Bio
Hi, I'm Noreen! I am so excited to mentor this year. My debut, THE SUMMERS BETWEEN US, came out this past May from PRHC and I am represented by Jemiscoe Chambers-Black from Andrea Brown Literary Agency.
My romance origin story was accidentally picking up Lisa Kleypas books at the library when I was a teenager and I never looked back after that. I am obsessed with my dog, chocolate and lately, strawberry matchas. As a writer, I love writing romance and my stories explore themes of identity, belonging and familial and romantic love.
I'm excited to work with a mentee in the Adult Space. I'm interested in writers who write rom-coms, contemporary romances, or fiction with strong romantic elements.
As much as I love to read romantasy and historical fiction, I am not the best fit for it editorially. I am interested in light speculative elements, however, so if your work includes that, feel free to send it over!
Manuscript
Wishlist
(MSWL)
I'm looking for stories with big emotional journeys and complex characters I can root for as we make our way to their happily ever after. I love books that explore women's identity, especially when the stories focus around women figuring out what they want from life including careers, family and their relationship dynamics.
I love to read books with themes of family and belonging, love a second chance romance, am very into STEM romance (hello Ali Hazelwood!), love summer romances and books that take a lot from a setting. I can never say no to an upmarket book with strong romantic elements. Some recent favourites include PROBLEMATIC SUMMER ROMANCE by Ali Hazelwood, ONE GOLDEN SUMMER by Carley Fortune, HOW TO END A LOVE STORY by Yulin Kuang, CAN'T GET ENOUGH by Kennedy Ryan, THE HEARTBREAK HOTEL by Ellen O'Clover, and LEFT OF FOREVER by Tarah Dewitt.
While I tend to write single POV, I do also devour dual POV and I don't have strong preferences about third vs first person when I'm reading.
I am not a great fit for books that have the accidental pregnancy trope, books with strong religious overtones, historical romance, alpha heroes, relationships with big power gaps, books with graphic sexual assault and probably would not be a great fit for a book that is described as "sweet" though my mind could be changed with the right book.
Mentoring Style
I plan to be flexible depending on what my mentee needs. My hope is to provide a face to face meeting over Zoom when the mentorship starts, and then be available to my mentee over text or message as needed during the process. I'm also happy to be a support during the querying process.
Applications
from Connections
Please do not apply to me if we've ever beta read for each other or have had extensive conversations online. If we're in the same discord(s) or mutuals on social media but haven't talked more than a comment on a post here or there, feel free to apply!