Sarah Fox
Belcastro Agency
My Manuscript Wish List®
Across all genres, I’m looking for adult books from diverse writers that make me accidentally stay up until midnight reading.
Romance
- I am yearning for a high-concept contemporary romance.
- I’m a fan of romances with a speculative twist (like B.K. Borison’s Good Spirits) or are a genre blend.
- My favorite tropes are small town, workplace romance, friends to lovers, enemies to lovers (of course), fake dating, only one bed, and second chance romance, but I’d love to see a fresh spin on them.
- I adore stories where both the female main character and male main character are well-developed, messy people. I actually love a third act breakup and the miscommunication trope, but they both have to be earned and are realistic.
- I prefer open-door romances, but I’m open to closed-door romance as long as it remains sex positive.
- I’m dying for a modern adaptation of Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey or Mansfield Park. I also would love to read a modern version of Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte.
Thriller
- I’m a sucker for domestic thrillers; ever since I read Gone Girl, I’ve been hooked! I’m particularly drawn to those that deal with themes of motherhood like Ashley Audrain’s The Push.
- I also love thrillers set in glamorous places or deal with the wealth and class disparities. Bonus points if the protagonist is a conman or the plot involves a heist.
- Ever since I read Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier, I’m dying for a Gothic thriller. Even better if there’s an element of satire.
- I desperately want dark academia. If you have a book like The Maidens, send it to me!
- I am on the hunt for unreliable narrators and “unlikable” main characters.
- I’m not a fan of political, legal, spy, or military thrillers. I especially don’t want anything that involves AI or cybercrime.
Women’s Fiction
- I can’t stop reading weird girl lit, so please send me your manuscripts! I really can’t get enough of it. The weirder, the better.
- I’m a fan of unlikable female characters. I will like them!
- I enjoy books that explore ideas of new motherhood, but I’m looking for a fresh take.
- I’m on the lookout for manuscripts about female friendships, especially the messy and complicated parts of them.
- I’m an only child fascinated by sister dynamics.
- I also love upmarket and book club fiction.
Literary
- I love gorgeous writing, but there must also be a strong plot and developed characters.
- I’m a huge fan of writers who play with narrative form or conventions (like Trust by Hernan Diaz).
Non-Fiction
- For all non-fiction, I need a large platform, a fresh concept, and a hook that grabs me.
- For memoir, I love a book that reads like fiction and has a larger message (like Maid by Stephanie Land).
- I’m interested in non-fiction books that focus on pop culture, the arts, celebrities, history, biography, and parenting.
- I also would love a book by an adoptee or a birth parent on adoption.
- Journalists are my favorite people. Please, please send me your books!
Anti-MSLW
- YA, Middle Grade, or Children’s books
- Books written or developed by AI or even about AI
- Gratuitous animal cruelty, animal death, child abuse, rape, or sexual assault
- Military fiction or police procedurals
- Stories that heavily feature adoption if not written by a member of the triad (adoptee, birth parent, adoptive parent)
- Conservative non-fiction
Vital Info
Favorite sub-genres:
#Dis, #ownvoices, Accessible Literary Fiction, Activism, Adult, Adult Rom Com, Art history, Asian American Literature, Asian Diaspora, BIPOC, Biography, Biography & Memoir, Book Club, Books about books, Business, Caribbean Literature, Category Romance, Chick Lit, Chicklit, Commercial Women's Fiction, Commercial adult fiction, Commercial and Literary, Contemporary Romance, Dark Female Friendships, Disability, Diverse Protagonists, Diversity, Domestic Fiction, Domestic Suspense, Domestic Suspense/Thriller, Essay collections, Essays, Fashion, Female Friendships, Feminism, Feminist, Femoir, Film & Theater & TV, Film/TV, First Person, Found Families, Geek Culture, Gothic, High-Concept Literary Commercial Fiction, History, Intersectional Feminism, Intersectionality, Investigative Journalism, LGBTQ Contemporary, LGBTQ Romance, LGBTQ+, LGBTQ+ rom coms, Layered Family Stories with multiple narrators, Layered Rom-Coms and Comedy of Manners with a cultural component, Literary Crossover, Literary Fiction, Literary Horror, Literary Science Fiction, Literary Thriller, Marginalized Voices, Mental Health, Modernized Mythologies, Mothers and Daughters, Multicultural, Multicultural Romance, Multicultural and Diverse Thriller and Mystery, Multigenerational, Multiple POV, Multiple Timelines, Muslim, Mysteries, Narrative Nonfiction, New Adult, Occult, Occult Horror, Occult Nonfiction, Own Voices, POC, Paranormal Romance, Parenting, Pop Culture, Pop History, Pop Psychology, Pop Science, Popular Science/Psychology, Psychological Suspense, Psychological Thrillers, Relationships, Retellings, Rom-com, RomCom, Romance, Romantic Comedy, Romantic Drama, Romantic Suspense, Romantic Thriller, Same-Sex Romance, Scottish, Shakespeare Retellings, Smart Beach Reads, Southern Gothic, Speculative, Strong Females, Study Abroad Stories, Thriller, Thrillers, Time Travel, Time Travel Romance, Travel, Underrepresented Voices, Upmarket Commercial Fiction, Upmarket Fiction, Upmarket Nonfiction, Upmarket Women's Fiction, Upmarket YA, West African Literature, Women's Fiction, Women's Issues, beach reads, book club fiction, campus novel, celebrity, classic retellings, comedy, coming of age, commercial, commerical, commerical women's fiction, contemp, contemporary, contemporary women's fiction, dark academia, diverse, diverse and own voices, diverse heroines, diverse voices, domestic thrillers, enemies to lovers, feminine narratives, found family, friendship, friendship stories, gothic romance, groundbreaking structures, high concept fiction, international, invisible disability, just one bed, just... all the tropes, literary mystery, literary suspense, memoir, mental illness, metafiction, music, mystery, narrative non-fiction, non-western settings, nonfiction, pining, psychology, queer, quirky, realistic fiction, rivals to lovers, rom-coms, romantic New Adult, romantic suspense/mystery, slow burn, slow burn romance, small business, small-town romance, tropes tropes tropes, two people one bed, upmarket genre fiction, visible disability, weird fiction, who did this to you, whodunnit, witches, witty, writing publishing
I’d like the next…
My favorites include…
- Books: Notes on Your Sudden Disappearance by Alison Espach, Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, The Rachel Incident by Caroline O’Donoghue, A Princess in Theory by Alyssa Cole, Counterfeit by Kirstin Chen, I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith, Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott, Educated by Tara Westover, Confessions by Kanae Minato, Lovelight Farms by B.K. Borison, People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry, The Correspondent by Virgina Evans, Blue Sisters by Coco Mellors, The Likeness by Tana French, The Little Prince by Antione de Saint-Exupéry, Bunny by Mona Awad
- Movies: Marie Antionette, Big Fish, When Harry Met Sally, Howl’s Moving Castle, Rushmore, Say Anything, Paddington 2, Pat and Mike, Romeo + Juliet, Clueless, Ten Things I Hate About You, Anne of Green Gables (1980s version), Best in Show, Sinners, Memento, Princess Bride, Monty Python and the Holy Grail
- Shows: Gilmore Girls, Widow’s Bay, Parks and Rec, Never Have I Ever, New Girl, Ugly Betty, The Bold Type, You, Killing Eve, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Watchmen, Steven Universe, Emily in Paris (#sorrynotsorry),The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Secrets Lives of Mormon Wives, Love is Blind, Love Island, Project Runway, anything on Bravo
