Welcome to the Pitch Wars Agent Showcase! Young Adult entries …
For those unfamiliar with Pitch Wars, it’s a contest where published/agented authors, editors, or interns chose mentees and work with them for two months to make their work shine. Our amazing mentors chose one (some cases two) writer to mentor from nearly 2000 entries for this year’s for the agent showcase.
For a list of the amazing agents participating in Pitch Wars 2016, go here and here.
AGENTS: To make requests, simply peruse the following entries and enter what you would like to have the writers’ send you in the comments of the posts. Please include submission guidelines and/or additional instructions.
PLEASE only agent comments. All others save your comments until after the agent round. If you would like to cheer on your friends, go to the Twitter hashtag #PitchWars and show your support there. Thank you!
Here are the links to each entry’s post for your convenience…
PW #301: Young Adult Thriller: FLASH MOB MURDERS
Pitch: Amateur vigilante, Lia Finch, vows to take down the flash mob that murdered her father. But when she follows a lead to Chicago’s Navy Pier and dozens of mobbers ambush a new victim, she soon realizes the deadly consequences behind her obsession. READ MORE . . .
PW #302: Young Adult Science Fiction (Own Voices LGBT+): THROUGH GILDED VEINS
Pitch: When Anna, an outlaw-mechanic, and Nathaniel, the nobleman hunting her, discover the government is behind an epidemic of heart-defects like theirs, they must work together to overthrow Nathaniel’s father before he stops all their hearts. READ MORE . . .
PW #303: Young Adult Urban Fantasy: THE MEMORY KEEPER
Pitch: Skyla Jenkins has mere hours to find her sister Morrow’s memory book before the rogue memories that escaped it steal her twin’s identity forever. THE MEMORY KEEPER features an inconsistent narrator. THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN meets FROZEN. READ MORE . . .
PW #304: Young Adult Literary Thriller: THEN BEGGARS WOULD RIDE
Pitch: Everyone believes Gwen’s boyfriend is a cult leader. After disappearing without a word, he’s resurfaced as the Beggar with a goal to spread “The Message” far and wide. Not willing to lose him, Gwen hits the road to bring him home. But as she and his ragtag disciples trail in the Beggar’s wake, Gwen discovers his mission is much more sinister than just preaching.
Told as a prison confessional, it’s THE WALLS AROUND US meets THE DEVIL AND THE BLUEBIRD. READ MORE . . .
PW #305: Young Adult Fantasy: THE PHANTOM, THE SPY, AND THE CROWN
Pitch:
Dreyden would rather play soldier than prince.
Elika joined the Royal Army so she can assassinate the king.
When a criminal organization steals a shipment of magic, Dreyden and Elika join forces to unravel a conspiracy to overthrow their empire…unaware of the secrets they’re concealing from each other.
Marie Antoinette meets James Bond, TRUTHWITCH-style. READ MORE . . .
PW #306: Young Adult LGBT Fantasy: VENDETTA OF MONSTERS
Pitch: Raised to kill undead monsters, Zarailla is the second-best soldier in her father’s army. One of the last surviving sorcerers, Leinna grew up a hostage of Zarailla’s military—a condition of an uneasy truce. When tensions re-ignite, their families expect them to fight for their sides.
But the childhood friends have fallen for each other. READ MORE . . .
PW #307: Young Adult Contemporary (Own Voices): VERA WITH A VENGEANCE
Pitch:
Vera Davis isn’t your typical teenage entrepreneur. She’s in the business of getting even.
However, while helping a client get payback for a leaked nude picture, Vera discovers the “accident” that killed her parents and paralyzed her basketball hot-shot brother was all about vengeance, too.
Now Vera must decide whether getting revenge is worth getting blood on her hands.
“Veronica Mars” meets “Pretty Little Liars.” READ MORE . . .
PW #308: Young Adult Magical Realism: CHIMERICAL
Pitch: No one ever leaves Corinna’s ghost-haunted town—until her neighbor Aidan disappears. But when a traveling carnival arrives, Corinna sees a way out to a vast and dangerous world where Aidan may be hiding. BONE GAP meets THE MUSEUM OF EXTRAORDINARY THINGS. READ MORE . . .
