✘ Please note that Emily is not currently accepting unsolicited middle grade books.

In middle grade fiction, she is currently seeking:

• Heists, mysteries, young detectives, young assassins. A blend of high stakes plot and humor with heart. I love ensemble casts of messy, stubborn, voice-y kids. The vibes of The Mummy, Uncharted, Indiana Jones, but make it BIPOC.

• Necromancers, ghosts, monsters, and kids who get revenge.

• Stories with a play pattern. We usually see the term used in young children's media (think kid's cartoons with a particular format for each episode that kids can remember well) but I'm looking to breach that concept in middle grade and YA. For instance, the Gallagher Girls series, The Princess Diaries, Camp Confidential, all of these books have specific calling cards for young teens to hold onto through each book. Think also books with houses, factions, districts, mystery patterns, etc. I'm not the best fit for dystopia, but I AM interested in books that can help us follow a play pattern in other genres: contemporary, action/adventure, escapist royal stories.

• Adventure stories with a lot of movement, exploration, but also have solid grounding in the heart and emotions of the kids within the story. I love novels rooted in epic adventures, cultural retellings, trickster gods, and mythology and lore brought into our time.

• Something spooky with a lot of fun twists. This includes stories where the paranormal and the supernatural are not the traditional villains and can be the protagonists or the everyday character. Books in this vein that I love are Ghost Squad by Claribel A. Ortega, Eva Evergreen series by Julie Abe, The Girl Who Drank The Moon by Kelly Barnhill.

• Action mysteries that combine the voice and storytelling of Enola Holmes with the heart and fun of Pixar's Onward.

• Genre fiction with MCs with disabilities, but their disability is NOT a twist, a fixation for someone abled, or in any way a "someone needs to learn to love someone else with a disability" story.

• Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants-like stories about friendship. I would love to see contemporary stories with an ensemble cast in which we spend time with several characters and points of view. I'd love to see nostalgic stories that show off friendships and nuanced, diverse experiences of young people who believe their connection is a sacred bond. Think The Babysitter's Club or the Camp Confidential series.

• Coming of age contemporary stories with unconventional family dynamics in the realm of Disney's Andi Mack and Stuck in the Middle, Nickelodeon's The Loud House and The Casagrandes. Contemporary stories that explore culture through neighborhood love stories.

In young adult fiction, she is currently seeking:

• Darker speculative work. I'm open to murder, magic, monsters, but I'm also interested in gothic, dark academia. Think tempestuous romances with morally grey characters in high stakes environments or a small bit of horror with fantastical elements. If there are races against the clock, occult conspiracies, or murderous competitions, the better. Some examples is Curious Tides by Pascale Lacelle and A Study in Drowning by Ava Reid.

• High concept, commercial books with series potential. Think Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard with high stakes, intensive relationship dynamics, and has the ability to be a crossover between YA and NA.

• Beautiful, tragic, well written and thoughtful books in the vein of Adam Silvera, Dustin Thao, Nicola Yoon, and old school John Green.

• Thoughtful, multi-layered stories about love and loss and first experiences in the contemporary space that explores how teens build and shape their identities in isolated spaces, particularly geared toward young teens. 

• When high concept plot meets high concept thought, with life or death consequences. I also love stories with big bargains and family competitions. Think Caraval, The Inheritance Games, and Once Upon a Broken Heart. But I'm especially looking for writers who can take these big plots and craft well developed character arcs that don't sacrifice world building for quickened pacing.

• Swoon worthy retellings of classic stories, but make it BIPOC. I miss the late 90s/early 2000s trend of taking classics and making them angsty YA. Think 10 Things I Hate About You, She's The Man, Clueless, etc. I would love to see great new spins on tropes set in the backdrop of high school.

• Jenny Han remains, and always will be, my Queen of YA romance. There's a beauty in capturing the essence of being young, in love, and feeling warmth through small gestures and cozy moments. But she never does so in a plain, lagging way. I love stories where I stay up all night and squeal as I read about love and feel incredible notes of nostalgia. But there is a line between cozy and romantic and cliche and over done. Humor is also a huge plus here like Lynn Painter's blend of funny and sweet.

