Press & Media
Everything journalists, podcasters, booktubers, and reviewers need to cover Drafted.EXE. For interviews, ARCs, or quote permission, contact tashamarietaylor@gmail.com.
// QUICK FACTS
// LOGLINE
"An emotionally isolated 18-year-old downloads a writing app that starts predicting her life — and the people who notice her first might be the most dangerous thing about it."
// SHORT SYNOPSIS (75 words)
Lyra Duvall doesn't expect the strange writing app on her phone to feel like the first thing that's ever truly seen her. Then its predictions start coming true. As three magnetic boys and one impossibly perfect one orbit closer, Lyra has to decide whether the app is protecting her — or rewriting her. Drafted.EXE: It Begins is dark academia psychological suspense for readers who like their romance with surveillance, obsession, and a body count.
// LONG SYNOPSIS
Eighteen-year-old Lyra Duvall has perfected the art of being invisible — until a writing app appears on her phone with no install record, no permissions request, and a single prompt: "Tell me what you're afraid of." What starts as a journaling experiment turns predictive. Conversations the app drafts at 2 a.m. happen out loud the next day. A warning she dismisses leaves someone bleeding. And four very different boys — Elias the golden boy, Kael the reckless one, Joon the quiet one, Adrian the dangerous one — start treating her like she matters in ways the app saw coming first. As reality begins folding around her, Lyra has to figure out what the app actually is: a tool, a trap, or something that has decided she belongs to it. Drafted.EXE: It Begins is the first in a four-book series exploring loneliness, obsession, and what people will ignore to feel chosen.
// AUTHOR
Tasha Lachut
Tasha Lachut writes psychological suspense and dark romance with the emotional precision of a true-crime obsessive and the atmosphere of a rainy October. Drafted.EXE: It Begins is the first novel in her four-book series about loneliness, obsession, and the small moments where people choose to ignore the warning.
She lives in upstate New York, drinks too much coffee, and is unsettlingly fond of her own villains.
// INTERVIEW TALKING POINTS
- How dating apps, predictive AI, and parasocial intimacy inspired The System.
- Writing a 'why-choose' romance where the love interests double as warning signs.
- Dark academia as horror: why rainy New England campuses keep working.
- Building tension without supernatural elements — the horror of being known too well.
- Why each of the four books is a different stage of an emotionally abusive relationship.
- Designing reader-interactive elements: the in-world app, dossiers, and trust tests.
// EARLY PRAISE
★★★★★"Absolutely phenomenal. The mystery and intensity had me gripping my seat. Eerie in the best possible way."
— GOODREADS, 4.8★ AVG
★★★★★"I couldn't stop reading. The concept is incredibly unique and the tension is unreal."
— GOODREADS, 4.8★ AVG
★★★★★"I need Book 2 immediately. This book gave me trust issues — in the best way."
— GOODREADS, 4.8★ AVG
★★★★★"Every time I thought I understood what was happening, I was wrong."
— GOODREADS, 4.8★ AVG
// LINKS
Booking, ARCs, and interview requests
tashamarietaylor@gmail.comRESPONSE WITHIN 48 HOURS