PW #309: Young Adult Science Fiction: MONSTERS BENEATH OUR SKIN
Pitch: The Darkness, a fog-like entity from a failed military experiment, infects Kadey with a corruption like many others—she disintegrates any living thing she touches. No one knows how to control, or cure corruptions. But unlike other people with the corruption disease, when Kadey encounters the Darkness, she goes temporarily insane, killing anyone, and anything, she gets her hands on. Responsible for a growing death toll, Kadey finds herself with a bounty on her head. Fringe meets Stranger Things with X-Men-esque superpowers. READ MORE . . .
PW #310: Young Adult Speculative Historical Fiction: SASSAFRAS ROAD
Pitch: In 1924, four-year-old Ada Mae Baker vanishes from Sassafras Road and into the year 2000. Twelve years later, at sixteen, she stumbles upon Sassafras Road, where she falls through time to 1936 and into her stolen life, unlocking memories and secrets long forgotten. READ MORE . . .
PW #311: Young Adult Historical Fantasy: THE BRIGHTEST SHADE OF FLAME
Pitch: When a Norseman possessed by a treasure-hungry djinni steals Anje’s mythical hammer, she chases him into the treacherous world of seafaring raiders. Attraction sparks when the two must ally against the brutal Viking conqueror who would enslave them and claim the hammer’s power for himself. READ MORE . . .
PW #312: Young Adult Science Fiction (LGBT, Own Voices): STEALING THE STARS
Pitch: When seventeen-year-old Aria Locksley, a thief with a failing heart, botches a heist and gets her captain captured, she and the roguish ladies aboard the Siren must consort with an eccentric black-market crime boss and steal the priceless Night Diamond in order to secure the collateral to rescue her captain and replace Aria’s heart. FIREFLY meets the girl power of Taylor Swift’s “Bad Blood” music video. READ MORE . . .
PW #313: Young Adult Science Fiction: GHOST IN THE MACHINE
Pitch: Seventeen-year-old Jason is a master hacker. When the FBI busts him—then hires him to stress-test the world’s first true A.I.—he has the chance to carry out the perfect inside job and destroy Big Brother’s powerful new weapon. But “SPRITE” might be more like him than he ever suspected… READ MORE . . .
PW #314: Young Adult Contemporary: LISTEN
Pitch: After seventeen-year-old Emmaline’s unstable stepfather drives the family straight off a cliff, her anxiety kills the one thing she can trust – her voice. Worse, the crash destroys her sister’s health. Emmaline must find the courage to sing again for a huge competition’s prize money, or Birdy may never recover. READ MORE . . .
PW #315: Young Adult Speculative Fiction: GIRL UNPLUGGED
Pitch: Sixteen-year-old Natalie Turner never knows what to say. Talia Turner is a popular blogger who’s witty, insightful, and trending. You’d never know they were the same person. When a solar storm causes a catastrophic collapse of power while she’s on a class trip, Natalie is forced to confront a terrifying question: Who is she, really? Natalie, or Talia? READ MORE . . .
PW #316: Young Adult Contemporary: FLORENCE LEARY’S THEORY OF FLIGHT
Pitch: Outsmarting the airlines is the only thing getting Florence through senior year. When she uncovers a loophole that’ll give her elite status with a big airline, Florence has six weeks to amass the necessary points and grab that perfect first class salve for her loneliness. She just needs her guidance counselor, her neurotic parents, and that cute-in-a-weird-way guy to stop pulling her feet back down to the ground. READ MORE . . .
PW #317: Young Adult Contemporary: THE BUSINESS OF BLACKMAIL
Pitch: Seventeen-year-old Morgan has done her share of blackmailing, but when her ex-boyfriend turns the tables on her, she must do what he wants or risk exposing her thieving past to everyone who matters. When her newest mark becomes her newest crush, Morgan must decide whose future is more important: hers or his. READ MORE . . .
PW #318: Young Adult Contemporary (Own Voices): OVERBOARD
Pitch: After a failed suicide attempt, seventeen-year-old Kip is determined to have sex for the first time to feel more alive.
An Alaskan cruise seems like the perfect opportunity—and if her plan fails, she’ll jump off the ship. To save herself, Kip must confront preconceptions about sex and privilege, as well as the growing darkness in her own mind. READ MORE . . .
PW #319: Young Adult Contemporary LGBT: CON ARTISTS
Pitch: Seventeen-year-old Chloe arrives at Comic-Con with two goals: meet an obscure artist and turn her online BFF into her real-life girlfriend.
