About / Query LetterMASQUERADE is a standalone YA Fantasy novel of 70,000 words that combines the fairytale style of Disney and the identity mishaps of Shakespeare to unmask a new world of complex characters and relationships. It is a diverse, ensemble story that delves into three generations of royalty using multiple points-of-view and dual timelines. This unique format highlights how each person’s past and origins influences the present and how they all entwine to create the future. It is also sure to elicit multiple reads because of an unreliable narrator and as the book progresses, new information sheds light on prior moments that seemed inconsequential.
The well-loved Princess Calypso of Galendon is extremely opposed to who she is arranged to marry; Prince Erik of Celadia, who has a reputation for his short temper, and is universally disliked. Looking for an escape from her apathetic parents, Erik’s brashness, and her own self-hatred, she goes to town in disguise as a peasant girl. She discovers the friends who worship her as princess only care for her title, and they dismiss and reject her without the facade. Heartbroken, Calypso struggles with accepting her true self and finding love, all while her relationship with Erik grows more complicated. As Calypso’s marriage looms closer, her mother’s is falling apart. While once deeply in love, Queen Amina and King Hayden are more distant now than ever, and Amina grapples with whether the remnants of love are enough to keep a relationship going. To make matters worse, her abusive and power-hungry mother is pressuring her to betray the kingdom, again. Identities and disguises only add to the struggle of power, love and acceptance. Each character is the hero of their own story as they seek their happily ever after, only to find that what makes one happy may be another’s nightmare. MASQUERADE has the complexity of Once Upon a Time, the atmosphere of Tangled and will appeal to readers of Jennifer A. Nielsen, Kiera Cass, and Jessica Day George. |
PROGRESSMasquerade the novel was started November 1st, 2011 and the first draft was finished in March 2018. It is undergoing edits and will be sent out for queries soon.
The first draft of the screenplay adaptation of the novel was finished in August of 2018, and is undergoing edits. |