Leah is exclusively looking for Black,
Latinx, Indigenous, Asian, and Pacific Islander voices with or without
LGBTIQA+ intersectionality—basically anyone underrepresented and/or marginalized.
For picture books, she is selectively searching for an author who is writing diverse, heartfelt, and emotionally resonant stories about family, heritage, and tough, complex topics (i.e loss, identity, divorce, disabilities, etc). She is also looking for fun, adventurous, and creative stories.
Some of her favorite PBs include: Julian is a Mermaid, Amazing Grace, Jabari Jumps, Knight Owl, I Am Enough, Hello Lighthouse, Nigel and the Moon, We are Water Protectors, Rough Patch, The Year We Learned to Fly, The Little House, The Path, Sulwe, Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!, The Little Book of Joy, Max and the Tag-Along Moon, Your Name is a Song, My Hair is a Garden, Always with You, Always with Me.
She is looking to acquire across the following genres:
• Contemporary
• Romance
• Mystery/Thriller/Suspense
• SFF/Speculative
• Fairytale or classic retellings/reimaginings
She is specifically interested in stories that contain elements of and are in the vein of the following:
The Half of It
Behind Her Eyes
The Yellow Wallpaper
The Haunting of Bly Manor
Reimagined Macbeth/Lady Macbeth take
Emily in Paris
Schitt’s Creek
Archive 81
The Mummy
Sex Education
Sadie
Do Revenge
The Bear
The Old Guard
Julie and the Phantoms
Leverage
Unbecoming of Mara Dyer
The Lost Queen
Atlantis
Cruella
Knives Out
Practical Magic
Wednesday
Derry Girls
Jumanji
Nancy Drew/Enola Holmes
Reimagined Picture of Dorian Gray
Edgar Allan Poe
More generally, she loves diverse and unique work that is fast-paced
and has a complex cast of diverse characters. Give her something with good plot twists, conflicts that are hard-hitting, and scenarios that really makes her wonder if anyone is right. She is a huge sucker for camaraderie, banter, and the tight-knit, family-like group of friends trope. She is pretty much a
fan of all the tropes. She's also really into morally gray characters and characters who have a hero-to-villain arc. Angry, evil, and "villainous" women are a sweet spot for her.
She loves a good romantic meet-cute, coming-of-age, and/or self-discovery story, especially in or post-college. Specifically, how one’s expectations drastically differ from reality or how a recent college grad is blindsided after
entering the adult world, the working force, and how they slowly manage to navigate it and get on their feet.
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She is also really interested in plots that deal with the struggles of today's online dating culture. Or about how couples and friendships deal with growth and life pulling them in two different directions.
She'd love a story with a unique setting such as a roller skating rink, reality dating show, or a kitchen. She’d also love something realistic, raw, introspective, and family-centered.
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Think Just One Day, Talia Hibert, Pose, Darius the Great Is Not Okay, Jasmine Guillory, There Goes The Neighborhood, The Sex Lives of College Girls. Renee Watson, All My Rage, Insecure, Ashley Woodfolk, Kings of B'More, Someone Great, Crystal Maldonado, Never Have I Ever, and Elise Bryant.
For mystery, thrillers, and suspense, she is here for unreliable narrators and dark academia! Keep her guess and on the edge of her seat with unexpected (but sensible) plot twists and give her characters questionable, morally gray characters such as Lizzie Borden, Cruella, and Wednesday Addams.
She’d also love something along the lines of Aces of Spades, Behind Her Eyes, Babel, And Then There Were None, Queen of the Tiles, When No One is Watching, Firekeeper's Daughter, Sadie, Cherish Farrah, Forrest of Stolen Girls and anything Tiffany D. Jackson or Courtney Summers. She’d also really love a heist in the veins of Leverage, Now You See Me, or Six of Crows.
She loves all fantasy with rich world-building. Bonus points if it is fantasy with elements of myth and legends; preferably lesser-known myths/legends i.e. Middle Eastern, Indigenous, African, and South American. So in the vein of The Davebad Trilogy, The Poppy Wars, Witches Steeped in Gold, Skin to the Sea, The Blood Scion, The Stardust Thief, The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea, The Gilded Ones, and Monsters Born and Made
She would also love a fairytale retelling or reimagining—something à la Kaikeyi or Madeline Miller (but non-Euro-centric).
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She’s also searching for gothic and atmospheric horror—think Mexican Gothic, Year of the Witching, The Addams Family, The Yellow Wallpaper, White Smoke, Edgar Allan Poe, Gallant, The Haunting of Hill House and of Bly Manor, The Bloody Chamber, and Crimson Peak. Social horror is something of interest to her as well. So anything Jordan Peele-esque or similar to MASTER but better executed.
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For sci-fi, she's more interested in light sci-fi, not too hard or overly military-esqe. Think something in the vein of Red Rising, Black Mirror, The Blood Trials, The Fifth Wave, Kill Joys, Lakewood, Iron Widow, and Orphan Black.
Middle Grade, dystopian, Graphic Novels, legal or spy thrillers, historical, and non-fiction. Please no cliche romances where the plot is centered around cheating, parental disapproval, or high school drama.
Note: While Leah is open to SFF, she is being extremely selective in the works she takes on
due to her wish to expand in the romance, mystery/suspense, and gothic spaces.