When she pisses off a dangerous group of merchandise forgers on Preview Night, Comic-Con takes a dark turn. Now Chloe must organize her friends into a criminal entity and find an exclusive figurine by the end of the weekend—or die. The Hangover meets Ocean’s 11 with a dash of nerd culture. READ MORE . . .
PW #320: Young Adult Contemporary Fantasy: THE DEVOURING GRAY
Pitch:
In exchange for unnatural powers, the founding families of Four Paths, NY trapped a monster within a haunting dimension called the Gray.
New girl Violet Saunders accidentally releases it.
She must team up with disgraced golden boy Justin Hawthorne to unravel horrifying family secrets–before the Gray devours them all.
STRANGER THINGS meets THE RAVEN BOYS. READ MORE . . .
PW #321: Young Adult Contemporary LGBT (Own Voices): FEMSLASH
Pitch: YOU’VE GOT MAIL meets FANGIRL
By day, Iliana and Rhodes tear each other down to the studs as they compete for the same scholarship. By night, they unknowingly piece each other together again through their performing art school’s anonymous fanfic community. Worlds collide when Iliana’s laptop is stolen and an online bully threatens to make their identities—and their relationship—public knowledge. FEMSLASH would appeal to fans of Becky Albertalli, Adam Silvera, and Robin Talley. READ MORE . . .
PW #322: Young Adult Contemporary: UPSTAGED
Pitch: A contemporary retelling of AMADEUS set in a cutthroat performing arts school. Ellie is the resident theater genius at Ibsen High, until acting prodigy Mo enters stage right. Mo is dynamic, magnetic, and genderfluid. They can quite literally play any role. With Mo stealing Ellie’s spotlight—along with the girl she secretly loves—Ellie has to find a way to get rid of them, even though she’s never admired anyone so much in her life. READ MORE . . .
PW #323: Young Adult Near-Historical: CHILDREN OF THE DUST
Pitch: Seventeen-year-old Matt Hayes is many things: student; fast food worker; caregiver to his disabled, adopted Vietnamese sisters; trapped. A college scholarship offers the escape he craves, but when his mother’s health deteriorates, Matt must choose between continuing as his sisters’ caregiver or repeating the sins of his father, a Vietnam vet who abandoned their family. READ MORE . . .
PW #324: Young Adult Contemporary: GRIDIRON GIRL
Pitch: Julia Medina knew competing against her boyfriend to be the starting quarterback of their high school football team would be tough, but while Owen’s in her heart, football’s in her blood. READ MORE . . .
PW #325: Young Adult Contemporary: LOVE, LIES, AND THE OTHER TEAM DIES
Pitch: Masha Herrera meets the perfect geeky guy at Comic Con, only to discover he’s her sworn online enemy—and they’re both in the same gaming tournament. With an internship at stake, the event turns into a publicity nightmare, and the reportedly haunted hotel venue psyches everyone out. When battles turn nasty, Masha must decide how far she dares go in order to win. READ MORE . . .
PW #326: Young Adult Science Fiction Romance: PROJECT A.I.D.E.N
Pitch: Aiden is the Artificial Intelligence and Robotics lab’s greatest creation–until they demand his destruction. With nothing more than a stolen gun and titanium bones, he escapes and meets Eva, who’s willing to help. What he doesn’t know is her father’s the head of AIR—and she’s not spilling that secret to the sweet, haunted boy. Now on the run from the only home he’s ever known, Aiden must decide what’s worse: endangering Eva’s life, or losing his own. READ MORE . . .
PW #327: Young Adult Contemporary: OLD TOWN
Pitch: Sixteen-year-old Ben Nguyen skips town, headed for his sister’s in Denver to escape the bully back home and to confront his drinking problem. But the man he hitchhikes with crashes the car and leaves Ben for dead. Now Ben is stuck in a dusty Nevada town where alcohol isn’t the only drug available, and where calling home means facing the truth about the night that ruined his life. Go Ask Alice meets Twisted, OLD TOWN is about a kid escaping addiction and the tormentor who precipitated it. READ MORE . . .
PW #328: Young Adult Thriller: CALCULATED
Pitch: Eighteen year-old math prodigy, Phoenix, could predict all the possibilities around her—except the betrayal of her family. Now, exploited by the world’s most wanted smuggler, she discovers the numbers in her head can do more than make money. They’re also good for revenge.
