Ciara Finan

In the wider fantasy genre, I’m keen on finding romantasy, cozy fantasy, dark/light academia, and anything with political intrigue. I am looking for novels that will keep me reading into the early hours of the morning. I want to be consumed by the world, the plot and the characters. Think authors like Leigh Bardugo, Tamsyn Muir, R.F. Kuang, Scarlet St Clair, Sangu Mandanna, Hannah Nicole Maehrer, Deborah Harkness, Chloe Gong, Ava Reid, Sabaa Tahir and of course, Sarah J. Maas. I'd also love to see anything that could be compared to Castlevania or Penny Dreadful. I am open to working with authors within these genres who have previously self-published. I'm also a huge fanfiction reader and always welcome submissions from fanfiction authors looking to write original fiction!

In crime and thriller, I’m particularly drawn to stories with a big psychological element, a very dark edge or an unexpected twist – I’m still looking for the high of that reveal in Gone Girl. I want to see novels with unhinged women doing unhinged things - think the tone of I'm a Fan by Sheena Patel in a crime setting. I love the narrative structure and voice in books like Verity by Coleen Hoover, Anatomy of a Scandal by Sarah Vaughan, Blood Orange by Harriet Tyce, The Push by Ashley Audrain, Girl A by Abigail Dean and A Certain Hunger by Chelsea G. Summers.

In romance and book club, I am looking for something that explores the complicated nature of romantic relationships - think Seven Days in June by Tia Williams, The Dead Romantics by Ashley Poston, Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid and Miranda Cowley Heller’s The Paper Palace.

In historical fiction, I love rich and lush historical novels that can transport me to another time such as The Mad Women's Ball by Victoria Mas, Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell, The Nightingale by Kirstin Hannah or Fingersmith by Sarah Waters. I’m also drawn to novels that blend historical and speculative elements such as The Binding by Bridget Collins, The Kingdoms by Natasha Pulley, Outlawed by Anna North or any new takes on mythology in the style of Madeline Miller and Pat Barker but non-Western focused.

In the non-fiction space, I’m very keen to hear from commercially minded writers with a platform who want to explore topics such as history, feminism, relationships, health, beauty, economics and politics in a clear and accessible way like Girls Just Wanna Have Funds, Florence Given’s Women Don’t Owe You Pretty, We Need to Talk About Money by Otegha Uwagba, Ultra-Processed People by Chris van Tulleken or Manifest by Roxie Nafousi.