Entangled Wish List

About Me:

As Managing Editor, Senior Editor, and cover artist for Entangled Publishing’s main line, I live to pluck the brightest new voices from the slushpile, mentor EP’s editors and associate editors, and create many of the gorgeous covers that grace the company’s catalog. As of today, I’m actively acquiring for my 2013 list.

After checking out my wish list below, feel free to query me directly at heather(at)entangledpublishing(dot)com. Please paste your one-page query letter and the first five pages of your manuscript into the body of the email. I will not open unsolicited attachments. You can also check out Entangled’s submissions page.

What I’m Looking For:

I love upper YA, especially darker plots with a literary voice. While I’ve acquired several paranormal and fantasy YA series (and will continue to do so), my personal tastes tend to veer toward contemporary and dystopian fiction. Some of my favorite YA books are:

• GOING TOO FAR and FORGET YOU by Jennifer Echols
• THE SKY IS EVERYWHERE by Jandy Nelson
• HUNGER GAMES by Suzanne Collins
• ACROSS THE UNIVERSE by Beth Revis
• LOLA AND THE BOY NEXT DOOR by Stephanie Perkins
• BOY TOY by Barry Lyga
• TOUCH by Jus Accardo

I equally adore contemporary adult romance. Best friends to lovers, adult love triangles, series that revolve around tight-knit groups (Navy SEALs, sports teams, fire departments, roommates, brothers, etc.), and tortured heroes are all pluses. Some of my favorite contemporary romance books are:

• Suzanne Elizabeth Phillips’ Chicago Stars series, especially MATCH ME IF YOU CAN and HEAVEN, TEXAS
• Lora Leigh’s Tempting SEALs series
• HEARTS IN DARKNESS by Laura Kaye
• Lori Wilde’s The Bachelors of Bear Creek series
• SEDUCING SIMON by Maya Banks
• TRULY MADLY YOURS by Rachel Gibson
• KNOCK ME OFF MY FEET by Susan Donovan

I also enjoy accessible sci-fi, quirky fantasy, and steamy paranormal romance. Bumbling necromancers, biopunk, aliens on earth, humans in space, sexy demons, and hot gods/goddesses are all on my list of must-haves. A handful of my favorite series/books include:

• J.R. Ward’s Black Dagger Brotherhood series
• Larissa Ione’s Demonica and Lords of Deliverance series
• Gena Showalter’s Lords of the Underworld series
• Melanie Card’s Chronicles of a Reluctant Necromancer series
• Stephenie Meyer’s THE HOST (minus the flashbacks to alien worlds)
• Nina Croft’s Blood Hunter series
• Katee Robert’s Sanctify series

Entangled recently launched to lines of shorter romantic fiction. The Flirt line features stories that fall between 10k and 15k words, while the Ever After line features stories in the 20k to 40k range. All Flirt and Ever After submissions must end with a convincing happily ever after or, at the very least, a strong happy for now. I accept submissions for both.

What I’m NOT Looking For:

While I’ll look at anything with a fantastic voice, I generally avoid…

• cozies of any kind
• YA with high school-centric themes
• urban fantasy
• historical
• hard sci-fi
• high fantasy
• steampunk
• shifters
• vampires (despite being on my favorite series list – you’ll really have to wow me to get a request on a vamp series)
• zombies as protagonists
• plain jane heroines
• overtly arrogant alpha heroes who tell the heroine what she should do and when, and heroines who like this