drawing readers into a world where beauty comes at a devastating price. From the first page, Shea crafts a haunting atmosphere that lingers long after the book ends, as she explores the intricate complexities of love, family, and the curses that bind us.

At the heart of the novel is seventeen-year-old Lark Goode, a girl desperate to escape her family’s dark legacy. The Goode name is cursed, dating back to the Dutch tulip mania of 1636, when Lark’s ancestor stole the last of the precious tulip bulbs, unknowingly planting the seed for generations of madness. In the present, the family’s curse causes anyone who comes into contact with the Goodes to fall hopelessly in love—love that leads to obsession, madness, and heartbreak. While Lark’s brother embraces the strange power, Lark is determined to break free, to escape the small town of Cutwater and the madness tied to her bloodline.

But when Lark meets a boy who seems immune to the curse, the walls she’s built around herself begin to crumble. The romance that sparks between them is both beautiful and tragic, as Lark finds herself drawn to a love she’s spent her life avoiding. Yet, with every blossoming feeling, the town around her begins to unravel in a sickness tied to the very curse she’s trying to escape.

Shea’s lyrical prose captures the eerie beauty of the tulips and the dangerous allure of love, as well as the deep emotional struggle Lark faces. The small town of Cutwater is as much a character as the people who inhabit it, with its sense of isolation and quiet menace heightening the novel’s tension. The tulips themselves are a powerful symbol of both destruction and desire, their delicate petals hiding the madness they unleash.
As Lark’s journey unfolds, the novel explores themes of sacrifice, fate, and the fine line between love and madness.

Shea paints a rich, emotional landscape where family bonds and personal desires collide, leading to a heart-wrenching climax that will leave readers questioning the true cost of breaking a curse. The conclusion is both bittersweet and profound, resonating with the idea that in the Goode family, love—while beautiful—is ultimately destructive.
The Beautiful Maddening is a spellbinding read for those who crave stories of magic, love, and sacrifice.

Shea’s evocative storytelling and compelling characters will captivate fans of dark romance and fantastical tales, leaving them with a hauntingly unforgettable experience.

Twin teenagers Lark and Archer Goode live in Cutwater, a small swampy town where generations ago a Dutch ancestor of theirs settled. Their house is rundown, set on stilts over a glacial creek, with a dark field behind it that every spring comes to life with hundreds of white tulips, slashed with red stripes, that their great-great-etc grandfather smuggled out of the Netherlands during Tulipmania in the 1600s. The bulbs have been multiplying and growing to extraordinary heights — their pollen also brings a love madness to the town, which was unexplained. During the bloom period, people fall instantly in love with anyone carrying Goode blood. Archer takes advantage of this, receiving trinkets, money and more from admirers, but Lark just wants to be left alone long enough in order to graduate high school. Just a short period of time more, but unfortunately during drunk love tulip season.

Their parents are absent: a faraway father pays for groceries and utilities; their mother walked out three years ago. Lark hopes to do the same and escape Cutwater. But two things are different this year: some classmates have realized that it’s the tulips spreading love potions, and Lark has met someone totally unaffected by her, while her other school friends try to woo and possess her and demand tulip petals. In fact, it’s become a zombie apocalypse of sorts — Lark is almost crushed in the mayhem, but Oak — the unaffected one — saves her.

For a girl who can have anyone love her, albeit briefly and tragically, Lark is obsessed by the one person immune to her magical charms. She realizes she must be feeling what the others do. “I am afraid I am a girl who will only know false love.”

Shea Ernshaw has created an intense book about unrequited love, false love, and maddening love. The author keeps the characters off balance with the constant fear of the Goode family curse — is it real? Can it be escaped? A very lyrical book that will tear up the reader’s emotions. A great YA book! 5 stars!

Literary Pet Peeve Checklist:
Green Eyes (only 2% of the real world, yet it seems like 90% of all fictional females): YES Oak has bottle green eyes, as does the appropriately named Olive. Mom had blue-green eyes. Randy also has green eyes. It seems like the whole town has green eyes….
Horticultural Faux Pas (plants out of season or growing zones, like daffodils in autumn or bougainvillea in Alaska): YES The book is about magical tulips, like the “broken” tulips of Tulipmania. The red streaks are caused by a virus that eventually weakens the bulbs and are currently illegal in the Netherlands (striped tulips of today have hybridized instead of relying on aphids to infect them). In real life, the original bulbs from the days of the 17th century have all died out and would not have lasted for 400 years. But, these are magical ones and they thrive and multiply!

Thank you to Simon and Schuster Children’s Publishing and NetGalley for an advanced reader copy!

This was a beautifully done fantasy romance and worked with the overall feel of the world. The concept worked overall and enjoyed the plot of this story. I enjoyed the way the characters were everything that I wanted and enjoyed how they felt like they belonged in this universe. Shea Ernshaw has a strong writing style and can’t wait for more.