Title:
GRIPPED
Genre:
YA Contemporary
Word
Count: 60,000
Query:
Seventeen-year
old Taylor is supposed to be the homecoming queen, not the girl who shows up
drunk at school and barfs on the vice principal. She’s spent three years
climbing the social ladder at her prestigious private high school, snagging the
hottie tennis star boyfriend, and landing the head cheerleader spot, all while
maintaining a perfect GPA. So what if she needs a few drinks to cope with the
pressure of maintaining her miss perfect image.
But
that was before the hottie dumped her and she walked in on her dad banging a
blonde bimbo. Suddenly, a couple of harmless drinks a week become a few dozen.
Several benders later, Taylor is showing up at school drunk, tanking exams,
getting into drunken fistfights at house parties, and sabotaging the chance at
a relationship with the intriguing college guy.
One
frigid December night, drunk and pissed off after an argument with her
arch-frenemy, she gets behind the wheel of a car and slams into a tree – and
the truth. She’s doesn’t know how to survive without alcohol and she'd rather
die than give it up.
GRIPPED
is a contemporary (edgy) young adult novel complete at 60,000 words. It would
appeal to fans of Sara Zarr, Courtney Summers and Amy Reed.
First
250:
I’ve
worked my tail off to get where I am. Everything is falling into place, and
just in time for Senior year.
Captain
of the Varsity Cheer squad. Check.
Hottie
tennis star boyfriend. Check.
All
honors and AP. Check.
My
parents should be proud. I’ve done everything they’ve asked the last three
years. Now maybe they’ll back off. Let me enjoy being a senior without all of
the pressure.
I
slip on the dark wash skinny jeans I bought at the mall yesterday. They fit
like a glove, making my legs look long and skinny. Blake will love the way my
ass looks in these.
I'm
scanning the shoe rack for my leopard-print ballet flats when the screen on my
phone lights up with an incoming text. Olivia. I dial her number, putting her
on speaker.
She
picks up immediately. "Hey. What are you doing tonight?” Girls Just
Wanna Have Fun is blaring in the background. It’s so loud I can barely hear
her. She always listens to that song when she’s getting ready. Over and over
and over again.
"I’m
trying to finish getting ready. Blake’s picking me up any minute," I yell,
setting the phone on the desk. I zip across my room, looking for some
nail polish to fix my chipped pinky finger.
"Oh
shit. I forgot you had a date. Are you sure you want to hang out with Blake
tonight? You’ve been dogging us all summer. We miss you. Come out with us
instead."
Such a great query! I'm not really into contemporary, but your query still hooked me.
ReplyDeleteGood luck!
You really pull us in with your opening lines. You have a comfortable style that I like to read. I love the title GRIPPED too. Wish you the best of luck!
ReplyDeleteI love the idea of this!! And I think your query is pretty darn good as is, minus a couple really minor changes (I’d probably capitalize Miss Perfect, and “THE intriguing college guy” makes it sound like he’s been mentioned before, but he hasn’t).
ReplyDeleteI like the writing in the first 250 a lot, too, and I like how it starts off with her checklist. The only thing I don’t like about it is that a teenage girl getting ready in her bedroom is a bit cliché, and with this rich of a premise, I’d think you could find a more exciting, punchy place to start. Don’t get me wrong—I like it well enough, but I can tell it could be even better!
Even though I’m making these suggestions, I think this is a really strong query and 250.
YOU’RE IN!
Great query; strong voicein the opening. My concern would be whether it is able to be a unique story and resist falling into didacticism when the "issue" part of the book emerges. I agree with Champagne that a less cliche opening setting might help.
ReplyDelete