Inspired by The Count of Monte Cristo. READ MORE . . .
PW #329: Young Adult Contemporary: STAGED
Pitch: Gossip Girl meets Nashville.
After seventeen-year-old country music sensation Paxton Parker’s on-stage disaster, her record company cuts ties. With family funds in the red, and her assets frozen, she uses her fame to stage tabloid photos to earn a quick buck. But when her hustle and a vindictive blogger threaten her future, Paxton has to figure out how to salvage her singing career before it’s too late. READ MORE . . .
PW #330: Young Adult Contemporary: WE ARE EMBERS
Pitch: When fire destroys Zeida and Micah’s apartment, the sisters must choose between homelessness or an offer that means abandoning their mom. While the choice seems clear to pragmatic Zeida, she gives Micah one day to raise the funds to keep their family together. READ MORE . . .
PW #331: Young Adult Contemporary Paranormal: THE WRECKAGE OF US
Pitch: After an accident leaves him a quadriplegic and kills his best friend, Jordan must navigate the world without Taylor –until Taylor’s ghost starts haunting him. Doubting his sanity, he must choose between living with hallucinations or letting go of the boy he loves. CARRY ON meets WE WERE LIARS. READ MORE . . .
PW #332: Young Adult Contemporary Dark Fantasy: QUEEN OF PARTS
Pitch:
Nita doesn’t murder monsters and sell them online.
Her mother does that.
Nita just dissects and packages their bodies. But when her mother brings a live one home, Nita decides to follow her conscience and help him escape — and ends up sold on the black market in his place.
DEXTER meets THIS SAVAGE SONG. READ MORE . . .
PW #333: Young Adult Contemporary (in verse): LOVE AND OTHER SHARP POINTY THINGS
Pitch: Sixteen-year-old Mercedes dreams of proving herself to her famous sculptor mother by gaining acceptance to a prestigious art school. Faced with artist’s block, a new romance, and a devastating illness in the family, she must get in touch with her artistic identity and her heart to determine what truly matters most. READ MORE . . .
PW #334: Young Adult Contemporary Fantasy (Own Voices): SURRENDER YOUR SONS
Pitch:
In this LOST-inspired thriller, sixteen-year-old Marcos Major is spending his summer vacation at camp—one that wants to turn him straight.
Sent to Nightlight, a gay conversion camp on a secluded island, Marcos endures their program in the hopes it will “cure” his real problem: the electricity that shoots from his hand when he’s anxious. Which is basically all of the time.
As Marcos navigates treacherous campers and sadistic staff, dark secrets lurk in the jungle surrounding Nightlight. Someone wants more than to turn Marcos straight. They want his power. Even if it means killing him. READ MORE . . .
PW #335: Young Adult LGBT Dark Fantasy: DEVIL’S CARAVAN
Pitch: When Celia escapes the service of a false deity named Diavala, she must use her forbidden ability to ink magical tattoos to protect the roving theater troupe she calls family or watch Diavala destroy them. GRISHA at the MOULIN ROUGE. READ MORE . . .
PW #336: Young Adult Contemporary: LOOK NO FURTHER
Pitch: Zoe’s journey to Graceland isn’t about Elvis—she’s tracking down her bio-mom, even if it requires traveling with an outlaw motorcycle gang. After witnessing a heinous crime, she escapes with Johnathan, a young, karma-touting ex-biker with a weakness for quirky roadside attractions. But when she discovers the real reason behind Johnathan’s exile, starting over may mean saying goodbye to the boy she loves. READ MORE . . .
PW #337: Young Adult Historical LGBTQ: A KISS OF BLOOD AND GUNPOWDER
Pitch: For seventeen-year-old James Mills, traveling to Kosovo with his USAID parents is bad—but without his older sister, Anna? That’s cruel and unusual punishment. The letters James obsessively sends her share snapshots of his courtship of Tomas, a Brazilian expat. But it’s not until he and Tomas find themselves fighting for their lives in the midst of an ethnic cleansing that James unearths the truth Anna’s been hiding about their family. READ MORE . . .
PW #338: Young Adult Science Fiction/Horror: IN FLESH, WE DROWN
Pitch: Donnie Darko meets The Matrix.
