Alex Gehringer

I’m building my list with a focus on new adult and adult contemporary romance and romantasy.

I love settings that feel essential and emotionally resonant—like Carley Fortune’s devotion to Canadian backdrops, B.K. Borison’s real and imaged Maryland locations, or the vividly realized fantasy realms in Callie Hart’s Quicksilver. Give me cozy small towns with nosy locals or an expansive, high-stakes adventure across continents. The bottom line is: immersive environments are a must and the world should feel as alive as the characters inhabiting it.

Above all, I’m most interested in characters who spark off each other—where chemistry, tension and banter pull me through the pages, no matter what world the story inhabits. I want quick, clever dialogue and fresh, addictive plot lines that make readers say just one more chapter until it’s 2 a.m. Strong side characters who could carry their own stories are always a plus (though not a requirement).

Contemporary Romance

In contemporary romance, I’m drawn to slow-burn, character-driven stories with smart humor—think Alison Espach’s The Wedding People or Mhairi McFarlane’s Just Last Night. I love character duos with bite and palpable chemistry, like the couples in Ali Hazelwood’s Problematic Summer Romance or Yulin Kuang’s How to End a Love Story.

Romantasy & Magical Realism

In romantasy, I’m seeking accessible, compelling worlds that pull readers in without requiring an encyclopedia to understand them. Epic quests, tragic bargains, star-crossed lovers…I’ll take it all so long as the romance remains central. The tension and chemistry between the leads are what should anchor the story, even amidst magic, adventure, or high stakes, as in V.E. Schwab’s The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue

Across Both

On both sides of my list, I’m drawn to imperfect good guys and redeemable villains, found families, enemies or friends to lovers, fake relationships, forced proximity, grumpy/sunshine, unlikely pairings, and rivals.

I am not a fit for…

• Manic pixie dream girls
• Significant age gaps or abusive power dynamics
• Gratuitous violence or gore
• Fantasies so complex they require a lengthy appendix or advanced degree to understand the love story
• Contrived, saccharine “Hallmark” romances
• Most sports romance, unless the sport is secondary to the central plot

Submission Guidelines

Please submit via QueryTracker. Include a brief pitch that captures the hook of your premise, along with a short plot summary and a few thoughtful comps (books, TV, or film). If you don’t have strong comps, it’s okay to skip them—please don’t force weak ones.

Indicate whether you’ve been previously published (traditionally or self-published), and feel free to share a couple of lines about yourself.

Please attach the first chapter of your manuscript as a double-spaced PDF.