Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Entangled Pitch Contest!


This contest is now closed! Thanks so much for your participation. Winners will be announced within a week!

This is GO TIME, writers! We will have eight editors (three senior editors!) from Entangled Publishing taking pitches here today only.  

Pieces can be for any age-range, any genre, and lengths from 10k to 120k words.

"Entangled is a boutique publisher of romance fiction. We pride ourselves on quality stories and commercial covers, and our innovative business model offers our authors the best of indie and traditional publishing. To find out more, see our website. And don't forget to look through our current open submission calls.

Any level of heat works as long as a romance is central to the story, and the plot is intimately entwined with the building romance. Stories must end HFN or HEA."

Before posting your pitch, you may want to check out the Imprint Guidelines on their website.You can also check out each editor's full bio on our original pitch announcement post.


To enter the contest, leave the following in the comments of this post. Entries will be accepted from now until midnight EST tonight.

Title
Author
Genre/Sub-genre
Audience/Age
Word Count

[Two-line pitch]

[First 100 words]

You do not have to indicate which editor you are pitching to; all the editors will read all of the entries. Each editor will choose at least one winner, from whom they will request the full manuscript.* Winners will be announced within a week - keep an eye out on the blog here and on our Twitter account for the announcement.

You can post up to two different pitches, but each pitch must be written in a separate comment.

 *Editors reserve the right to not choose a winner, based on quality and quantity of submissions.

54 comments:

  1. Title: THE KING OF GROWING UP
    Author: Rebecca Christiansen
    Genre/Subgenre: Contemporary
    Audience/Age: YA
    Word count: 89,000

    For Hunter, the summer after high school graduation is the perfect time to wallow in his chronic immaturity before Real Adult Life starts. Meeting a friend’s younger brother, piano prodigy Taylor, and getting caught up in a hurricane of first love makes growing up close to impossible and far from desirable.


    I wish I was drunk. Preferably falling-down, absolute shitfaced drunk, but if I was even just a little buzzed, watching Chris Bajwa have fun without me would be so much easier.

    I’m leaning on the balcony railing by myself. He’s further down, sitting at a table with a bunch of other guys.

    Fuck him. Look at him, sitting there, all happy and talkative. Some other Indian guy is telling a joke, splicing in Punjabi words so I can’t tell what the fuck is so funny. But Chris slaps his thighs repeatedly and laughs so hard he’s gasping for breath.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Title: ANGEL SIGHT
    Author: Lisa M. Basso
    Genre/Sub-genre: Paranormal
    Audience/Age: YA
    Word Count: 67,000

    After sixteen-year-old Ray Evans is released from the Sunflower Sanitarium, she seeks a normal life by returning to high school. Seeing a black-winged boy fleeing an apparent suicide, and being interrogated by the police, is far from keeping the sanity she longs for.


    Three months, twelve days, and fifteen hours. I was just starting to get used to freedom again. Doctor Graham said I was cured the day he signed my release papers, but there was nothing like spotting a big fat set of wings to pour on the doubt.

    Men with white wings were occasional—or they had been before my release—but the guy across the room with pitch dark hair was something else. His feathered wings were black with a rainbow-like sheen of an oil slick.

    But I was just imagining him. I had to be.

    ReplyDelete
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  4. Title: UNDER THE TREES
    Author: Ashley Maker
    Genre/Sub-genre: Historical Fantasy Romance
    Audience/Age: Young Adult
    Word Count: 50,000

    Fleeing the prospect of an abusive arranged marriage, Princess Araya seeks freedom, not love, and is surprised when she finds herself falling for the neighboring kingdom’s crown prince. But falling in love isn’t easy when it’s challenged by a brutal duke, a murderous king, and the threat of war between kingdoms.


    I clung to the saddle as Major tore down the path in front of us. My muscles burned and sweat dripped into my eyes, but I could not let my horse slow down. Not when the heaving sound of his labored breathing tore at my heart. Not when my face and arms stung from low-hanging branches ripping at them. Not even when a monstrous fallen log loomed before us. Leaning forward and ducking low on Major’s neck, I extended the reins. With a grunt, he launched us into the air.

    For the barest of moments, time hung suspended, leaving only the soaring.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Title: NINETEEN
    Author: Jami Montgomery
    Genre/Sub-genre: Paranormal romance/fantasy
    Audience/Age: Young Adult (anywhere from 13 to late twenties)
    Word Count: 50,000

    Two sentence pitch:

    Eleven days before her nineteenth birthday, a mysterious winged boy comes to Whisper Stevens, bringing with him the truth about her life: she is a Key to the door to Paradise, a seeming utopia where lost loves are trapped.
    Cursed with immortality, Christophe has searched 500 years for the final Key that will bring his Lillianna back, but to do that he'll have to kill Whisper, a girl protected by an Academy hell-bent on foiling his plans.



    First 100 words:

    Paris, France
    December 31, 1511

    The ring felt heavy in his pocket. Christophe shoved his hand deeper into his trouser pocket, his fingertips lightly splaying across the little velvet box. He smiled, thinking of what the ring meant for him, for them. Lillianna had been betrothed to him for four years now, and finally he planned to propose. For the first time in his life, he was grateful for his family’s influence.
    When he’d first met his Lilli, she’d been a budding fourteen year old, all gangly limbs and clumsy feet. But he’d seen the beauty in her even then, buried deep in her sapphire eyes.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Title Penny and Hank
    Author Erinn M
    Genre/Sub-genre Romance YA
    Audience/Age Older YA
    Word Count 65K

    Pitch:
    Hank thinks Penny, the nicest girl in school, might like him -- that is, until he accidentally kidnaps her and exposes her to a deadly virus, and now they’re trapped in quarantine for six months. Awkward.

    100 words
    If I had known in a few hours I would be running for my life, I would have picked a different outfit. But I didn’t. So I wore a cute blue sundress and strappy heels because I must conform to expectations. Like everyone else does.

    I had to get out of this town, otherwise I’d be destined to live, get married, and die in Adelphi. My headstone would read: Here lies Penny, too scared to leave.

