MENTOR:
Isabelle Engel (she/her/hers)
CATEGORY:
New Adult, Adult
SUB GENRES:
Contemporary Romance, Rom Com, Romantic Suspense, Fiction with strong romantic elements
BIO:
Hi, I’m Isabelle! I was a 2023 SmoochPit mentee (under the name Isabelle Giuttari) and was mentored by Julie Cassidy. My Bachelor-inspired debut novel, LOVE ON THE RECORD, will be published by St. Martin’s Griffin/Macmillan in 2026. I am represented by Kendall Berdinsky at Dystel, Goderich & Bourret.
I’m originally from New England but now live and work in Washington D.C., where I recently completed my MA in English with a focus on Shakespeare and early modern literature. When I’m not writing, I enjoy reading romance, thrillers, and family dramas, petting dogs, and finding cute coffee shops to procrastinate in.
MSWL:
I am looking for…
- High-concept, high-stakes romances with strong subplots
- Romcoms with laugh-out-loud banter and ridiculous hijinks
- Action-packed, genre-blending mystery romcoms (murder mystery, heists, etc. as long as it’s not too dark!)
- I would love to see books with diverse voices of all types, including LGBTQIA+ romances
- All heat levels welcome!
Some more specific elements I’d be excited to see (but are certainly not requirements for submitting to me, just ideas!):
- High-stakes, competitive environments
- Unique and/or isolated settings
- Hollywood, music industry, theater, and reality TV elements
- Stories involving travel and/or road trips
- Shakespeare retellings and references
- Books that could comp to Taylor Jenkins Reid
- Favorite tropes: forced proximity, enemies to lovers, second chance, mistaken identity, fish out of water, road trips, only one bed, and only one [insert thing of your choosing here]
I am not the best fit for:
- Historical romance
- Fantasy/Romantasy (while I love reading it, I am not the best mentor!)
- Accidental pregnancy and/or secret baby tropes
- Complex speculative/magical romance (though I will consider lightly speculative stories!)
MENTORING STYLE
I look forward to working with you on your manuscript and providing editorial feedback. My comments will address both what I love and what might not working in the book, but all feedback will come from a place of deep love for your story and characters!
I am open to communicating in any way that works best for my mentee, whether that is via email, Discord, text, etc. I would love to have an initial phone or Zoom call to get to know each other and from there, we can talk about how we will communicate going forward. I would love to help prepare agent lists for querying, talk through strategies, and stay in touch once the mentorship is over.
APPLICATIONS FROM CONNECTIONS
If we have ever beta read for each other or had extensive conversations online, please do not send your materials to me. Anyone else, please apply!
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