Synopsis:
Sixteen-year-old Mya Jones is cursed.
She is, hands down, the most beautiful creature on earth. But beauty can wound, and Mya finds herself reviled and shunned by her peers. If there is even a chance that she could start over, Mya longs to take it, no matter the risks.
So when the strange Mr. Merk offers her a new life away from home, Mya is hesitant but hopeful. Only she didn't count on the mysterious Ross, or her feelings for him.
BEAUTIFUL CURSE is a contemporary retelling of the myth of Psyche and Cupid.
Jen McConnel first began writing poetry as a child. Since then, her words have appeared in a variety of magazines and journals, including Sagewoman, PanGaia, and The Storyteller (where she won the people’s choice 3rd place award for her poem, “Luna”).
Beautiful Curse
by Jen McConnel
After checking
my hair one more time in the small purple mirror, I slammed my locker, excited.
For whatever reason, I looked really good, better than I’d hoped; my blond hair
was smooth and perfect, and I hadn’t even taken the time to straighten it that
morning. It wasn’t just my hair; my skin glowed like a girl in a magazine, and
I had the ridiculous feeling I’d been airbrushed. It was a little weird, since
I hadn’t done anything that morning that I hadn’t done a million times before,
but I wasn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth. If the universe wanted me
to be gorgeous for the first day of junior year, who was I to complain? My
stomach flopped around as I scanned the hall, looking for Elaina. She’d been
visiting her grandparents in Montana all summer, but even though I hadn’t seen
her for two months, I needed her beside me. If the face in the mirror was any
indication, junior year was going to be our best year ever, and I couldn’t wait
to see Elaina. Energy rippled around me, and finally I spotted a familiar brown
ponytail through the crowd.
“Elaina!” I
stood on my toes and waved, trying not to care that the people near me whipped
their heads around to stare. I smiled at my best friend. Let them stare; we
were upperclassmen now.
Elaina elbowed
her way through the crowd, grinning, but her smile faded by the time she got to
me. I gave her a quick hug, but she pulled back, studying me closely. “What did
you do to your face?”
I reached for my
cheek. “Is there something on it?” Hurriedly, I turned to open my locker and
check the mirror again, but Elaina put her hand on my arm.
“Stop fooling
around. Seriously, what did you do?”
I ran my tongue
over my teeth, hoping I didn’t have any food stuck in them. “What do you mean?”
She squinted at
me. “Mya, you look like a frickin super model. What gives?”
I flushed. I’d
been excited when I woke up and realized how good I looked, but something in
Elaina’s tone made me uncomfortable. I forced a laugh. “I know, right? It’s so
weird. It’s like magic or something.”
Elaina raised
her eyebrow. “Did you have work done or something?”
“What? No!” I
looked around and lowered my voice. “You know I’d never do anything like that.”
“Makeup, then. What brand are you using?”
I shook my head.
“Seriously, I didn’t do anything. It’s like my face finally decided to behave.”
I smoothed my long blond hair out of habit, and Elaina’s eyes followed my
fingers.
“And your hair.
You look way too good for the first day of school!” Her words were light, but
her smile looked a little strained. “If you don’t want to share your secret
with me, that’s fine.” She turned abruptly, but I hurried after her, hurt.
“There is no
secret! I’m just having a really, really good hair day, I guess.”
Before she could
reply, the warning bell rang, and I glanced at my schedule, my stomach suddenly
tight with anxiety.
“I’ve got
Farkner for homeroom, and then Calc.”
Elaina nodded.
“I’ll see you at lunch.” Her tone was distant, and I bit my lip, trying to
figure out what was going on.
She slipped into
the crowd before I could say anything else, and I stared after her for a moment
before I turned and began pushing my way through the students to the math room.
Someone bumped
me from behind, and my books went sailing to the floor. So much for this being
a good day.
Jen McConnel first began writing poetry as a child. Since then, her words have appeared in a variety of magazines and journals, including Sagewoman, PanGaia, and The Storyteller (where she won the people’s choice 3rd place award for her poem, “Luna”).
She is also a former reviewer for Voices of Youth Advocates (VOYA), and a proud member of SCBWI, NCWN, and SCWW.
A Michigander by birth, she now lives and writes in the beautiful state of North Carolina. She's a graduate of Western Michigan University, and she also earned her MS in Library Science at Clarion University of Pennsylvania.
When she isn't crafting worlds of fiction, she teaches writing composition at a community college. Once upon a time, she was a middle school teacher, a librarian, and a bookseller, but those are stories for another time.
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