    I walked through the front doors of the school, the normal stink of sweat and perfume assaulted my nose. The students all had the same basic demographic: easily sun burned, Christian and loud.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Title: TEENAGE NINJAS: TAKING MANHATTAN
    Author: Terry MacFarland
    Genre/Sub-genre: Paranormal
    Audience/Age: YA
    Word Count: 60,000

    Jade learns that crushing on a 500-year-old wizard you’re sworn to protect is complicated business, especially since the Dawgs, Vamps, and Zombs killed the magic in New York and captured Jonah’s father. If they get out of this alive, wizard-boy had better take her to the prom.

    I retrieved my dart from the corpse’s neck and wiped the blood and poison off on one of her Ugg boots before she melted to a pile of goo on the street. It wasn’t particularly hard to watch this one slime away. I’m not a bad person, I swear. In some circles I’m considered a semi-hero (not to be confused with a superhero, because I don’t have powers, I have mad skills.). I never got a kick from killing a gorgeous girl, even if she’s a zombie or whatever. My twin brother Jeremy might. He hated mean dumb popular girls. But we both drew the line at killing for sport.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Title: Nepenthe
    Author: Kaleen Harding
    Genre/Sub-genre: Paranormal Romance
    Audience/Age: New Adult/Adult
    Word Count: 93,000

    Pitch:
    When Michael splits Kate's soul from her sleeping body so she can roam as a ghost like him for the night, she thinks it's another friendly attempt to help her forget her past for a while. When Kate falls in love with another man, Michael figures out how to kill.

    First 100 words:
    The night was chaotic, and I welcomed every minute of it. My new café buzzed as the employees made their way through their first shift. An hour after opening, we were down to half of the desserts in the display case that ran the length of the side wall.

    “Wow, Kate, can you believe the turnout?” Trisha, my manager and new best friend, bounced beside me as she rinsed a large knife under hot water. “And it’s only June! Imagine how full we’ll be when peak tourist season hits next month.”

    “Yeah, it’s great.”

    ReplyDelete
  9. Title - TRIANGLES
    Author - Kimberly Miller
    Genre/Sub-genre - paranormal romance
    Audience/Age - young adult
    Word Count - 63,000

    Two-line pitch:

    When seventeen-year-old Autumn Taylor takes a cruise through the mysterious Bermuda Triangle, she finds herself stuck in a love triangle with her annoying coworker and his hot half-brother. But each morning in the Triangle brings a surprise—an alternate reality in which everything is different between Autumn and each guy, leaving her confused and unsure of who to touch, who to kiss, and who to run from.

    First 100 words:

    If I’d known I was going to end up in my cabin with a hot guy on my bed, I would’ve worn sexier panties.

    Not that I’m easy or anything, but you know, just in case he caught a glimpse. Is there anything worse than having a guy see your granny panties in the heat of the moment?

    Of course, when I’d packed for my cruise to Bermuda, I had no idea how critical my choice of underwear would be. I had more immediate concerns.

    Like my mom crashing in the ICU for the past six months.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Title: JUST DESSERTS
    Author: Tricia Quinnies
    Genre: Contemporary Romance Novella
    Line: Ever After
    Audience/Age: Adult
    Word Count: 22,000

    Anxious to escape her family’s lakeside diner, a graduate student is determined to refuse the slick Chicago contactor’s bid, but cannot resist the sweet private deal he offers her.


    Paul Maxon yanked the order slip off the kitchen’s archaic stainless-steel wheel. It spun about squeaking louder than the Foo Fighters’ tune playing on the jukebox. “Veggie burger and sweet potato fries, again? Doesn’t he know he’s in the dairy state?”
    Sighing, Sadie glanced at her customer in the booth who dared to hunger for a meatless meal. The hunky blond construction worker, engrossed on his cell, luckily hadn’t heard her dad’s crabby outburst. “The guy’s eaten lunch here once a week since June. He’s renovating the Wrigley mansion across the lake. Appreciate repeat clientele, Mom used to say.”

    ReplyDelete
  11. AWAKEN
    Shelley Watters
    Young Adult
    16+
    74,000

    Pitch: When seventeen-year-old Tori wakes up after being involved in a car accident, she expects to be in a hospital emergency room, but instead finds herself in a fairytale world. If Tori is to wake up from her ‘dream’, she must single-handedly slay a dragon, rescue the prince, and bring down her evil stepmother or be trapped in this crazy, twisted fairytale forever.

    First 100:
    Life-saving kisses only happen in fairytales. My eyes raced across the page even though I’d read the story a billion times. I was always anxious to get to the part where Prince Charming kissed Briar Rose and woke her from her enchanted sleep.

    It’s the part where he bends, ever so slightly, his gaze fixed on Briar Rose’s rose-colored lips. He hears the witch’s crackly voice replay in his head. “The spell will be broken with true love’s first kiss.” He cups her cheek and his thumb brushes across her bottom lip. Her skin’s so soft, so delicate, he fears she might crumble into dust in his trembling hands.

    ReplyDelete
  12. WAIT FOR ME
    Shelley Watters
    YA
    16+
    78,000

    Pitch: When seventeen-year-old Anna is invited to work alongside her archaeologist father on a dig in Egypt, she meets the boy of her dreams, discovers a buried secret, and must battle Jackals in order to keep them from using it to unleash the death god Osiris on the world.

    First 100:
    The jagged rocks on the edge of the cliff sliced into my bare feet like razor blades. The roar from the water crashing on the rocks below drowned any other sound. Hot wind whipped my long, dark hair around my face, drying the tears that fell down my cheeks.

    “Wait for me, my love,” I whispered. I closed my eyes, and with one breath, stepped off the edge. The wind roared past my ears. I spread my arms and my linen wrap trailed behind me. The sound of the frothing blue-green water crashing against the rocks built until it was the only sound, its beat mimicking the frantic galloping of my heart.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Title: Unraveled
    Author: Robbin Luckett
    Genre/Sub-genre: Mystery
    Audience/Age: Young Adult
    Word Count: 50,000

    [Two-line pitch]:

    After discovering adoption papers connecting her best friend to a neighbor who supposedly lost their child in a car crash years before, Taylor must decide whether to reveal the shocking news to her neighbor―a lie covered up by a corrupt attorney―or keep quiet. Telling could mean losing her best friend and destroying her family, but sometimes secrets get leaked, making it awkward to stay silent.

    [First 100 words]:

    I found it impossible to pick a favorite, until I saw the strapless taffeta dress hanging inside my neighbor’s meticulous closet. Nancy, an almost famous fashion designer, insisted I wear one of her original designs to my first homecoming dance. As if I’d say no.

