PW #334: Young Adult Contemporary reimagining of the Bronte family: WALLOWING HEIGHTS

Manuscript status: Two week delivery

Mentor name: Rosalyn Eves

Mentee name: Molly Cluff

Title: WALLOWING HEIGHTS

Category: Young Adult

Genre: Contemporary reimagining of the Bronte family

Word count: 77,000

Pitch:

When Afton Bell’s older sister’s book series gets cancelled, she’s hellbent on rallying fans through her booktube channel to save it. Problem is, her online identity is built on a lie: her fans don’t know her connection to the author and her sister doesn’t know she’s a booktube star. Raising support means risking her two worlds colliding.

Excerpt:

I made sure my door was locked before uploading my video.

My viewers expected new videos on Mondays. Monday was half over. I knew I should have done it earlier; Eloise would arrive any minute.

I clicked through the Youtube screens on my laptop and prodded the upload button. The video’s preview image showed me smiling, holding a glossy purple book with a gnarled tree on the cover.

While the upload progress bar inched along, I inspected my closet. I couldn’t decide what shoes to wear. Clearly, Eloise and I had been apart too long. You shouldn’t have to try to impress your sister with your footwear choices—especially your sister who had worn the same grubby combat boots since high school. And yet, after eight months of Eloise flitting about Belgium, here I was: trying to choose between turquoise flats or lacy red ones.

I glanced at my laptop screen after five minutes, then frowned. The upload had stalled at 8%. I was running out of time.

A car rumbled into the driveway outside, and I rushed to lift a slat of my blinds. Against the monotone desert grass and endless scrubby bushes, Eloise’s silver sedan stood out like a pod from the future. Without it, we could have shot a pioneer movie in our front lot.

The driver’s side door opened. Eloise stepped out.

Eloise Bell, celebrity status author of the teen phenomenon, The Wallowing Hours series.

Aka, my sister.