Jodi throws a party to forget her girlfriend’s disappearance, Jake plans to deliver his love letter to Jodi, but after a night of smoke and flickers, they wake up two days in the past. Visions of meat walls and people with no faces chase them into a spiral of madness. As they draw closer to the truth of their abduction, they must accept their new reality or bloody their hands to survive. READ MORE . . .
PW #339: Young Adult Science Fiction: DONOR
Pitch:
Analeigh has been gifted a new set of eyes by the Donor Center, a corporation that breeds and supplies human-like organ donors.
Black is a donor who’s been raised on a lie: the Center releases its patients on their eighteenth birthday.
When the two discover Donor is more sinister than anyone dreamed, they must team up to expose its dark truths before Black is harvested for the next buyer.
THE ISLAND meets UNWIND. READ MORE . . .
PW #340: Young Adult Space Opera: THE LAST RELIC
Pitch: Princess Lusi has a secret. She lacks the Calm—a power to spread peace the League of Nine Worlds depends on. Her plans to escape her legacy are thwarted when a vengeful warlord storms the palace, taking over her planet with his cyborg army. Now Lusi must forgo her freedom when she’s forced to strike a deal with exiled rebels to save her empire and prevent a catastrophic war. FROZEN meets STAR WARS. READ MORE . . .
PW #341: Young Adult LGBT Contemporary: LOVE, CHAI & CONFESSIONS
Pitch: When seventeen-year-old Rukhsana is caught kissing her girlfriend, her conservative Muslim parents whisk her off to Bangladesh in the middle of her senior year. Desperate to safeguard their honor, they arrange her marriage. Now, separated from her girlfriend by thousands of miles and surrounded by family who can’t know the truth, she must fight her way back to love and freedom. READ MORE . . .
PW #342: Young Adult Fantasy: WE ARE MULTITUDES
Pitch:
Years ago, a girl disappeared into an impenetrable fog called the Void, and halted its growth. Now society gives the Void one volunteer a year to keep it stagnant. Mac’s convinced it’ll be him.
But it picks Mega Namura instead.
Now Mac’s falling for a girl destined to die and must decide: embrace this second chance at life, or find a way to take Mega’s place before the Void claims her.
THE MIST meets THE RAVEN BOYS. READ MORE . . .
PW #343: Young Adult Contemporary: DAMAGE OVER TIME
Pitch: For Caity Hopkins, slaying monsters as Caelyssa—a fearless Ranger in the multiplayer online game, Unholy Realms—is her only freedom from the anxiety that crushes her in real life. But Caelyssa’s daggers and arrows can’t help Caity choose between her lifelong crush, who unexpectedly kisses her, and the boy from Realms who has stolen her heart. To make that choice, Caity must step out from behind her keyboard and find her voice or risk losing them both. READ MORE . . .
PW #344: Young Adult Fantasy: ABOVEWATER
Pitch: When sixteen-year-old Rilla’s twin brother disappears from their small island, the outcast girl risks waking forbidden legends to find him, but soon it’s clear she’s stirred up more evil than good. Now, to appease the vengeful darkness that’s arisen, the Islanders are demanding a sacrifice–Rilla’s own life. READ MORE . . .
PW #345: Young Adult Contemporary Fantasy: THE BLOOD KEY
Pitch: Charlotte’s life revolves around digging up and smuggling rare artifacts—until she uncovers a calling more treacherous than desecrating tombs. She’s the key to destroying a parasitic entity, but fighting its corrupting influence means she’ll have to sacrifice either the man who raised her or the boy who loves her. INDIANA JONES meets THE DARKEST MINDS. READ MORE . . .
PW #346: Young Adult Contemporary Time Travel: MOM, I MARRIED A HIGHLANDER
Pitch: Abby’s extra credit report derails when a Highlander from the past jumps into her future. Callum’s bleeding, dirty, and…hot. Together, they must discover how to send Callum home before rival time travelers kill him to protect their secrets. And Abby must decide if a life in the past with Callum is worth enduring bad hygiene and possible death by plague, let alone leaving everyone she loves behind. READ MORE . . .
PW #347: Young Adult Fantasy: BONEWOOD
Pitch: STRANGER THINGS meets THE SCORPIO RACES—Sixteen-year-old Miran Salek must hunt for a cure to the taint blackening her brother’s veins inside the Bonewood, a forest haunted by nightmares, before he infects their entire island. READ MORE . . .