    “This is it.” I couldn’t keep the grin off my face.

    Nancy ran her fingers over the dress. “This material was imported from India.”

    I stood in front of the mirror with the gown on, fidgeting and pretending to admire myself.

    “Is everything all right, Taylor?” Nancy asked.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Title: Minotaur
    Author: Alexandra Singer
    Genre/Sub-genre: Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Cyberpunk
    Audience/Age: YA
    Word Count: 75,000

    Two line pitch: The daughter of the Royal Architect, Ikki thought she was doing the right thing the day she took a flying machine beyond her dome city's artificial sun. Now, banished to the Labyrinth for treason, her only hope for escape is the maze's mysterious caretaker: a young man known only as the Minotaur.

    First 100 Words:

    Ikki couldn't have asked for a better day.

    Helios must have favored the expedition, because the God-program had chosen to set its lights onto the highest setting. Aeolus had set Boreas to blow air firmly from the northern vents. The flags flapped proudly over the roof and spires of Grand Minos, the highest floor of the Tower of Minos. Ikki peered up into the clear, chrome sky. From her spot perched on the dome of the West Oracle Building, she could see the whole city, and down the stairs that led to the lower floors of Poseidos and Hestian.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Title: THE SPRINGS
    Author: Bethany L Griffith
    Genre: Paranormal Romance/ Rural Fantasy
    Audience: New Adult/ YA crossover
    Word Count: 87,000

    Pitch:

    Think Sookie Stackhouse, but instead of Louisiana Vampires there are Arkansas Elves (Tolkien not Keebler). New girl moves to new town only to discover it is way weirder than she ever imagined possible and way hotter.

    100 Words:

    Nothing left to do but go. I have no excuses left, it is time to nut up or shut up. So what if I am an orphan: lost, alone, and pathetically melodramatic?!? The past is all that is left here, get Dorothy and drive to the future; whatever it is.

    The car was full to bursting and she hoped that she could make the 150 miles without some Trooper citing her for recklessly stuffing all of her crap into one car. She was even beginning to think that maybe she should have let the boys at the body shop put a trailer hitch onto Dorothy- she certainly had enough power to haul a few hundred pounds of stuff.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Title: On the Fringe
    Author: Kristin Lenz
    Genre: YA contemporary romance
    Audience/Age: young adult, age 14+
    Word count: 60,000

    Two-line pitch:

    When Dani is sent to a group home, she’ll do anything to gain control over her life, but will she jeopardize her dreams of college and love? Told in alternating female/male points of view, this edgy young adult novel is about a seventeen-year-old girl trying to find her way in a world that seems determined to hold her back.


    100 word sample:

    I had no interest in meeting a boy named Cam, short for Cameron. It sounded like a girl’s name, and I pictured a golden-haired, pretty-boy actor posing on a surfboard.

    “Come on.” Sierra grabbed my arm and pulled me along. “There’s Shane’s car. I hope that’s Cam in the back seat.”

    “You know I’m not into surfers,” I said.

    Sierra was a beach girl, but I liked the mountains. Solid ground. I loved the vastness of the Pacific, but I much preferred looking down at it from a hilltop.

    Cam looked like a surfer with longish hair as sunny blond as mine was dark.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Title: Gnome On The Range
    Author: Jennifer Zane
    Genre: Contemporary Romance
    Audience: Adult
    Word Count: 65,000

    Pitch:
    Jane and her kids buy two garden gnomes at a garage sale that someone wants back and is willing to kill to get them. Can Jane--and hot fireman neighbor Ty--handle a relationship meddling mother-in-law, crazy kids, and stay alive while trying to solve the mystery of the gnomes?

    First 100 words:
    I’m not sure which one I want. I didn’t realize there were so many choices!”
    The woman wasn’t on the hunt for a new car or juice boxes at the grocery store. Nope. She wanted a dildo. I called her type a Waffler. Someone who contemplated all options before even attempting to make a choice. Because of Miss Waffler, I had ten different dildo models spread out across the counter. Glass, silicone, jelly and battery powered. She needed help.

    That’s where I came in. My name is Jane West and I run Goldilocks, the adult store in Bozeman, Montana, my ...

    ReplyDelete
  18. Title: BEFORE THE ODYSSEY
    Author: S.Q. Eries
    Genre/Sub-genre: Romance/Mythology
    Audience/Age: YA
    Word Count: 75,000

    [Two-line pitch]
    Prince Odysseus’ plans to win the legendary beauty Helen as his wife hit a snag when a misunderstanding over a courtship token lands him in a spat with her clever cousin Penelope.

    [First 100 words]
    Antilochus was driving at a brisk clip. Too brisk, if you asked me. Every time we hit a rut on the alpine trail, I thought the chariot would shatter beneath our feet. Still, I could understand my friend's impatience. After two months of travel over sea and bandit-ridden roads, we were nearing our destination at last, and my heart pounded with anticipation as I spotted the final landmark.

    "Swing right at the herm!" At my shout, Antilochus veered at the blocky crossroads marker. The horses clattered to the top of a rise, and I yelled, “There it is! Sparta, dead ahead!”

    ReplyDelete
  19. Title: Grim Crush
    Author: Leiann Bynum
    Genre/Sub-genre: Paranormal
    Audience/Age: Young Adult
    Word Count: 60,000

    Pitch:

    Xia is a seventeen-year-old grim reaper--her job is to collect dead souls, and she even has her own scythe. When she happens upon a human boy who can see her, she can't help it as she starts breaking the Rules of Reaping by falling in love with him, which can lead to serious consequences for the world of the living.

    First 100 words:

    He was taking too long to die.

    Sometimes it seemed like these things took longer than usual. I guess I shouldn’t be too eager to collect a person’s soul, but the waiting and anticipation drove me nuts.

    I stepped up to the precipice of the cliff until the tips of my boots hung off the edge. Leaning forward, I stared down the fifty or so yards to the ground below. When I shifted my feet, tiny rocks tumbled down the red-orange crags of the cliff face.

