Christine Kelly Reads and Writes

October served as comp reading month. Or at least an attempt was made with that goal in mind.

Wondering what I mean by comp? When querying a novel it is recommended you provide comparable titles for the agent to have reference to when approaching your query. This will give them an idea of where your story will be placed on a bookshelf, if your story could see success and if your story is hitting a good spot in the market (depending on your genre).

I am hoping to query my Contemporary Romance novel, a retelling of the Divine Comedy, by Dante, in the upcoming months. Because of that, I want to have comps ready for my query. And let me tell you… it has been difficult to find stories that are a good fit to use for my story.

One of my comp reads in October I had really high hopes for. It was the Ten Rules for Faking it by Sophie Sullivan. This story followed Everly Dean, a radio producer who accidentally announces on air that her boyfriend cheated on her, on her birthday. Womp womp. This leads to the station manager, Chris, concocting an idea to save both the radio station and Everly’s love life. She is to date, bachelorette style and share her journey online and on air. I’ll let you read to figure out what happens if this sounds appealing to you. While the dating scheme could be considered similar to that of what my MC (main character) goes through, I didn’t find the prose to be similar enough and it just isn’t a strong enough book to really help sell mine. This book did a wonderful job of showcasing social anxiety.

Another comp title I thought I could use was, Mixed Signals by B.K. Borison. This is a popular indie publisher, which I should have checked into prior to reading because it isn’t always the best idea to use an independently published book for a comp when finding an agent, since most agents use those comps to approach a publisher. That being said, this was a delightfully charming read and someday I hope to read the other two books in this series.

The rest of my reads for the month did not aim to fulfill my comp list. The first was Icebreaker by Hannah Grace. This follows a hockey player and figure skater’s relationship through the drama of college sports, friendship and more. If you like the Off Campus/Briar U series by Elle Kennedy, I think you’d enjoy this book. The level of spice is similar too.

The next book I read was By a Thread by Lucy Score. This touches on sexual advances in the work place, which I think is a needed point of view for some of the “billionaire”/”work place romance” tropes. This book also had some great spice to it and the side stories were measured perfectly against the main plot.

After seeing someone post a GIF of Love, Rosie (the Netflix film which I adore), I learned that it was actually a book. There is something so angsty about a long term friendship that covers up a deep love between the two characters. It probably won’t be your favorite book if you don’t like the miscommunication trope (it’s a trope I don’t mind).

Next up was You Deserve Each Other by Sarah Hogle. I had seen a lot of love about this book so I was excited to dive into this one. It was a really fun read. There many parts that brought a smile to my face.

Last up, I read Indigo Ridge by Devney Perry after seeing it on BookTok and Bookstagram. The twist at the end was one I didn’t see coming…

If you’d like to chat about any of these books, shoot me a email or submit a comment. I LOVE talking books!