Meet Lena Newman, the 17 year old protagonist in up and coming author Charlotte Reagan’s YA novel Just Juliet. Her attraction to a girl at high school begins an emotional journey of self realisation that left readers emotionally raw and wanting more.
Discovered through Inkitt’s Swoon Romance Novel Contest, Just Juliet is a novel that captivates. As one reviewer wrote, “This story makes you feel things. You can’t stop reading, I couldn’t stop.”
The Inkitt team first noticed the novel when it started trending thanks to high reader engagement and positive reviews.
First time author Charlotte Reagan has been writing since she was 10 years old and describes how once she started she couldn’t stop. “I still have boxes of old notebooks filled with ideas and plots that I never finished. I’ve always dreamed of being published. As a child, as a teenager, as a girl at college trying to figure out life. I kept my pens and papers close, but in reality…it always seemed like it would only ever be a dream.”
In the current literary market, Just Juliet is what most publishers call a rare find. The novel was selected by judges of the Swoon Contest which included best selling romance authors Laurelin Page and Melody Grace as well as Rebecca Friedman of the Friedman Literary Agency.
Just Juliet will be published on Amazon in collaboration between Inkitt and the Rebecca Friedman Literary Agency. We at Inkitt are excited to see the novel take off and will also be executing a marketing strategy for the novel’s release and managing sales in-house.
For author Charlotte Reagan, it’s a dream come true. “I pushed it aside and let it become a hobby, because I doubted I could make it anything else. Winning this contest changed that… I just wanted to do it for fun. Just to see. Maybe I even thought I was still dreaming, when I got the call. But the days passed, and I didn’t wake up. Because for once…I’m living the dream. I’m not even sure I can say what winning means to me…just that it’s everything I’ve ever wanted. Ever.”
The Swoon Contest awarded 2nd prize to shespokewithmagic’s Am I Pretty Yet? and 3rd prize to Jordan Anthony Chen’s Falling Hopes.
Inspired to start writing? Inkitt’s current Grand Novel Contest is looking for the world’s next best selling novel and offering a publishing deal in return.
