A New Publishing Home for IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN YOU
I’m so excited to share that my novel, IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN YOU, has found a new publishing home at White City Press. This novel holds a special place in my heart. Originally my thesis project for my MFA in Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University, it was inspired by an experience shared by one of my adult dance students. She told me that while she was in high school, her identical twin was murdered, and the case was never solved.
My student’s story stuck with me and eventually morphed into my novel about seventeen-year-old Clara, whose piano prodigy twin has been murdered. In the wake of the unsolved crime, rumors swirl that Clara might have been the murderer, and she becomes the homicide detective’s favorite suspect. And then she begins receiving threatening emails sent to the inbox of the supposedly anonymous advice column she writes for her student newspaper, the first of which says, “It Should Have Been You…but soon.” Convinced that her email stalker blames her for her sister’s murder, she launches her own investigation.
Meantime, Clara is determined to live her life as best she can. She even begins a romance with a new boy at school. But he turns out to have secrets of his own.
While the story is chock full of suspense and mystery, it also deals with the aftermath of a murdered child on a family. Clara’s parents are music educators, and their focus has been entirely on Moura, Clara’s talented pianist sister. Clara, who prefers writing and psychology to music, has been more or less an afterthought in her own family. Now her mother is mired in depression and can’t even stand to look at Clara because she reminds her too much of Moura.
Survivor’s guilt, her family’s grief, and the stalkers’ threats weigh heavily on Clara, but by the end, the challenges she encounters help her grow and recognize her own worth.
I’d love for you to take a look at IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN YOU! The official release date is September 15, and pre-orders are available on White City Press’s website:
https://whitecitypress.com/product/itshouldhavebeenyou/WCP/50