You Just Have to Ask Me

How far would you go to obtain your heart’s desire? A jilted bride finds her darkest impulses incarnated in this haunting, unforgettable horror debut.

When Hana’s groom abandons her at the altar for his ex-girlfriend, Poppy, Hana cannot bear the humiliation. Fleeing alone into the unfamiliar Australian outback where she was meant to spend her honeymoon, a familiar voice calls out to her, offering a soft shoulder to cry on and a tantalizing promise of revenge.

Poppy, meanwhile, got everything she wanted. She won the man she loves back, undoing the breakup she always regretted. So what if she had to lie? He chose her. If only she could forget the look on his bride’s face. The guilt haunts her, and as her life unravels, Poppy can’t shake the sense that she’s being punished—almost like something else is haunting her, too. 

Entwined in their grief, shame, and desire, the two women struggle to reclaim what they once called theirs. But they’ve both made their choices, and as their futures look increasingly damned, it becomes clear: Revenge always comes with a price.

• “Hadeer Elsbai takes left-at-the-altar-on-wedding-day anxieties and ratchets the tension up until it's nearly unbearable. The characters are emotionally believable and morally complex, placing the reader in a squirmy position of not knowing who (or what) to root for, which is what the best fiction does. You Just Have to Ask Me dares ask the questions we might be afraid to answer.”
  Paul Tremblay, New York Times bestselling author of Horror Movie: A Novel and Dead But Dreaming of Electric Sheep
• “Grabbed me from page one and locked me in until the final punctuation mark. Nightmarish, unhinged, and expertly paced. With You Just Have to Ask Me, Elsbai instantly becomes my next favorite auto-buy author. I can’t wait to see what she comes up with next.”
  Marcus Kliewer, New York Times bestselling author of We Used to Live Here
• “Chillingly intimate. You Just Have to Ask Me cuts close to the bone, asking what happens when the righteous revenge fantasy is no longer safely impossible. I read this book in a single night.”
  Shannon Chakraborty, New York Times bestselling author of The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi
• “Elsbai has written a very compelling novella, instantly captivating. You have no choice but to read it in one sitting, so delicious and gothic is the premise!”
  Yah Yah Scholfield, author of On Sundays She Picked Flowers