    Yep, a fall from here will do it all right.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Title: Queen's Rebellion
    Author: M.E. Applegate
    Wordcount: 30k (novella)
    Genre: YA (fantasy/steampunk)

    Penn is a princess on the run—from the Archduke who murdered her family, the obnoxious band of pygmy gnomes looking to sacrifice her to their lecherous forest god, and most especially from the strange feelings a certain overbearing privateer named Calvin Farrier ignite within her. Hers is a race against time: stop the evil Talmage and his mysterious chronocyclic zenith vise or watch her people crushed beneath the boot heels of a madman.

    100 words:

    Had her throat not been choked with smoke and ash, Penelope would have screamed at opening her eyes and seeing a flame-haired dwarf shoving a flask at her. Half-scorched as she was, however, Penn merely raised an eyebrow in disbelief at the creature who smelled like stale ale and wore moldy shells braided into his beard.

    “My mother?” She choked out after a sip of wine from the flask.

    “Dead,” the dwarf said. “Us too if we doona get a move on—the scavengers landed. They’ll notice a missing princess in the wreckage and they might wonder where ye are.”

    ReplyDelete
  21. Title Kallos
    Author Khelsey Jackson
    Genre/Sub-genre YA paranomarl
    Audience/Age 14+
    Word Count 64,266
    Two line pitch
    Kallos finds out that she is adopted and a reincarnated goddess. She also finds out that she may have two soul mates.

    First 100 words
    I pull my blanket over my head as the sun shines through my window. I do not want to get up; I want to climb in a deep, dark hole and never come out. Today is my first day of high school in a new town. My dad was a teacher and was offered to be the principal here. Now I get to suffer three years with him watching over my every move at Fallenvale, population 400. My mom says that living in a small town will be nice and that it will help me bloom, I disagree.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Title: SOME KIND OF TROUBLE
    Author: Elizabeth Arroyo
    Genre: YA Contemporary Romance
    Audience: 13+
    Word count: 60,000

    Pitch: After a drive-by shooting leaves Arianna with an unexpected boyfriend, she finds that love alone won’t save him from life on the streets.


    First 100 words:
    I read somewhere that if you chant something enough times it eventually comes true. I once chanted one hundred and three thousand times in one night for my mom to get better. I’ve tried the wishbone, the eyelash, and the birthday candle. I've tried coins in all types of water: fountain water, holy water and well water...nothing. My mom was still dying. Chanting turned to praying at five bucks a pop and easily arranged through mail order. I stopped the mail order and extended the praying to just about anything. I didn't discriminate and worked with a few deities.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Title: THE SECOND SIGN
    Author: Elizabeth Arroyo
    Genre: YA Supernatural Thriller
    Audience: 13+
    Word Count: 64,000

    Pitch: After Gabby refuses to give her soul to a demon, she’s given twenty-four hours to comply while her friends begin to die. Jake, her almost boyfriend, is the key to her salvation, but a fool with a key is a very dangerous thing.

    First 100 words

    The floorboards creaked under the Intruder as he walked up the aisle of the small church. Moving shadows crept along the walls, brought to life by the flickering candles that rimmed the nave. Looming carved pieces, depicting the last moments of the prophet vital to this particular religions history, hung between front windows. The deity's name didn't matter, known as many different names in the world. What mattered was that people believed.

    Belief was power.

    The Intruder sauntered towards the altar, a hint of incense in the air. A stone baptismal fountain lay on the floor to his left, large enough to bathe a child or drown one depending on your intent.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Title: Vigilante Nights
    Author: Erin Richards
    Genre/Sub-genre: Contemporary
    Audience/Age: YA
    Word Count: 79,000

    Pitch:
    After awakening from a coma, battered Lucas Alexander forms a vigilante club to expose the street gang that killed his twin sister. As he hunts the gang, the new girl next door helps him come to terms with his grief, but when Lucas becomes a target, he may lose everything again…including the girl who gave his life new purpose.

    First 100 words:
    Silver's buzz-killing babbling continued at racecar speed. Seriously, I didn’t want to hear about the new target of my sister’s lust. The fallout of her last crush with one of my friends still jacked me up. Memories surged and my gut pinched. Ex-friend now.

    A moment of silence descended. I peeked at my twin in the passenger seat. Brow puckered, she sucked on a straw practically glued to her lips. My gaze slid past the speedometer clocking me at ten over in a fifty-five zone.

    “Something feels weird tonight, Lucas.” Silver’s tone turned somber. “Maybe you ought to slow down.”

    ReplyDelete
  25. Title: Serious Game 2.0
    Author: Loralie Hall
    Genre/Sub-genre: Contemporary Romance
    Audience/Age: Adult
    Word Count: 38,000

    Amid insider trading indictments and an intellectual property lawsuit, Zach finds himself falling for the one person who has a solution: his best friend and business partner's ex-girlfriend, Rae. If Zach can't find the balance between business and romance before their company's next video game hits shelves, he'll suffer financial devastation, lose the woman he loves, and destroy a life-long friendship.


    Damn it, Rae had asked her sister not to put her in this situation. All Chloe had to do was make sure their mom didn’t question her weekend activities. Of course, the one weekend she forgot had to be the one at *his* house. The last person Rae wanted to face ever, especially on a Saturday morning before she’d had her coffee.

    Rae tried not to be impressed by the three-car garage at the end of the winding driveway. How many times would her apartment fit inside that house? Five? Ten? Chloe’s car was there, that was what mattered.

    ReplyDelete
  26. Title: Olivia
    Author: Erika Heidecker
    Genre: YA Novella
    Audience: YA
    Word Count: 10,000

    Pitch:
    Lonely Olivia has been haunting Governor's Island for nearly a century when she finally encounters another lonely soul who can actually see her. She soon discovers that finding love makes the afterlife worth living.

    First 100 Words:
    Olivia lived and died on Governor’s Island. She never once stepped foot off of the small strip of land that lay off the coast of Manhattan. She was born more than a century ago when the island was still an army base. She died in 1910, not long after Wilbur Wright took off from the island to pilot the first flight over American waters. One of her few regrets from her living life was that she’d had to miss the event because she’d been sick in bed. If she’d been dead already she could have watched the show with the rest of the crowd.

    ReplyDelete
  27. Title: THE GATHERING DARKNESS
    Author: Lisa Collicutt
    Genre/Sub-genre: Romance/Horror
    Audience/Age: Young Adult
    Word Count: 100,000

    Two-line pitch:

    When sixteen-year-old Brooke Day moves to the village of her nightmares, she meets seventeen-year-old Marcus Knight; only they’ve met before—twice in fact. What Brooke doesn’t know, and will soon find out, is that this is her third lifetime with Marcus, and together they must lift the curse to attain their heart’s desire—to live past the age of sixteen.


