Independent Press Award
2024 winner
Red as Blood: A YA Romantic Suspense Mystery Novel
Sorboni Banerjee and Dominique Richardson
Riverdale meets fairytale in this edgy, seductive twist on the age-old stories you think you know.
When Penny Zale vanishes from the psychiatric hospital where she’s being held against her will, only her chopped-off braid and cryptic letters remain. If her friends Raven, Aarya, Dawn, and Elle have any chance of finding Penny, they must enter a world where money and power mean everything, and life is expendable.
The lies that built their town of Everbeach run deep, and someone is willing to do anything to keep them hidden. The girls believe Penny’s letters point to her ex, big sugar heir Logan Steele. When Raven tries to get close to Logan to gather information, she finds herself fighting a dangerous attraction to the magnetic billionaire.
Everything begins to unravel when Aarya discovers Raven has been keeping secrets. Raven’s painful past of anxiety and addiction causes her to spiral, and everyone, including Raven herself, starts to question her version of reality. As threats and attacks ramp up against the friends, they must decipher what happened to Penny before they’re the next to disappear.