Monstrous (44 page)

My best friends, Trish and Chandra, who were there through all the highs and the lows on the crazy journey to publication and cheered me up when I needed it. Espinaca and Indian food are the cure for all woes.

The loving support of my entire family, but especially my parents, for encouraging me in every dream I ever had, no matter how ridiculous (even that time I decided I'd grow up to be a traveling farmer who lived in a motor home). They let me believe anything was possible. And of course, many thanks to my sister and nephew for being my first nonwriter readers.

And finally, Jason, for happily letting me have the time and space to write whenever I needed it, for listening to me babble on about plot twists with no context whatsoever, and for keeping me in writing fuel (otherwise known as coffee). You are always my favorite.

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MARCYKATE CONNOLLY
is a writer and arts administrator living in New England with her husband and pugs. She's a coffee addict and voracious reader. This is her first novel. You can visit her online at
www.marcykate.com
.

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Cover art © 2015 by Skottie Young

Hand lettering © 2015 by David Coulson

Cover design by Sarah Nichole Kaufman

MONSTROUS
. Copyright © 2015 by MarcyKate Connolly. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

www.harpercollinschildrens.com

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Connolly, MarcyKate.

Monstrous / MarcyKate Connolly. — First edition.

pages  cm

Summary: Kymera, who has a raven's wings, a snake's tail, and a cat's eyes and claws, loves the father who brought her back to life after a wizard killed her, but she begins to question his motives, especially after she connects with a boy in the town from which she is rescuing sick girls.

ISBN 978-0-06-227271-3 (hardcover)

EPub Edition December 2014 ISBN 9780062272737

[1. Fairy tales. 2. Monsters—Fiction. 3. Magic—Fiction. 4. Wizards—Fiction. 5. Dragons—Fiction. 6. Identity—Fiction.] I. Title.

14 15 16 17 18  
CG
/
RRDH
  10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

FIRST EDITION