MSWL*

*manuscript wish list

Samantha is looking for high-concept, commercial, and upmarket fiction that highlights, features, and uplifts diverse, marginalized, and/or underrepresented voices with all-or-nothing stakes. 

I enjoy working with new and established authors interested in writing for adult, young adult, and middle-grade readers with fluidity.

If you would like to query me, please use this Query Manager form.

  • Genres: book club fiction, contemporary romance, rom-coms, romantasy, mystery, thriller, speculative, dystopia, gothic, horror, and fantasy. (Please send all the genre blends!)


    Things I’m drawn to in stories:

    • late-stage coming of age stories

    • immigrant experiences

    • brave and bold characters (for good or bad)

    • healthy + toxic relationships (familial, platonic, or romantic)

    • themes of obsession, power, feminism, gray morality, and more.

    • chaotic openings and/or characters

    • specific experiences that hold universal truths

    • body positivity

    • sex positivity

    • fast-pacing

    • tight plotting

    • ruthless and messy characters

    • unexpected twists or POVs

    • con artists or grifters on job

    • convincing red herrings

    • ensemble casts

    • heists, twisted games, or puzzles

    • yearning and/or pining

    • non-western mythology

    • unique magic systems (especially with consequences)

    • unexpected villains and/or villain POVs, especially female

    • unraveling secrets at a reunion or celebration

    • reincarnation + fated lovers

    • haunting, small and/or isolated settings

    • anything involving curses or prophesies

    • all-or-nothing stakes

    • inheritance stories

    • secrets amongst groups

    • cults and dark rituals

    • light + dark academia

    Books I Love:

    • Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V.E. Schwab

    • The Brown Sisters series by Talia Hibbert

    • Business or Pleasure by Rachel Lynn Solomon

    • Alchemised by SenLinYu

    • Honey & Spice by Bolu Babalola

    • In My Dreams, I Hold A Knife by Ashley Winstead

    • My Lovely Wife by Samantha Downing

    • Never Saw You Coming by Vera Kurian

    • You’re Invited by Amanda Jayatissa

    • No One Can Know by Kate Alice Marshall

    • The Bridge Kingdom series + A Fate Inked in Blood by Danielle L. Jensen

    • Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

    • Kaikeyi by Vaishnavi Patel

    • The Year of the Witching by Alexis Henderson

    • The Blood Gift Duology by N.E. Davenport

    • The Hurricane Wars by Thea Guanzon

    • Phantasma by Kaylie Smith

  • Matching my adult taste, I work in similar categories and genres for young adults. Right now, I’m only considering YA authors by referral or personal request.

    Some of my favorites are:

    • The Gilded One series by Namina Forna,

    • anything written by Tiffany D. Jackson

    • Ace of Spades by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé

    • When Devils Sing by Xan Kaur

    • She is A Haunting by Trang Thanh Tran

    • Blood Moon by Britney S. Lewis

    • Heartless Hunter by Kristin Ciccarelli

  • Matching my young adult taste, Samantha works in similar categories and genres for middle grade (horror, fantasy, mysteries, and contemporary with speculative elements). Right now, she is only considering MG authors by referral and personal request.

Other media comps I love

Knives Out series; It’s What’s Inside; The Count of Monte Cristo; The Picture of Dorian Gray; Kill Bill; The Haunting of Bly Manor; Elite; The Residence; Severance; Gossip Girl; Sex Lives of College Girls; Schitt’s Creek; Ted Lasso; Behind Her Eyes; Booksmart; Trinkets; The Craft; Gilmore Girls; Never Have I Ever; Sex Education; The Old Guard; Crimson Peak; Julie and the Phantoms; Turning Red; Encanto; To All The Boys I Loved Before; Peaky Blinders; Heathers; Once Upon A Time; Switched at Birth; Ready or Not; Do Revenge; Missing…; Saltburn; Wicked; Sinners