    First 100 words:

    Beyond the village rooftops, they stared back at me. Cold, iron likenesses of ravens, strewn across the dormer peaks of the Ravenwyck Inn—a place that nightmares were made of.
    That was one reason why I hated Deadwich. The other, nights were darker here than in the city, and I was afraid of the dark.
    An icy chill swept across my shoulders. I shuddered and dropped my bags to the porch floor. As I watched Mom and Dad unload the rest of my crap from their SUV, I thought back to our argument the previous night.

    ReplyDelete
  28. Title: LIGHT SISTER, DARK SISTER
    Author: SC Langgle
    Genre/Sub-genre: Young adult contemporary/verse novel
    Audience/Age: Young Adult
    Word Count: 45500

    Pitch:
    Sixteen-year-old twin sisters with opposite personalities and a volatile shared past each pursue the guy of their dreams...but as the rift between twins Scarlett and Bianca and their respective social groups grow, can the sisters come together in time to prevent a new tragedy?

    First 100 words:

    Bianca:

    Have you ever heard
    of a phantom limb?
    When a person loses
    an arm, or a leg,
    sometimes she feels
    it’s still there.

    Mostly, she feels like it
    hurts—confused neurons
    sending messages of pain
    along pathways that no longer
    exist.

    Well, all my limbs are attached,
    at least for now,
    but sometimes I feel
    there’s a whole phantom body,
    once joined to mine, now

    severed,

    but still following me,
    invisible—
    boneless, jointless, weightless—

    and when that body hurts,
    my own neurons fire
    with pain.

    Scarlett:
    Sometimes I feel
    like a phantom.

    I pinch my arm
    and my fingers clutch air;
    I dig my nails in my flesh,
    but I feel no pain.

    I look in the mirror
    and I watch myself

    vanishing

    blurring around the edges,
    lips and eyes dissolving
    till I can’t see
    or speak.

    ReplyDelete
  29. Title: THE DEVIL'S FLOWER
    Author: Lisa Collicutt
    Genre/Sub-genre: Paranormal/Romance
    Audience/Age: Young Adult Crossover
    Word Count: 93,000

    Two-line pitch:

    Eighteen-year-old half-seraph, Rosalie Lockwood gets more than she’s bargained for when she runs away from home and meets motorcycle-riding Steele, the half-demon she is fated to kill. Because of her budding feelings for Steele, Rosalie will defy fate to save his soul, but in order to do that, she must become soulless herself.

    First 100 words:

    Darkness descended quickly over the freeway. Rosalie turned the key in the ignition a final time. Nothing. A string of unladylike words flew from her mouth as the side of her fist collided with the steering wheel. Two states from home, her car had run out of gas, her cell phone was dead, and she had to pee so bad she could taste it.
    Rosalie flung herself out of her Beamer, slamming the door. The two foot incline from the side of the road to the woods would have been troublesome for her had she worn sneakers.

    ReplyDelete
  30. Title: Shifter
    Author: Belinda Dorio
    Genre/Sub-genre: Urban Fantasy/Paranormal Romance
    Audience/Age: YA
    Word Count: 55,000

    Seventeen year old Alcee D'Arco isn't your average teen, but thanks to her Mum, she’s none the wiser. But when her Mother dies, Alcee is left to fend for herself in a world where her enemies don't always wear human faces.

    I walked down the dim hallway of the hospital and tried to ignore the way that sickness and death smothered the air like a wet blanket. I could hear the beeping of her machines before I reached the door, the numerous pieces of metal that kept her heart beating, her lungs breathing. I took a deep breath, painted a huge smile on my face and strode into her small room. Her eyes met mine instantly, and lit up in response despite the crowd of anxious family and friends who crowded around her, all with various looks of desperation and sadness etched onto their faces.

    ReplyDelete
  31. Title: The Charge
    Author: Sharon Bayliss
    Genre/Sub-genre: Alternate History
    Audience/Age: Upper Young Adult
    Word Count: 80,000

    Pitch:

    Warren didn’t know he was an estranged member of the Texas royal family until the King’s soldiers starting trimming the family tree. To fight against the King, he gets help from the first girl that ever made him want to do things like iron creases in his pants, but since she's an anti-monarchy activist dating the son of the President of the United States, he’s not sure if she’s going to kiss him or shoot him.

    100 words:

    Warren’s mother had taped his old Star Wars comforter over the patio door of their apartment. He didn’t pause too long to wonder why. His mother suffered from what his brother called, “severe eccentricity,” and blacking out the windows with old sheets for no obvious reason wasn’t out of character. With both of her sons out of the house now, there was no one to put out the fire if she tried to make bacon in the toaster again, so Warren always came home when she asked him to.

    ReplyDelete
  32. Title: Dragon Fire
    Author: Dina von Lowenkraft
    Genre/Sub-genre: Contemporary Fantasy/Romance
    Audience/Age: older YA/New Adult
    Word Count: 110k

    Two-line pitch:
    A young shapeshifting dragon must choose between his forbidden love for a human and face death, or fulfill his duty in an ancient blood feud and kill her best friend.

    First 100 words:
    The candle flickered in the subzero wind but Anna made no move to protect it. She stopped on the hill and watched the green-black fjord slither by. The procession continued without her, leaving only the fading sound of crunching snow in its wake.

    “You seem as eager to go to Fritjof’s vigil as I am,” June said, startling Anna with her sudden appearance.

    Anna fingered the oval piece of coral that she carried around like a talisman. “I’m glad it’s not yours too.” She turned to face June whose cobalt blue eyes were at odds with her otherwise Asian features.

    ReplyDelete
  33. Title: Witch Weigh
    Author: Caroline Mickelson
    Genre/Sub-genre: Light Paranormal
    Audience/Age: Adult
    Word Count: 35,000 Novella

    On what turned out to be the worst day of her life, witch Tessa Von Hellengaard loses her magic, gains one hundred pounds and finds herself saddled with a sexy fairy god father. She’s determined to win back her magic and desperate to shed the weight, but it’s the hunky, holier-than-thou fairy that turns her world upside down.

