Christina Lopez
St. Martin's Press
My Manuscript Wish List®
What I’m Looking For
I’m actively acquiring adult, YA, and new adult commercial fiction with heart, voice, and emotional impact. I’m especially drawn to stories that feel like a Taylor Swift song—dramatic, relatable, and unforgettable. My taste spans women’s fiction, romance, fantasy, and historical fiction, and leans commercial with upmarket or literary elements.
I almost always fall in love with voice first, but I’m especially excited by stories that drop you straight into the action—where you feel like you’re catching up as a reader in the best way. I love that sense of urgency, immediacy, and momentum, as long as it’s anchored in emotional truth.
Across all age categories, I’m drawn to character-first stories that center emotional journeys, layered relationships, identity, and joy—especially for women and people from underrepresented backgrounds. My genre taste is consistent across YA and NA, with a particular soft spot for stories with magic, grounded speculative frameworks, and that searching, hopeful energy of becoming.
 Highlights of What I Love:Â
★ Women’s Fiction & Book Club Fiction
- Voicey, emotionally layered protagonists (Happy Place, Adelaide)
- Light speculative or magical elements (The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue)
- Mother/daughter stories & multi-generational family dynamics
- Found family, or stories about building home in people instead of places
- Latinx and underrepresented characters (I’m from a border town in Texas!)
- Romantic subplot (In Five Years)
★ Rom-Coms & Contemporary Romance
- Smart, voice-driven love stories with emotional depth
- Fresh takes on beloved tropes
- Commercial rom-coms with upmarket hooks (think Katherine Center)
- Diverse casts, sharp dialogue, and clever retellings (Devil Wears Prada reimagining, but Latinx!)
★ Fantasy & Speculative Fiction
- Big commercial fantasy with romantic threads (Fourth Wing)
- Superpowered, morally complex characters (Vicious by V.E. Schwab)
- Intuitive worldbuilding grounded in emotion
- Time travel / alternate realities (The Midnight Library, Oona Out of Order)
- Light speculative or magical realism with voice and heart
★ Historical Fiction
- Dual timelines (The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, The Last House on the Street)
- Overlooked moments, reimagined women’s perspectives
- Strong female leads and atmospheric writing
- Stories that challenge what we know to be true
★ Upmarket YA / New Adult Crossover
- Emotionally charged coming-of-age stories
- Voicey, character-driven narratives
- Fantasy or speculative hooks with depth and heart
- Themes of identity, reinvention, friendship, and hope
★ Select Nonfiction
- Pop culture & nostalgia (reality TV, Disney Channel era, early 2000s)
- Narrative memoirs in the vein of Everything I Know About Love
- Stories about identity, womanhood, and intersectionality
Bonus Points For:
✓ Morally gray protagonists
✓ A strong sense of place
✓ Diverse characters finding joy
✓ Books that capture the bigness of emotion in the everyday
Not the Best Fit For:
✗ Sci-fi
✗ Horror
✗ Animal-focused stories
✗ War-centered narratives
✗ Westerns
About Me:
I currently assist Jen Enderlin, President & Publisher of St. Martin’s Press, and work closely with bestselling authors like Kristin Hannah, Katherine Center, Heather Morris, Diane Chamberlain, Sally Hepworth, and Greer Hendricks & Sarah Pekkanen.
Submission Guidelines
Submissions should be emailed to christina.lopez@stmartins.com
I’m only taking agented submissions. Please send manuscript or proposal to ch*************@*******ns.com.
Vital Info
Favorite sub-genres:
#ownvoices, Adult, Adult Rom Com, Adult Romantasy, Book Club, Books about books, Category Romance, Classic retellings with BIPOC characters, Commercial Women's Fiction, Commercial YA, Commercial adult fiction, Commercial and Literary, Complicated Relationships, Contemporary Romance, Contemporary YA, Diversity, Feminism, Historical Fiction, Magical Realism, Multicultural, Psychological Thrillers, Romantic Comedy, Romantic Drama, Shakespeare Retellings, Smart Beach Reads, Speculative Fiction, Steamy RomComs, Time Travel, Time Travel Romance, Underrepresented Voices, Upmarket Commercial Fiction, Upmarket Fiction, Upmarket Women's Fiction, Upmarket YA, Urban Fantasy, Women's Fiction, Women's Issues, YA Contemporary, YA Contemporary Romance, YA Contemporary Romance with layers, YA Crossover, YA Fantasy, YA Historical Fantasy, YA Rom-Coms, YA RomCom, YA Romance, YA Romantasy, YA fantasy/light sci-fi, YA rom com, Young Adult, Young Adult Fiction (Historical Fiction only), advice, alternate history, book club fiction, classic retellings, coming of age, commercial, commerical, commerical women's fiction, non-Western historical fiction, romantic New Adult, romantic fantasy, romantic suspense/mystery, small-town romance, stories that don't fit neatly into a genre, sweet romance, traditional fantasy, upmarket/book club with female protagonist, writing publishing
I’d like the next…
Jane the Virgin in book form, Katherine Center, Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo
I really want a book that is inspired by Taylor Swift’s Betty, August, and Cardigan love triangle.
My favorites include…
Books
- Happy People by Emily Henry
- Fourth Wing by Rebecca Ross
- Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman
- Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
- In Five Years by Rebecca Serle
- The Bodyguard by Katherine Center
- How to Fall Out of Love Madly by Jana Casale
- Normal People by Sally Rooney
- Oona Out of Order by Margarita Montimore
Movies
- Devil Wears PradaÂ
- How to Lose a Guy in 10 DaysÂ
- Crazy Rich Asians
- Silver Linings Playbook
- About Time (speculative elements)Â
- Crazy, Stupid Love
- Clueless
TV
- Jane the Virgin
- Scandal
- Gilmore Girls
- Once Upon a Time (seasons 1-4)
- Love Island
- The Bachelor
- FleabagÂ
- Succession
- Lost (especially the first season)