• Highly romantic, glamorized, and rich world building that feels so satisfyingly developed, like Divine Rivals. Books with a unique aesthetic, high stakes stories, but the environment doesn't sacrifice character, rather only amplifies them. I also love the ensemble casts where I am deeply invested in characters outside of just our "main" protagonist. 

• LGBTQIA+ stories that don't use identity as a plot twist. I do like explorations that are thoughtful, like Camp by L.C. Rosen. I'm especially interested in adventure, fantasy, or spy stories.

• I'm a fantasy fan of all kinds, but I'm especially interested in court and royal fantasy, fiction with ballroom scenes with tense almost touch dances. I need solid atmosphere that's rich and lush similar to what Tahereh Mafi does. Think Legendborn, An Ember in the Ashes, and The Cruel Prince.

In crossover/adult fiction, she is currently seeking:

• Romantic, steamy fantasy romances. I love fated mates, enemies to lovers, dueling kingdoms, deals of convenience, betrayal and political intrigue. I'm interested in complex fae stories with massively well done world building and intricate political systems. Witches who aren't our typical idea of a spell caster. I love immortals and decades long wars with deep histories. I want ballroom scenes that end with a dagger to the throat. Morally grey characters with the "touch them and you die" mentality. I'm thinking The Hurricane Wars, Serpent and the Wings of Night, and Daughter of No Worlds. I also love things that are just plain fun, campy, a bit over the top with a lot of romance like Trial of the Sun Queen and Zodiac Academy.

• Stories that are sweeping, deeply political, has strong subplots and ensemble casts, but also enjoyable and accessible to readers who wouldn't necessarily call themselves fantasy readers. I think many readers who grow up with books get the opportunity to develop their taste, challenge their reading patterns, and can ease into complicated books the more they read. But I'd also like to target readers who discover their love for books later in life. The readers who want to escape, uncover popular tropes, and fall in love with something atmospheric and fun. I'm thinking of how Fourth Wing and Faebound appealed to readers from various genres who were beginning their journey into fandom.

• Adult fantasies with plenty of layers to it. Medici style families pulling power plays within their own family dynasties.  Inverse character dynamics like in The Second Death of Locke.

• Beautiful, sweeping, maybe even tragic stories with intricate worlds that don't sacrifice plot for shock value, like Circe.

• Genre bending stories with a strong romantic plot. Similar to The Raven Scholar where romance, fantasy, and murder mystery combine.

• Book club, upmarket fiction like Tomorrow, Tomorrow, Tomorrow and Lessons in Chemistry and The Dead Romantics. I'm also a big lover of Sally Rooney and Fredrik Backman.

• Rom-coms and young romances that are just plain fun and enjoyable and feel warm like anything by Talia Hibbert, Ali Hazelwood, or Helen Huang. I'd love to celebrate love and meet cutes and the start of a relationship that's part of a "deal gone wrong" or a summer exile. I love isolated environments and books where readers, particularly romance readers, can just have a good time and enjoy themselves like in Love and Other Words by Christina Lauren and Happy Place by Emily Henry.

• Longer slice of life stories with layered storytelling with big reveals in smaller spaces. I'm especially interested in romances that also can feel like women's fiction that have cozy found family dynamics and also a bit of spice like most Emily Henry, Carley Fortune, and Kennedy Ryan. One of my ultimate favorite reads is Things We Never Got Over by Lucy Score.

• I'd love books set in college, early to late 20s, the messy stage of adulthood where not everything fits and there are too many forks in the road.

• I'd also love to find a world that can stand on its own, but has series potential, like what Ana Huang has done with the Kings of Sin and Twisted series, The Boys of Tommen series, or Elle Kennedy for the Off Campus series. 

Emily is not a good fit for the following:

• Memoir or non-fiction.

• Novellas or short story collections.

• Novels in verse.

• Dreamscape fantasies.

• Historical fiction in the WWI or WWII eras.

• Contemporary war stories.

• I am not currently taking science fiction unless in middle grade and even then, I'm pretty picky. I'm truthfully not the best sci-fi person unless there's whimsy and silliness, like Star Versus The Forces of Evil where the space feels more magical instead of scientific.