The Edge of Brilliance

Category: Young Adult

Dear Writer’s Voice,

In a modern day world where the people are governed by an absolute monarchy, Nora is a fifteen-year-old duchess from Maderia, just one powerful country among the kingdoms of Halcyire, a broken continent of five lands. Nora happily lives in the shadow of her older sister but when their uncle is crowned king and his ambitions become apparent, Nora’s sister plays the runaway princess and flees an arranged marriage. To prevent the disintegration of a long held alliance, Nora is forced to clean up the mess her sister left behind and marry her best-friend’s brother, the King of Riviere, thousands of miles away.

Told from Nora’s perspective and those who surround her, THE EDGE OF BRILLIANCE is a 78,000-word novel of YA Urban Fantasy. In viewpoints that converge and divide Nora finds that being married off isn’t the worst of her problems when her new husband announces his plans to attack the West, an unsettled landmass on the other side of the world. Soon, her now brother-in-law enlists to fight in the coming war and Nora must realize her power and influence as her allies fall away from her. Left only with a husband she barely knows and an advisor whose loyalty could easily be questioned, Nora is stuck between servant and ruler as she defines her own meaning of Queen.

A stand-alone novel with series potential, THE EDGE OF BRILLIANCE combine’s Meg Cabot’s effort to delve into the mind of the adolescent psyche while challenging said teenagers with fates similar to those of the Tudors. Currently I am studying journalism at the University of Texas and looking forward to hearing from you.

Thanks so much for taking the time to consider my work.

Sincerely,

Katie Brown

First 250 Pages:

Nora

I

Nora was sure that soon glitter would fall from the sky, adorning and consuming everything below her. The dancing people, the tuxedoed waiters, the orchestra, so determined and fierce, they would all be covered in golden dust that matched the already glittering ballroom. She wouldn’t mind. The music would stop, as would the inane chatter, and perhaps this headache that she had now carried for the last twenty-four hours would disappear. But no, the splendor and the sparkle lay in the chandeliers that hung high above her and the jewels encrusted on everything from tiaras to cuff links.

Nora searched for a familiar face amongst the people milling about on the balcony behind her, grimacing at the sea of strangers. She thought about texting Charlie, her cousin, but she was sure that he was chasing some girl and god forbid she disturb that. After having arrived at the party with her sister, Violet had promptly been whisked away by some friends the moment they’d stepped into the ballroom and besides those two, the only people Nora knew were ones she had no desire to speak to. Tapping her emerald green nails against the bannister she leaned against, Nora stared down at the dignitaries who filled the floor below. She considered descending the stairs and joining the masses, but the reporters, with their flashing cameras and meaningless questions, made that scenario quite unlikely.

“My god, could you look anymore miserable?”

Relief flooded Nora as her sister appeared next to her, "Violet, thank god."