Hey, everybody. My YA Southern Gothic Fantasy IN THE SHADE OF THE MAGNOLIA is ready to be beta read (maybe gamma read by now).
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The people of Okatibbee County, Mississippi have been hiding a secret for generations: more than half of them are born with strange powers. Over five years ago, seventeen-year-old Fee was sent to a juvenile detention center for kids whose powers threaten to expose this secret.
After a guard at the detention center dies under suspicious circumstances, Fee is released early. She’s dead sure the dead guard was blackmailing her Uncle Lem. Maybe murdered by him, too. Problem is, Lem’s the warden of the county prison and everybody’s favorite good ole boy. Nobody would ever suspect him of murder, much less sneaking into the detention center to steal kids’ gifts. If Fee can prove it, she can get the detention center shut down and get her boyfriend Danny and the other kids sentenced there set free.
To do so, she’ll have to break into the county morgue and connect Uncle Lem to a series of deaths—even one from thirty years back. All deaths that helped him climb to power and keep it. With her uncle living right next door, she has to work in secret to take him down. If she’s not careful, Fee will be sentenced as an adult to the prison complex, where the prisoners’ gifts are stolen and used to power the entire county. And where she’ll never see Danny again.
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Still looking at comps, but leaning toward The Grace Year, by Kim Liggett, The Wicked Deep, by Shea Ernshaw, or (Don't You) Forget About Me, by Kate Karyus Quinn for the "small towns/counties with a secret" aspect.
Trying to focus on getting readers for the first 10-12k words right now but will eventually want somebody to read the whole way through. It's 97k words when I wanted to get it under 95k, so I will not hold my breath for that, lol!
I'm always willing to swap and will get back to you with my crit in no more than two weeks. I crit in-line, do what copy-edits I notice are necessary because I can't help myself, and add comments at the end. People are usually very happy with my critiques if I do say so myself.
Message me or reply below if you're interested and we can exchange emails.
____________________________
The people of Okatibbee County, Mississippi have been hiding a secret for generations: more than half of them are born with strange powers. Over five years ago, seventeen-year-old Fee was sent to a juvenile detention center for kids whose powers threaten to expose this secret.
After a guard at the detention center dies under suspicious circumstances, Fee is released early. She’s dead sure the dead guard was blackmailing her Uncle Lem. Maybe murdered by him, too. Problem is, Lem’s the warden of the county prison and everybody’s favorite good ole boy. Nobody would ever suspect him of murder, much less sneaking into the detention center to steal kids’ gifts. If Fee can prove it, she can get the detention center shut down and get her boyfriend Danny and the other kids sentenced there set free.
To do so, she’ll have to break into the county morgue and connect Uncle Lem to a series of deaths—even one from thirty years back. All deaths that helped him climb to power and keep it. With her uncle living right next door, she has to work in secret to take him down. If she’s not careful, Fee will be sentenced as an adult to the prison complex, where the prisoners’ gifts are stolen and used to power the entire county. And where she’ll never see Danny again.
_____________________________
Still looking at comps, but leaning toward The Grace Year, by Kim Liggett, The Wicked Deep, by Shea Ernshaw, or (Don't You) Forget About Me, by Kate Karyus Quinn for the "small towns/counties with a secret" aspect.
Trying to focus on getting readers for the first 10-12k words right now but will eventually want somebody to read the whole way through. It's 97k words when I wanted to get it under 95k, so I will not hold my breath for that, lol!
I'm always willing to swap and will get back to you with my crit in no more than two weeks. I crit in-line, do what copy-edits I notice are necessary because I can't help myself, and add comments at the end. People are usually very happy with my critiques if I do say so myself.
Message me or reply below if you're interested and we can exchange emails.
