TITLE: as if stars
AUTHOR: layla noor
GENRE: literary, dual-POV ****contemporary romance
AGE: adult (18+)
STATUS: final revisions complete
⛸️ 🕸️ 🖤 📃 🏹 🎵 🤍 ✒️ 🌨️ 🌌 🎧
SYNOPSIS
elise finds peace in her art. drawing & painting seem to be the only things that keep her grief at bay. haunted by the house she grew up in and desperate for a fresh start, elise moves across the country for college to pursue her dream of studying art. but when chasing that dream leaves her feeling like she’s not enough after endless criticism from her professor, her art becomes something that haunts her too. so with nothing left to lose, she turns to figure skating lessons, a sport she’s long admired but never tried.
mae finds freedom on the ice. she’s dedicated her entire life to the sport, only to lose everything in a devastating fall at nationals. with her promising image as “the future of american figure skating” tainted, and fueled by her abusive mother’s expectations of perfection, mae will chase redemption at any cost. getting some extra time on the ice by helping teach her rink’s beginner figure skating lessons couldn’t hurt either.
as mae & elise’s friendship slowly gives way to a desire neither of them can escape, the ghosts carry threaten to tear them apart. no longer able to outrun their pasts & secrets, elise begins to need her art more than ever & mae struggles to remember what she loved about skating in the first place. both girls must face the truths they’re running from—or risk losing themselves, and each other.
❝ and mae was a wretched thing. a lonely, moonlit creature, hopelessly in love with heaven in the shape of a girl.❞
TROPES & THEMES
first love ∙ grief ∙ found family ∙ mutual pining ∙ forced proximity ∙ slowburn ∙ hurt / comfort ∙ only one bed ∙ yearning ∙ wound dressing ∙ mental illness & trauma ∙ coming of age ∙ dysfunctional families
TAGS
bipoc, sapphic, figure skating, art, college
PERFECT FOR FANS OF
CONTACT
for formal inquiries i can be reached at [email protected]. for all other messages please contact me through my twitter or instagram. i'll be sure to get back to you as soon as possible. thank you! ❦
