The query letter

Dear ________:

How do you heal when more than your heart is broken?

The answer to this question makes An Everlasting Love a different kind of love story. Taylor Baxter is the youngest of four to a single mother, and her understanding of love between a man and a woman was distorted and dysfunctional at best. Looking for love was like looking for a peach tree when you have never seen a peach. Relationships are complicated for most of us but mix in a gaping wound caused by the rejection of the one man designed to love you, sexual abuse from a man paid to care for you, and a self image a little higher than Quasimodo and you have the perfect recipe for disaster.

In her own vice [sic] Taylor takes us on an intimate journey from a complicated adolescence to womanhood and self-awareness; pointing out the hard lessons she learned and hoping to impart a little wisdom along the way. In her search for what she thought was unconditional love and acceptance, she found something much greater than the poor, brown-skinned girl from West Lincoln Street could have ever imagined.

Taylor Baxter is a hard-hearted, hard-headed urban kid whose personal mantra is “I trust no one, including myself.” Taylor has been crippled by her fear of rejection and protects herself by living within a set of strict, self-imposed boundaries. The problem is the men who desire to be a part of her life keep crossing the lines. There is John, a childhood crush Taylor works to hate. Travis, her best friend who cares for her but has an ulterior motive. Carlos, a peculiar and slightly older man whose life is an irresistible mystery. Then there is the fourth man. …

An Everlasting Love is a work of literary fiction about the trials and errors experienced by Taylor Baxter, a young African-American girl, as she overcomes her past and out grows [sic] her hurts to encounter a love that truly heals.

Now a little about the author; my name is [Blank], and this is my first book. I have been published in the Chicken Soup series, Chicken Soup for the African-American Woman’s Soul. I have a degree in English literature and music minor. I also have several unpublished short stories, plays and skits. Writing is not my passion, but rather my purpose. My hope is that this book will formally launch my career as a serious writer. I chose An Everlasting Love as my first book, because although its [sic] fiction, Taylor’s clumsy and at times comical story is close to my heart. I feel like there is someone else out there who needs to learn how to let go of fear long enough to live.

[Name withheld]