Valeria Solano
Romance & Young Adult
Writes warm, sharply funny romance and young adult fiction about ambition and first devotion.
Literary Agent
James Sarah
Builds book-club and upmarket commercial lists, with a particular love of romance that earns its ending.
About
James Sarah joined Gracewell after seven years as a commissioning editor, where she learned to spot the novel that a reader finishes at two in the morning and then presses on a friend.
She represents upmarket commercial and literary fiction, romance across heat levels, and young adult novels with a strong emotional engine. She is a hands-on editorial agent: expect line notes, structural letters, and honest conversation about positioning before a manuscript goes out.
What I’m Looking For
- Romance with real obstacles and a hard-won ending
- Book-club fiction about friendship, ambition, and money
- Historical fiction set between 1890 and 1975
- Young adult contemporary with a distinctive narrator
What I’m Not Looking For
- Horror, splatterpunk, or graphic true crime
- Hard science fiction and military fiction
- Nonfiction proposals
Representative Interests
- Second-chance and slow-burn romance
- Sisters, rivals, and inherited businesses
- Small towns with long memories
- Novels with a strong sense of work and craft
Featured Authors
Represented by James
Featured Books
Selected titles
Sweet Ruin
Valeria Solano
Romance
A pastry chef with one failed restaurant and a critic with one unforgivable review are given six weeks to save the same struggling bakery. Neither of them intends to fall in love on a deadline.
The Sky Beneath Us
Valeria Solano
Young Adult
Two teenagers meet on a rooftop the summer their neighbourhood is sold out from under them, and spend ninety nights mapping constellations over a city that is already changing.
Ready to query James?
Review the wishlist above, prepare your materials, and submit directly.