    “Lady, anyone ever tell you that you’re a real witch?”
    “More times than you can imagine.” Contessa Von Hellengaard eyed the obstinate construction worker who blocked the path of her black Mercedes. She wondered how this mere mortal would look as a skunk. Her fingers itched to work magic but she gripped the steering wheel. She was already in enough trouble with the Upper Hallows Witch Council without casting what they would consider another unnecessary spell.
    She leaned out the window. “Remove your overfed self from my way immediately.”
    “Guess you should’ve used your broomstick,” the man smirked, “because there ain’t no way your car is gonna get through here.”
    He seemed too amused with himself for Tessa’s liking. Broomstick indeed. She revved the motor. He couldn’t say he hadn’t been warned.

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  34. Title: The Sentinel's Run
    Author: Wendy Sparrow
    Genre: Dystopian
    Audience/Age: YA
    Word Count: 70K

    Two-line pitch:
    Since the machines have taken over, males have been sent to the Line to fight to keep the small territory humans still maintain. As he was nothing more than a farmboy, Coby expected to die on the Line, not sent on a suicide mission to retrieve and possibly kill a prisoner--a prisoner who might just save them all.

    First 100 words:

    Sentinel Citation 1.0- A sentinel always follows orders—even if it costs him his life. There are no exceptions.

    The mandatory sentinel duties snuck up on every male in Tereslay. One day, we were out fishing or farming for our families with the other boys. Maybe we were goofing off and not working, but it came just the same. It was as inevitable as the first frost. On our seventeenth birthday, the letter arrived and our lives were taken. We hadn’t been forgotten. We hadn’t been passed over. O’course we hadn’t. No one was.

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  35. Title: SILENCE: A SILVER SOULS NOVEL
    Author: Hannah Hunt
    Genre/Sub-genre: YA/Paranormal Fantasy
    Audience/Age: YA
    Word Count: 102,000

    Pitch:
    Sixteen-year-old Sage talks to the drawings in her sketchbook. Cursed as a medium, and forced to draw the souls that haunt her, she yearns for an escape from utter alienation. When the newest artist in town, Aden, offers her a chance at silence in exchange for her soul, will she take it?

    First 100 words:
    Ice trickled down her back as Sage stared at the graphite face on the table top. Pressing her lips together, she let her hand glide the pencil across the pale sketch’s cheek, adding the last of the shadows to the Victorian girl. The rhythmic tapping of pencils on table tops made her skin crawl, anxious nausea rolling over her in waves. The dead girl’s face flashed before her eyes, and she swallowed.

    “All right, let’s hear what you have to say.”

    Her head pulsed roughly and she watched as the girl’s face came to life before her eyes.

    ReplyDelete
  36. Title: FREAK
    Author: Erica Henry
    Genre/Sub-genre: Dystopia with supernatural elements
    Audience/Age: YA
    Word Count: 62K

    Pitch:

    When Juniper Rayne's dad signs the family up to take part in a reality television show, she thought it would giver her an edge she needs to be accepted by the vampires that rule the humans. She couldn't have been more wrong.

    First 100 words:

    Man there is nothing on to watch tonight, I think as I flip through the channels. Nothing but boring vampire dramas. Blah.

    I continue clicking the channel up bottom, only pausing for a second or two on each channel.

    The channels are whizzing past my almost glazed over eyes.

    My brain screams at me to go back. It has apparently caught something that my eyes had missed. I flip back to channel fifty-one.

    “What the hell?” I ask out loud. I watch as my school picture that was taken last week flashes on the screen. That can’t be me.

    ReplyDelete
  37. Title: The Owens Legacy: Revelations
    Author: Michelle Flick
    Genre/Sub-genre: Paranormal Romance
    Audience/Age YA
    Word Count 100,030

    Two-line pitch: The telepathic Owens twins find out truths of their family history, their loves, and themselves when factions at Evermore Academy battle over the revelations of an ancient prophecy dating back to the Babylonian Goddess Ishtar, which deals with their special heritage. Piper has gotten herself kicked out of yet another school, the fourth in three years. This time though, she knows her sister Ryder likes Evermore, and she vows to stay out of trouble.

    First 100 words:
    Where have they dropped us this time?
    Black, rusted iron gates stood in front of my sister and me. Gargoyle statues stared down at us; I think they were angels at one point but years of sitting perched on those brick columns turned their cherub faces into faceless demons. They warned us not to enter the place where they had dropped us off. I guess “dropped” is a loose term considering our so-devoted aunt and uncle, had their chauffeur drive us to the airport - again with no goodbyes, and left us to find a taxis to the school.

    ReplyDelete
  38. TITLE: Last Wish
    AUTHOR: Kelly Daniels
    GENRE: Contemporary Romance with a touch of Fantasy
    AUDIENCE: Adult
    WORD COUNT: 15k

    TWO-SENTENCE PITCH:
    A man’s dying wish on a falling star is for the girl that he has loved for years to see the real him, not the cocky jerk he usually comes off as. When the time comes for him to move on will she recognize that he is a man worth loving or is it too late?

    FIRST 100 WORDS:
    "Must be nice to be the boss's kid," Trent declares from the doorway. "A nice big office to sit around in and play while everyone else has their noses to the grind stone." He’s completely at ease lounging against the door frame with that sly smile that drives me up the wall.

    "Oh, joy. You're back," I say lacking all enthusiasm as I turn my attention back to small globe on my desk and give it another spin. If only I could be anywhere but here. “How was Seattle?”

    "It was cold and wet but the job got done. What do you say we go out for dinner tonight? Catch up."

    "Sorry, I have to organize my shoes tonight."

    ReplyDelete
  39. Title: FALLING FOR SKY
    Author: Jen Duffey
    Genre/Sub-genre: Contemporary Romance
    Audience/Age: 22+
    Word Count:70,000

    Pitch: Sky's final undergrad paper should be easy, all she has to do is interview a person about Native American powwows to get the base of her research. When she meets Daniel the easy interview quickly turns into the hardest thing she's ever done, fall in love.

    First 100:
    The drum is the heartbeat of the dance.

    Sky reads this line over and over. Dr. Langston gave them their semester project last week. This one paper can be the determining factor of whether or not she gets to graduate at the end of next semester. It will serve as both her final class project and one of her two final projects for her portfolio.