PW #348: Young Adult Fantasy: FOUR DEAD QUEENS
Pitch: Ruthless thief Keralie becomes entangled in deadly politics after witnessing the murders of her world’s four queens, captured on disk. The information could be rewarded with lifesaving medicine for the boy she loves, but escaping the palace alive will be her greatest heist yet. RED QUEEN meets SIX OF CROWS. READ MORE . . .
PW #349: Young Adult Contemporary with Supernatural Elements: SHADOWS CAST BY DREAMS
Pitch: When a car accident triggers a series of shared dreams, Rain loses herself in a place where her memories intersect with those of the mysterious boy involved in the crash. Rain is haunted by his world of secrets, but fears a life-saving surgery will result in the only thing more terrifying than the dreams themselves– losing them, and the boy she’s come to love.
Inception meets IF I STAY READ MORE . . .
PW #350: Young Adult Contemporary Fantasy: A MUSE DARK AND WILD
Pitch: Seventeen-year-old Hazel is a Wild—a rare, all-powerful Muse—born to inspire humanity’s greatest achievements. When her sister kills their mother, Hazel flees to California, where her murderous sister shadows her new life. Hazel must straddle the thin line of revenge and unbridled power, risking embracing darkness or suffering the same brutal end as her mother. READ MORE . . .
PW #351: Young Adult Contemporary Verse: SAVING SUNDANCE
Pitch: Maddy’s Christian Scientist friend Hope has always used prayer instead of medicine. But when Hope develops a life-threatening infection, her mother won’t get her badly needed medical help. If Maddy betrays Hope and forces a medical intervention, it will end their friendship. But if she doesn’t? Hope will die. READ MORE . . .
PW #352: Young Adult Contemporary: NOT HER STORY
Pitch: Cute boy, Max, doesn’t recognize Claire from her mother’s blog, so she hides her fame. When Claire poses as someone’s girlfriend for publicity, Max steps away. After uncovering her mother’s dangerous secret, Claire considers using it to end the blog and get her life and Max back–if she’s willing to take her mom down with it. READ MORE . . .
PW #353: Young Adult West-African Fantasy (Own Voices): CHILDREN OF BLOOD AND BONE
Pitch:
With magic, Zélie’s family could stand against the royal guard.
Her people wouldn’t live in fear.
Her mom wouldn’t have hanged from that tree.
Years after the king wiped magic out of Orïsha, Zélie has one chance to bring it back. To do so, she’ll have to outwit/outrun the crown prince, who’s hell-bent on erasing magic for good.
AVATAR THE LAST AIRBENDER meets BLACK LIVES MATTER. READ MORE . . .
PW #354: Young Adult Contemporary: THE FRIEND ZONE HYPOTHESIS
Pitch: When his nerdy sidekick swipes a copy of Cosmo claiming it holds scientific secrets to winning any girl’s heart, seventeen-year-old Mikey launches an experiment to transform his status from best friend to boyfriend. One problem: Jessica Sterling is a variable who can’t be controlled. READ MORE . . .
PW #355: Young Adult Mystery (#ownvoices): A TASTE OF DARKNESS
Pitch: When seventeen-year-old Tessa Gill is chosen to compete in Bite Size—the televised teen cooking competition—she’s set on fighting for a scholarship her family could never afford. As the competition begins, she discovers cryptic letters written by her late chef grandfather hidden throughout the culinary institute. Tessa must now uncover the truth behind the letters before the competition eliminates her. WILLY WONKA meets Chopped. READ MORE . . .
PW #356: Young Adult Contemporary Fantasy: SALTWATER BLOOD
Pitch: Sixteen-year-old Astrid Stroud is cursed with magic she can’t control. When she gets hurt, her body heals itself—by taking someone else’s life. Astrid’s brother Liam fears her grisly abilities, but when he finds himself tangled in a plot to kill her, both Strouds begin to wonder what exactly makes someone a monster. THE SCORPIO RACES meets THIS SAVAGE SONG. READ MORE . . .
