1--What is the title of your latest release?
THE SEEMINGLY IMPOSSIBLE LOVE LIFE OF AMANDA DEAN
2--What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?
Schitt’s Creek meets Love Rosie – The Seemingly Impossible Love Life of Amanda Dean is a queer love story told in a series of flashbacks, starting from the self-described bi-disaster’s wedding day, and moving back and forth in time through her past relationships as our heroine discovers herself and readers discover who finally won her heart.
It’s a contemporary novel full of queer characters where their queerness is never an issue—not because this is historically accurate but because this is the world I hope for.
3--How did you decide where your book was going to take place?
The simple answer is all my books are set in California. I was born there, grew up there, and it’s where my heart is. Sending Mandy to London to study abroad was challenging, as I’ve never been there myself and I do hope to one day get the chance to go.
4--Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life?
Of course I would. We’d get margaritas and chips and salsa and probably bum around a street fair somewhere and buy matching bracelets. Mandy is 100% my kind of girl.
5--What are three words that describe your protagonist?
Loyal, Creative, and a fucking disaster
(If “fucking” is not allowed, go with total disaster)
6--What’s something you learned while writing this book?
That I can plot! No, but seriously, this is the first book I really sat down and had a solid plan about the entire plot before I started writing it and I hate to tell all the pantsers out there—it does make the writing process so much easier.
7--Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done?
I’m an edit as I go girl. I can’t do the thing where you {put something in brackets} to come back later to fix. I have to get it down the first time, which means I can fall down some serious rabbit holes and spend a lot of time on something that could just get cut later, but I can’t not do it.
8--What’s your favorite foodie indulgence?
Dessert! Give me the ice cream, the dark chocolate, the tiramisu, the creme Brulé, all the sweet and delicious things. Cheese! It should be its own food group. Chips! I love crunchy salty things. (Sorry I couldn’t pick just one.)
9--Describe your writing space/office!
I get my best writing done in my car in carline! I can’t explain it but with no wi-fi and no one around I have the best focus and can get the words out better than anywhere else! On some weekends, I’ve even thought about just sitting in a parking lot somewhere to write. I haven’t done it yet, but I can feel it coming.
10--Who is an author you admire?
I admire the authors who never stop chasing their dream. The ones who get pushed down and rise up again because they can’t not write. I admire the authors who take risks and sometimes they succeed and sometimes they don’t. By the ones who have characters constantly talking to them in their heads and a notebook full of ideas that they will probably never get the chance to explore. And finally I admire authors who love and support other authors no matter where that other author is at in their career.
11--Is there a book that changed your life?
I’m not sure I’d say this book changed my life but this book does have a special memory attached to it. When I was moving from Florida to Texas, my teenaged (at the time) niece joined us on the trip and along the way she read out loud City of Bones by Cassandra Clare. We had been having our own little “book club” for a while where she would tell me the books she was reading and wanted to talk about and I would read them—and this memory of being on the road and her narrating the story will forever live in my head and heart.
12--Tell us about when you got “the call.” (when you found out your book was going to be published)/Or, for indie authors, when you decided to self-publish.
I was in carline—because as a mom we practically live in that space during the school year (plus, see my answer above about where I write), and my agent texted me to ask if I could chat, which of course I responded: sure. It’s funny because she told me that Esi wanted my book (this being my wonderful editor Esi Sogah) and I practically fell out of my car. “Esi from Berkley?” I said. “Oh, that’s right she is at Berkley now,” Eva responded. Because Esi had recently switched imprints and we both laughed and cried together, and it was just incredible!
13--What’s your favorite genre to read?
This is tough because I do enjoy a lot of different books, but I think I will say that the ones that I really end up loving the most are the ones that are grounded in the “real world.” Meaning they may have a little magic or a speculative twist but they for the most part are grounded in reality. I have a tricky time with epic fantasies and science fiction. Mass respect for the authors who can write those things because I’m not sure if it’s something I could tackle. All the world building and creating rules etc.
14--What’s your favorite movie?
Oh I cannot pick just one. So here is a list of movies that I could watch endlessly on repeat.
Ever After
Just Like Heaven
Ms. Potter
Hidden Figures
The Addams Family
Meet the Robinsons
The Mitchels Vs the Machines
The Intern
Mr. Right
Okay I will stop now.
15--What is your favorite season?
Fall! Give me cozy sweaters, and hot apple cider, and Hallmark movies, and warm blankets. Not that we get much of this in the south, but a girl can dream.
16--How do you like to celebrate your birthday?
Ice cream cake!
17--What’s a recent tv show/movie/book/podcast you highly recommend?
For anyone who knows me, they will know I will say, Call the Midwife. I am obsessed with this show and have it on endlessly at home. I love how it’s a story of women supporting women, and it deals with women’s issues (and so many of those we are still dealing with today). I honestly think it should be required viewing for everyone! Also The Good Place. It’s perfection.
18--What’s your favorite type of cuisine?
I cannot pick just one. I love Mexican, and Indian, and Italian, and Mediterranean, and Cuban, and just feed me all the things! I really enjoy trying foods I’ve never had before so if anyone has recommendations hit me up! My love language is sending people Instagram posts about awesome food in the area they live in.
19--What do you do when you have free time?
I’m sorry, what is this “free time” you speak of?
20--What can readers expect from you next?
My second book is with my editor, and while we haven’t nailed down the perfect title for it just yet, it’s got fall, magical vibes, bi-for-bi romance, cemetery picnics, and in true Ann fashion humor with some (hopefully) unexpected things thrown in (wink emoji).
It’s her wedding day and it’ll be the happiest day of her life…won’t it?
Amanda Dean would say she's an okay artist and a loyal friend, but what she’s best at is falling in love. A self-proclaimed bi disaster who has had her heart broken more times than she cares to count, Amanda can’t help opening herself up. As she gets ready on the day she's waited a lifetime for, memories of her past loves run through her mind, with one glaring red sign blinking above them—is this “the one”?
Will it be:
the fit water polo player,
the fashionista,
the dependable hedge fund manager,
or the one where the timing was never quite right.
Now, on the day of her wedding—a day where everything already seems to be going wrong—Mandy must decide if she’s willing to risk it all one last time or if she’ll escape while her whole heart is still intact.
Equal parts heartwarming and bittersweet, The Seemingly Impossible Love Life of Amanda Dean expertly weaves the wonder and terror of falling in love into a beautifully crafted story about the joy that can be found when you’re willing to dust yourself off and try again.
Romance [Berkley, On Sale: September 17, 2024, Trade Paperback / e-Book, ISBN: 9780593815953 / eISBN: 9780593815960]
Ann Rose is a typical Taurus—loyal but stubborn, which means being an author is perfect. While asking the private group chat for ideas on what to include in this bio, Ann was reminded that some of her greatest qualities are her awesome best friends from high school—a fact she couldn’t argue with. She loves dark chocolate, sarcasm, her family, tacos, and her cats—obviously not in that order. Ann also writes young adult novels under the pen name A.M. Rose.
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