    The assignment is to take something from history and examine it from today’s point of view. Like picking World War I and examining how it would differ now if we were in a World War.

    ReplyDelete
  40. Title: Steel Horizon
    Author: Gwen Cole
    Genre/Sub-genre: Sci-fi
    Audience/Age: YA
    Word Count: 89,000

    Ten months ago, Morgan left her home to escape her abusive step-father, only months before earth was attacked by a cyborg species called Scrappers.
    Two months ago, the Scrappers stopped killing and started taking, and anyone captured by them has never been seen again.


    I never knew the world could hold so much silence. It echoed through the hollow malls and empty stores, through highways filled with nothing but the charred shells of abandoned cars.

    It whistled through the bones of the dead.

    All eyes looked up when the first raindrops fell from the sky. Scrappers feared the rain. It was the only thing that kept us safe. But even with the rain pattering down on the steel roof, nobody talked or moved. We were too tired to be thankful from our short moment of safety. And we all knew it wouldn’t last.

    ReplyDelete
  41. Title: Fall Straight and Miss
    Author: Hepzibah Phreake
    Genre: Contemporary Romance/Fantasy
    Audience: Adult
    Word Count: 20K

    Pitch: Despite his feathery wings (the result of a genetic mutation), misanthropic substitute teacher Gabriel is no angel. But when cute, eccentric special education teacher Claire requests his help with a class project on the Apocalypse, Gabriel's entire world is turned upside-down.

    "With his grim demeanor and his eleven-foot wingspan, Gabriel was by far the the most infamous substitute teacher in the Lake Lyman school district. Surprisingly, his reputation had little to do with his wings, which were expansive, snowy white appendages that inspired near-religious awe in his students. His notoriety was due to the fact that, over the comparatively brief course of his employment, he had managed to frighten literally thousands of schoolchildren into exemplary behavior."

    ReplyDelete
  42. Title: THE BONES OF BABYLON
    Author: J.W. Troemner
    Genre: YA post-apocalyptic fantasy
    Audience: young adult
    Word Count: 68,000

    [Two-line pitch]
    16-year-old Chicago is famous for running away from home and never getting past the front gate. She never imagined she was a prisoner of the people who ended the world, or that her only hope for freedom-- and her first love-- intends to finish what they started.

    [First 100 words]
    The empty holes of a human skull leered up at me from its bed of slime. Exhumed by spring rain, the skull and its hoard of bones squelched out of the mud at the edge of the woods. Most days the thought of corpses didn't bother me, but this one spilled a clammy tremor down my spine.

    "I thought you buried all the bodies," I said. All the skeletons for miles around had been hidden away in a burial mound a decade ago.

    "I did." Quito knelt in the mud to get a better look at the bones.

    ReplyDelete
  43. Title: Ghost Encounters
    Author: Hepzibah Phreake
    Genre: Contemporary Romance/Paranormal
    Audience: Adult
    Word Count: 15K

    Pitch: After three years of awkward flirting and longing glances, secretly in-lust coworkers Peter and Garland -- employees at Cardiff's possibly haunted Thomas Wynn Evans museum -- may finally have the chance to act on their long-suppressed feelings when the cast and crew of the American cable reality TV show Ghost Encounters shows up, setting supernatural events in motion.

    “So,” says Peter, leaning against the till. “Here we are, then.”
    Peter and Garland stand in the shop of the Thomas Wynn Evans Museum, known to Cardiff’s Welsh-speaking population as Yr Amgueddfa Thomas Wynn Evans, a ramshackle building wedged into Cathedral Road, where it stands out like a crooked tooth amid university offices, dental clinics, and shabby chic B&Bs.
    They’ve been working there for...God, has it been three years? Almost nothing has changed in that time, except that Peter’s enthusiasm for his degree has flagged measurably and Garland has begun to wonder if shagging Peter is the unfinished business that keeps her from quitting.

    ReplyDelete
  44. Title: FIRST TIME
    Author: Alicia Caldwell
    Genre/Sub-genre: Young Adult/Contemporary
    Audience/Age: Teens-Adult/17 and older
    Word Count: 58,000 words

    Even though graduating a virgin is about as common as a Big Foot sighting, seventeen-year-old Bree thought that was the one goal that would be easy. Now “easy” is all anyone seems to think about her since the night of her drunken promiscuous debut, even though she didn’t consent.

    This girl sitting across from me is a complete stranger. I’m sitting at her table, in her kitchen, drinking her coffee, but I don’t know her. Or at least, I don’t think I do. Taking another sip from the steaming mug, I choke back the two Tylenol she gave me to stop the persistent pounding in my head that’s sparking memory flashes.

    Pound. Moon.

    Pound. Pain.

    Pound. Hot breath.

    I do my best to suppress each recollection and the sense of dread that accompanies them, while at the same time, wondering if I should ask if she knows what happened.

    ReplyDelete
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  46. Title: WISTFUL
    Author: Jenn Nguyen
    Genre/Sub-genre: YA Historical Romance
    Audience/Age: YA
    Word Count: 73k

    After her extravagant Ton wedding, 15 year old Julie Haynesworth runs away from her ancient husband to live with a poor commoner family only to fall in love with the eldest son. Too bad he thinks she’s a boy.

    With one last look over my shoulder at Fairview manor—the only home I’ve known—I wrenched the thick gold band off my finger and stared down at the large blood red ruby on my palm, momentarily mesmerized by the small diamonds on either side of the gem still twinkling in the darkness. The smooth band was broken only by the single vine engraving that connected the two diamonds together.

    The ruby itself was very large, nearly four carats, and more than enough to provide money for my escape. And it did belong to me now, after all. The wedding was mere hours ago. I was no longer Julie Hawthorne, fourth daughter of Thomas and Lily Hawthorn. I was now Viscountess Vaughn.

    ReplyDelete
  47. Title: Outcast
    Author: Ryan James Burt
    Genre: Fantasy
    Audience: YA Teen
    Word Count: 91,000

    [Two-line pitch]
    High school is horrible for most teens but for Milo it is even worse. That is, until Milo finds a little blue rock that gives him unusual abilities helping him become popular, a basketball star, and date the girl of his dreams.