PW #357: Young Adult Fantasy: ALL OUR VILLAINY LAID BARE
Pitch: Lucks only slides her blade into the duke on instinct, hoping to protect her sister. But her action sees the young, sly, and rather dashing, Seaborne, rise to power, putting her gang at risk. To atone, Lucks enters court to find leverage on the new duke. While they play their game of power and manipulation at court, a bigger danger creeps up on the city, one which also holds the key to Seaborne’s secrets. Lucks must choose between loyalty to her gang and her growing feelings to Seaborne, or risk losing them both. ALL OUR VILLIANY LAID BARE takes the court politics of THE WINNERS CURSE mixed with the heists of BREAKING BAD set against a fantasy dukedom inspired by the Italian Renaissance. READ MORE . . .
PW #358: Young Adult Contemporary, Own Voices: WE ARE NOT ALONE
Pitch: THE BREAKFAST CLUB meets THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW – When a sinkhole traps sixteen-year-old Nia and her classmates, they must fight to survive against hunger, paranoia, and the serial killer trapped with them. READ MORE . . .
PW #359: Young Adult Historical Fantasy: FAMINELAND
Pitch: In an England where World War I never ended, chemical weapons have created an army of mutant cannibals fighting to enslave humanity. Cannibal hunter Kimae is determined to defeat them with her father’s weapon: a poison that kills maneaters, and leaves humans alive. But to find it, she must unite with the one “person” who knows where her father died: the cannibal who devoured him. READ MORE . . .
PW #360: Young Adult Historical: DANGEROUS ALLIANCE
Pitch: Impetuous seventeen-year-old Victoria Aston wants nothing more than to live a pastoral existence on her family estate in Hampshire. But when her sister escapes an abusive husband, Vicky has no choice but to find a husband of her own who will keep her brother-in-law from laying claim to their lands. Amidst the glittering ballrooms of Georgian London’s high society, Vicky must choose between the boy who broke her heart and the man who loves her now, all while keeping herself from falling into a DANGEROUS ALLIANCE. READ MORE . . .
PW #361: Young Adult Contemporary LGBT: EVERYTHING IS EPHEMERAL
Pitch: When boyfriends Joey and Benji embark on their first European tour promoting their debut album, Joey’s happiness slowly begins faltering as he struggles with inexplicable sadness and negativity. Insecure, he keeps it hidden from Benji, until Joey passes out on stage during their London gig. Now he must face his diagnosis—severe depression—and learn to accept and manage it or else he and Benji could lose everything. READ MORE . . .
PW #362: Young Adult Historical Fantasy: SONG OF SULEIMAN
Pitch: NATIONAL TREASURE meets ALADDIN when sixteen-year-old Israelite Peni discovers an ancient mystery hidden in the Song of Solomon. Desperate to escape her abusive betrothed, she disguises herself as a leper and travels the Persian Empire hunting King Solomon’s magic ring. Succeed, and she’ll win her freedom. Fail, and evil fire spirits only the ring can control will burn her world to ash. READ MORE . . .
PW #363: Young Adult Contemporary: NO PLACE LIKE HOME
Pitch: 17-year-old Piper isn’t just the beloved daughter of a freak show family; she also wants to be its main attraction. When she’s kidnapped and held prisoner by a woman who insists Piper call her “Mom,” her world shifts. Imagined and repressed memories surface and she must untangle them or risk never finding her family again. But the only thing worse than never going home is the fear she may already be there. WE WERE LIARS meets LIVING DEAD GIRL. READ MORE . . .
PW #364: Young Adult Fantasy: STARS AND REEDS
Pitch: Falsely accused of killing a wealthy merchant, Jameelah faces life in bondage unless she clears her name with star magic, a power inaccessible to Marsh Dwellers like herself. Her only hope of acquiring magic is to escape prison and ally with her childhood enemy Rashida, a star magician—and the merchant’s real murderer. READ MORE . . .
PW #365: Young Adult Science Fiction (own voices): EARTH TO LIA
Pitch: Seventeen-year-old Dahlia Yang-Lee is catapulted back in time and must outsmart space pirate Callum Davis to reclaim the artifact that’ll send her home. Historically, Lia knows Cal’s story doesn’t end happily. With time working against her and Cal’s looming death, Lia must defy history to save the pirate she’s falling for before her chances of returning home vanish. READ MORE . . .
