A debut, bewitching YA fantasy - Midnight on the Celestial by Julia Alexandra is perfect for fans of Caraval and Belladonna - but set on a ship!
Welcome to The Celestial, where everything is an illusion. This ship is powered by magical servants, and its wealthy guests have a first-class ticket to amusements out at sea. But amongst all the spectacle, one thing is for sure: Crew or Guest, no one is safe in violent waters.
Roe Damarcus, an heiress with the power to summon spirits of the dead, fails her realm's trial to keep her magic. To save her gift, Roe decides to serve a punishment sentence aboard The Celestial, an infamous ship where affluent guests can experience magical luxury without limits.
As a staff member, Roe competes with other "dangerous" magic-wielders for a coveted chance at a retrial all while serving demanding high-class guests. Her task is made even harder by an infuriatingly handsome silks performer, Ivander, who seems hellbent on making sure Roe doesn't win a retrial. Determined to fight for her magic, Roe dives head-first into the chaotically enchanting world of The Celestial, which her influential Damarcus family helped create.
Her battle to earn guest favor turns into a fight to survive as the ship transforms nightly into a violent monster, killing staff members and any who wander the halls at night. Faced with the reality of serving aboard, Roe must question her ancestors' motivations for creating not just the ship, but the trials and system that put her there. But the moment Roe sinks into the ship's dark history, she's wrongly framed for a guest's murder.
Vowing to conjure her own second chance and change her fate at any cost, Roe, with help from Ivander and a powerful found family of staff members, will use whatever power she has to uncover the secrets and truths of the ship, her family, and their entwined bloody past - before she becomes the ship's next victim.
