Nonconsensual romance, romance with sex shaming/romantic rivals as part of the plot, secret babies, dark erotica, or abduction fantasies.

I was a latchkey kid starting as a kindergartner and as soon as I learned to read beyond Dr. Seuss, I would pull anything and everything that looked interesting off my parents’ bookshelves. This, of course, is how I managed to read Stephen King’s IT at the age of ten.

May McGoldrick, Adrianna Herrera, Tamsen Parker, Stacey Kennedy, Ann Aguirre, Sarah Castille, Becca Jameson, Mimi Grace, Erin Satie, Katee Robert, KK Hendin. ​

Colson Whitehead’s Underground Railroad, Casey McQuiston’s Red, White & Royal Blue, Sarah MacLean’s Brazen and the Beast, Margaret Atwood’s The Blind Assassin, Lauren Groff’s Florida, Mikki Kendall’s Hood Feminism, Celeste Ng’s Little Fires Everywhere.

To partner with them to ensure the promise they’re making to the reader with their novel is coming across clearly. Every book has a promise and it’s my job as an editor to make sure the reader walks away from the book thinking about it.

I spend most of the day reading or writing, and I can’t believe this is my amazing life. If only my young self could imagine that sneak-reading all those romance novels would eventually be my job!

Sorted in teetering stacks in various locations. Each pile made a sort of sense when I started it…

Anderson’s Bookshop (IL), The Wild Rumpus (MN), Powell’s (OR), the Strand (NY), Women and Children First (IL), Shakespeare and Company (Paris).

Playing board games with my kids, knitting, walking my dog, talking A LOT (I’m an extrovert, what can I say?), and hosting massive Sunday dinners for my big extended Haitian family.

Publishers Marketplace, Publishers Weekly, Book Riot, Shelf Awareness.

christa.desir@sourcebooks.com, direct line: 630-536-1465