PW #366: Young Adult Contemporary: LOVE LETTERS AND BROKEN THINGS
Pitch: Tori’s supposed to feel thankful. A horrific accident left her boyfriend Sanjay miraculously alive. But she wants to go back. Before the drunk driver and the traumatic brain injury. Before Sanjay was forever changed. Before she met Jude, whose kindness made her forget all she’d lost. And before she started lying—so she could keep them both. In heartfelt letters penned to each boy, Tori will come clean, even if it breaks everything she loves. READ MORE . . .
PW #367: Young Adult Fantasy: COURT OF GLITTERING CRIMSON
Pitch:
Princess Skylla is a nightmare from which her kingdom will never wake. She’ll use their bones to clean her teeth and wear their intestines like ribbons. It’s the least they deserve after what they did to her family the night of the Slaughter.
But the rebel leader Ariadne and her people refuse to continue living in fear. They must overthrow the princess, and this time, they’ll get it right.
It’s THE PRINCE AND THE PAUPER meets THE YOUNG ELITES. READ MORE . . .
PW #368: Young Adult Contemporary: BETWEEN NEVER AND ALWAYS
Pitch: Track star Callie has spent her whole life outrunning rumors that her late father used performance enhancing drugs. Callie knows who her dad was—an honorable, fierce competitor. But when an injury derails Callie’s plans to attend an elite training camp, she’s not only stuck at home, she’s confronted with evidence that her father might not have been the hero she’s believed in after all. READ MORE . . .
PW #369: Young Adult Fantasy (with LGBT+ elements): A BOUNTY OF RUNAWAYS
Pitch: When lady bounty hunters Annora and Hellion add wanted-dead-or-alive Carina to their trio, they inherit her problems, too: the vengeful husband she fled and the rival bounty hunters he hired. The solution? Find the ultimate bounty—the one who got away, who crippled Annora’s hand, who’s worth enough to buy Carina out of her marriage and fund the trio’s adventures for life. Unfortunately, he joined a royal tournament granting immunity to all competitors. He’s untouchable—unless they join, too. READ MORE . . .
PW #370: Young Adult Alternate History (Diverse): A COURT OF MIRACLES
Pitch: Retelling of both LES MISERABLES and THE JUNGLE BOOK via Six Of Crows.
The French Revolution has failed. In the violent jungle of a Paris divided between merciless royalty and criminal guilds, a cat-burglar must protect her sister from a ruthless slave lord. READ MORE . . .
PW #371: Young Adult Contemporary Fantasy (ownvoices): THE BLACK VEINS
Pitch: When a criminal sorcerer kidnaps her family, Blythe Fulton embarks on a supernatural road-trip across the US to gather the Guardians, a temperamental group of magic-wielding teens just like her. Blythe needs the Guardians’ cooperation to save her family, but every step towards her family’s rescue brings the Guardians closer to their own demise. THE MORTAL INSTRUMENTS meets The Amazing Race with a diverse ensemble cast. READ MORE . . .
PW #372: Young Adult Taiwanese Horror (Own Voices): HUNGRY GHOSTS
Pitch: Food blogger Lydia thinks she’s starring in her own Taiwanese drama when she devours photo-worthy meals and encounters mean girls and cute boys at her overseas camp. But when life drastically shifts into an Asian horror movie after a vengeful spirit is unleashed upon campus, Lydia must defeat the ghost before it all goes to hell…literally. READ MORE . . .
PW #373: Young Adult Contemporary (Own Voices): THE BRAVERY OF ZOE AL-MANSUR
Pitch: Fifteen-year-old Zuhayra “Zoe” al-Mansur, a Muslim refugee who escaped ISIS in Syria, must relive memories of her father’s murder during a school shooting to save her classmates and herself. READ MORE . . .
PW #374: Young Adult Science Fiction: ROGUE
Pitch: Unaware her world is virtual, seventeen-year-old Mei is programmed to help human players win. But when three players plan to obliterate the game server that keeps Mei and everyone she loves alive, she must become the hero herself… even if it means bringing her fight to this so-called “real world.” WESTWORLD meets SWORD ART ONLINE. READ MORE . . .
PW #375: Young Adult Thriller: A SILENT GOODBYE
Pitch: Chloe has spent every second of the last three years searching for her mom, but everything she tries leads her nowhere. That is until she receives a mysterious text from someone claiming to know the truth. Now she must decide if she’s willing to risk her life for the answers she so desperately needs. READ MORE . . .