Three years ago, Brian Miller 's wife Emily killed herself, leaving him devastated, turning him into a miserable and beastly drunk who managed to keep his business as a restaurant owner afloat by sheer dint of luck and grit. Brian wants oblivion and dreads each day as it comes.Literary agent Kate Walker arrives on Numako Springs, the island where Brian lives, hunting for an elusive writer. She is desperate because with the deadline looming ahead, the writer has ghosted her, leaving her with no choice but to chase him down.She runs into Brian instead and despite a shaky first meeting, finds herself unable to stop thinking about the burly and bearded chef. Eventually, a fire at the hotel she's staying at leads her to move into his home where the sparks between them, burst into life.Brian has never felt this way about any woman, not even his wife. So he's not sure how to deal with these confusing feelings he has for this gorgeous woman whose life is so far away from his. But just as he's coming to terms with everything, he learns new information about his wife's death, information that leads him to the disturbing discovery that maybe, she hadn't killed herself. Maybe, she had been killed.As Brian and Kate try to navigate their feelings for each other, sifting through the lust and love between them, they have to deal with the new events that are taking place on Numako. But Brian is painfully aware that his relationship with Kate has come with an expiration date because she will return to the city soon enough. What will he do then? Will he go back to his old ways or struggle to remain on a new path, as he tries to uncover the truth behind his wife's death?A Thing of Beauty is the first book in the Happily Never After series by Gail Quinn and is a new age take on Beauty and the Beast.