    [First 100 words]
    Its pitch black. I can’t see my hand in front of me. That could be because I just fell ten feet and broke my trusty flashlight. Normally I’m good in the dark but I’m starting to panic. My brain keeps telling me to calm down but my brain is not in control right now. I try to shift but I’m stuck. Panic sets in a little bit more and I can feel the walls crashing in on me. I’m about to yell and scream in terror but as I lift my head to yell I see a little blue light.

    ReplyDelete
  48. Title: The ACADA Chronicles
    Author: Sarah J. Schmitt
    Genre/Sub-genre YA Thriller with a "pre-dystopian" slant
    Audience/Age: 14-18 with Crossover potential
    Word Count: 87,000

    [Two-line pitch]
    In 2014, the ACADA virus decimates the world’s population, and 17-year-old Natalia Tate is grateful to be alive. But when the Committee, a de facto government that has brought stability and supplies to survivors, sends her to assist with the Genetics and Human Sustainability Program, she finds herself the unwitting accomplice in a conspiracy that has far-reaching political and moral implications.

    [First 100 words]
    A familiar male voice echoes up the stairs of our refurbished firehouse. “I can’t tell you why,” he insists. “You’ll just have to trust me.”

    Chloe, my mom argues back, and though I strain to hear her response, the words are muffled by the thick wooden door. They retreat to the ground floor where Chloe’s art gallery and studio are located. But, something about the voice makes it impossible for me to go back to sleep.

    Then it hits me and I spring from my bed, excitement coursing through me like a kid on Christmas morning.

    ReplyDelete
  49. Title: Displaced Hearts
    Author: Theresa Paolo
    Genre: YA Contemporary
    Audience: YA
    Word Count: 61,000

    While Liz Wagner deals with the emotional turmoil of a first love returned, a real tragedy strikes at her brother’s college, leaving six dead and seventeen wounded, one of whom is her brother. With her parent’s awaiting a flight out of the Caribbean Liz finds comfort in the arms of her ex, but once the dust settles and the world is right again, will she be brave enough to open her heart to the boy who ripped it out?

    I’ve never been bitch slapped. Technically. But after the last few months I can imagine how it feels because if life had hands, its fingers would have been imprinted on my cheek.

    Two weeks into senior year I walked into school like I always did with my best friend Sadie on my right and my boyfriend Joe on my left. Nothing seemed off. The halls were filled with people, their voices no louder than usual. All the cliques were in their typical spots, but as we closed in on my locker I realized there was someone who didn’t belong.

    ReplyDelete
  50. Title: ALL SHE NEEDS IS LOVE
    Author: Kelley Lynn
    Genre/Subgenre: Contemporary
    Audience/Age: YA
    Word count: 65,000

    Pitch: Eighteen year old Emma learned one thing in the foster care system: relationships are fleeting. But the boy she thought she could never love, and the eight year old girl whose only living relative killed himself in a drunk driving accident, might have the power to make her reconsider.

    “Happy birthday to me,” I mumble as I walk out the front door holding a garbage bag with all my possessions. Every last one fits in this bag. Pathetic, I know. But when you’re a foster kid, you do a lot of borrowing. You never really own anything. So I guess I’m lucky I even have something to put in my garbage bag.

    I’ve been preparing for this day for a while though. When you turn eighteen the state gives you the fancy, new trash bag and ushers you out. My foster mom was nice. Let me stay an extra day. Didn’t want to kick me out on my actual birthday.

    “Emma!” little Jimmy calls from the porch. I turn and look at the kid. I am gonna miss him, even if he did steal most of my socks.

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    ReplyDelete
  52. Title: The Partizans
    Author Sarah J. Schmitt
    Genre/Sub-genre: YA Paranormal
    Audience/Age: 14-18
    Word Count: 74,000

    [Two-line pitch]
    When high school junior Hannah Slaughtery transfers to the prestigious Piaculum Academy she hopes the change will will have a long-term impact on her academic future. She never expects that future to involve fighting against monsters she doesn’t believe in alongside people she’s not sure she even likes.

    [First 100 words]
    Hannah Slaughtery’s courage faltered as the imposing iron- gate creaked open. Her parents were probably still at the Administration office of Piaculum Academy listening to the admissions counselor rave about her academic potential. She wished she could go back to Connecticut with them instead of spending the rest of her winter break on campus. If she’d known accepting a scholarship would result in her taking part in a retreat, she might have reconsidered her choice to stop homeschooling. Still, she wanted to go to an Ivy League school and the Academy had been willing to pay for her education.

    ReplyDelete
  53. Title: That Succs
    Author: Larissa Hardesty
    Genre/Sub-genre: YA Paranormal Romance
    Audience/Age: Young Adult (15 and up)
    Word Count: 50,000

    [Two-line pitch]
    When fifteen-year-old romantic Emmy Duivel puts her first date in the hospital—with a kiss—her mother tells her the devastating truth: she’s not human. In order to accept what she is, she must give up her dreams of true love, and her feelings for classmate Paul, who has secrets of his own.

    [First 100 words]
    I stared in the mirror, wondering how Lily could possibly consider the piece of cloth she’d given me a dress. It covered less than my t-shirt.

    “Do you have it on yet?” she called through the door. “Come on out. I wanna see it.”

    My cheeks reddened just thinking about walking out of the dressing room with the dress on. “O-okay. Uh, just a minute.” I gave the hem one more tug, but it was as far down as it was going to get, which was less than five inches from my underwear and way too short for public viewing.

    ReplyDelete
  54. Title: JUST A CON
    Author: Jenn Nguyen
    Genre/Sub-genre: YA Contemporary Romance
    Audience/Age: YA
    Word Count: 55k

    Sixteen-year-old con-doodler Megan Benson snags her and her mom a place living at the Keller mansion just when they got kicked out of their own home. Too bad she finds out too late that this is one family she shouldn't con.

    As Megan Benson ducked behind the stairwell, she snagged a few more fries from the lunch bag she just stole. She popped them in her mouth and immediately gagged. Shit, they were hot.

    Her cheeks puffed out like a blowfish so she wouldn’t burn her tongue. At least they tasted delicious. Still chewing, Megan reached into her bag to pull out her oversized jacket and jabbed her arms into the sleeves.

    She pulled the hood over her head and tucked her dark strands behind her ears. Megan hugged the warm bag of food to her unusually perky chest—the result of a miracle bra she spent way too much money on.

    ReplyDelete