Not Your Average Beauty (Enchanted Tales, #1)

Stephen Pembroke, the Marquess of Barronsfield, believes that where his love of beauty goes, death follows. Cursed to a loveless existence, and with his legacy at stake, Stephen makes a desperate proposal of marriage to Rosalind Schofield, his steward's new ward - and the plainest girl he has ever met. Rosalind has spent a lifetime being overlooked for prettier faces. When she is singled out for her lack of beauty by the Marquess, she begins to doubt if she is deserving of the love she inwardly craves.
When unusual things start happening around her, Rosalind can't help but wonder if Lord Barronsfield or his curse are who and what they appear to be. When she openly challenges Stephen about the curse, he begins to doubt everything - and comes to realize that this apparently plain, ordinary woman is not as unremarkable as he believed. Strange things are happening in Barronsfield. As they move closer to the truth, Rosalind unwittingly finds herself in the sights of the real beast in Barronsfield, and Stephen must decide if his growing love for Rosalind will be his salvation or her doom.

Michelle Helliwell was born and raised in Nova Scotia. She is now grown up enough to admit that when she started her undergraduate degree in Medieval History, she was pretty darned sure the past was going to be just like the fantasy novels she loved to read. So much for that. Having got over that disappointment, she simply turned her attention to mythic stories, fairy tales and Jane Austen. After some encouraging words from her grade 10 English teacher, she started writing her first novel, a time travel fantasy, when she was 15. She moved on to half-hearted attempts at something more literary, then nearly gave up on the writing all together until, in 2005, a co-worker put a romance novel in her hands and told her to "get over yourself". She did, and the rest, as they say, is history.
Like many authors, she juggles a full time job, family life, and (perhaps not like many authors) an addiction to Lego video games. Because sometimes, when you've been toiling over a manuscript for while, the best way to blow off some steam is to save the galaxy/Middle Earth/Bricksville/Gotham by smashing lots of things into little tiny bricks.