To a darker shore

"Plain, poor, plus-size, and autistic, Alesta grew up trying to convince her beauty-obsessed kingdom that she's too useful to be sacrificed. Their god blessed their island Soladisa as a haven for his followers, but to keep the devil at bay, the church sends a child sacrifice to hell's entrance every season-often poor or plain girls just like Alesta. With a head full of ideas for inventions, Alesta knows her best shot at making it to adulthood is to design something impressive for the festival exhibition so she might win a spot in the university-acceptance could guarantee her safety. But Alesta's flying machine demonstration goes awry, a failure that will surely mean death. What happens is worse: her best friend and heir to the throne, Kyrian, takes the blame expecting leniency-but ends up sacrificed in her place."--