mEET THE EDITORS
Melissa has had a love of stories for as long as she can remember, but only started penning her own during her freshman year of college. She majored in Wildlife, Fish, and Conservation Biology at UCDavis. Yet, while she was neck-deep in organic chemistry and physics, she kept finding herself writing stories in the back of the classroom about fairies and trolls and magic. She finished her degree, but it never captured her heart the way writing did.
Her debut, The Forgotten Child, released in October, 2018. She's also the author of the Witch of Edgehill paranormal cozy mystery series. Pawsitively Poisonous, Cursed, and Secretive are out now.
On the editing side of things, Melissa is known in her critique groups as someone who offers “nitpicky edits of doom,” but does so with the hope of bringing clarity to both her critique partner’s writing and the overall story. (And they keep coming back for more, so it can’t be that bad, right?) In her critiques, she’s prone to making tons of comments, keeping an open dialogue going with the writer. Fantasy and paranormal are most in her wheelhouse, but is open to all genres except for non-fiction. She loves immersive world-building, twisty mysteries, and heart-pounding thrillers.
Her favorite authors include Maggie Stiefvater, Tana French, Ruth Ware, Rainbow Rowell, Suzanne Collins, and Melina Marchetta.
Specialties: Young adult, mystery, fantasy, and supernatural/paranormal
Jennifer Laam is the author of The Secret Daughter of the Tsar (St. Martin’s Press, 2013, The Tsarina’s Legacy (2016), and The Lost Season of Love and Snow (January, 2018). She is represented by Erin Harris at Folio Literary Management. She reads widely across genres, but her passion is historical fiction with romantic, darkly humorous, and/or suspenseful twists. She is a sucker for witty banter, sexual tension, and baby dragons. Jennifer has worked with numerous manuscripts for critique groups, as well as resumes and cover letters. As an editor and reader, she wants to help other writers recognize and remedy flaws in their work, while also building on their existing strengths.
Jennifer earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of the Pacific, where she studied History and Russian Studies, and her master’s degree in History from Oakland University. When not at work on her next novel, Jennifer enjoys movies, television, trashy celebrity gossip magazines, dancing, and arguing about politics. Favorite novelists include Margaret Atwood, Philippa Gregory, Lisa See, Jonathan Franzen, George R.R. Martin, and James Ellroy.
Specialties: Historical, women’s fiction, family saga, romance and erotica
