Dear Secret Agent,
Seventeen-year-old Calleigh has a secret. If told, it could cost her best friend her life. To protect her, Calleigh has to pretend to be the girl she was before she was assaulted ten months ago.
As if.
Her mom wants Calleigh to spend her summer training for the high school swim team tryouts. But Calleigh can’t stomach wearing her swimsuit. Not after she was kidnapped and assaulted by a stalker who’s still on the loose. She’s unable to tell anyone what happened because he threatened to kill her and her best friend if she reveals the truth.
Aaron, a former competitive swimmer, encourages her to start swimming with him in secret. Only thing is, he’s suddenly super protective . . . and she has no idea why. As Calleigh begins falling for Aaron, she discovers they’re linked in a way she could never have imagined—a connection that could be deadly for Calleigh.
LOST IN A HEARTBEAT is an 80,000-word, YA romantic suspense novel. It will appeal to readers who enjoy the character-based stories of Sarah Dessen and Sarah Ockler, and also to those who love the romance and danger in PERFECT CHEMISTRY and THE BODY FINDER.
A member of the SCBWI, I’ve attended New York City and Los Angeles annual conferences for the past three years. I recently completed two online fiction writing courses through Writer’s Digest, including one on writing for teens.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
***
It was like diving off a ten-meter platform when you’re terrified of heights. Easy, really.
Yeah, right, I thought, as I watched one of the girls from the swim team practice her freestyle in the lake, while I pretended not to care about swimming anymore. My muscles ached to race across the sand and dive in. To swim like I was born to do. But doing what I craved wasn’t so easy. Not without serious consequences.
I looked down the stretch of sand and fidgeted with the dolphin charm on my bracelet. A slow breath escaped my lips. I was safe. No one was watching me. At least not from the busy beach.
“Calleigh, are you cold?” Alejandra asked from the beach towel next to mine, the warm breeze brushing brown strands of hair against her face. She’d already stripped down to her bikini, while I sat, barefoot, in my jeans and navy hoodie. The hood hid my light blond hair. The way I now preferred it.
“Maybe I’m coming down with something.”
“Or maybe you’re just not eating enough.” She unscrewed the cap of her sunscreen, and smeared coconut-scented lotion on her light olive skin.
I knew where this was headed. “Your sister’s the anorexic, not me.”
“Yeah, well, when we were on the swim team, it was like you were eating all the time. But now, nada. You’re just skin and bones.”
