What is the title of your latest release?
REALITY BITES
What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?
A no-nonsense scientist is forced to go through her living hell – be a contestant on a trashy reality dating show - to save an endangered species.
How did you decide where your book was going to take place?
I lived in Los Angeles for 15 years where I worked as a TV writer, so I wanted to write a love/hate letter to the City of Angels.
Would you hang out with your heroine in real life?
Yes, because I also love animals and like to geek out on science, but Grace would probably only want to hang out with me after her character arc. I’d probably be too “extra” for her at the start of the book.
What are three words that describe your hero?
Selfless, Underdog, Sardonic
What’s something you learned while writing this book?
I interviewed a biologist and toured a nature center as research and learned a lot about the world of animal conservation. It was fascinating and made me want to support it even more.
Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done?
Because I’m often working on several things at once (movies, TV and books), I sometimes lose track of where I was so I always ‘read in’ and refresh my memory. I’ll go back a chapter and edit as I go. It’s a fun surprise to find what I’ve written and have completely forgotten about.
What’s your favorite foodie indulgence?
I love a board! I don’t like to cook or bake but I love curating a charcuterie or snack board, especially if there’s a theme and wine involved. My favorite was the “Hocus Pocus” themed one where I crafted the Sanderson sisters from cheese, veggies and fruit.
Describe your writing space/office!
When I write from home, I get too distracted with laundry and my geriatric dogs, so instead, I overstay my welcome at my local coffee shops and restaurants. Luckily, they still make me feel welcome. It’s like “Cheers” when I walk in and everyone says, “Hi Amy!” I’ve even named characters after some of my favorite baristas and gave them a shout out in my acknowledgements.
Who is an author you admire?
There are too many to list! I’m in three book clubs and read at least two books a week so I’m such a fan of so many authors. Also coming from Hollywood where it’s cut-throat and competitive, it’s been refreshing and inspiring to see how supportive authors are of each other.
Some of my influences in the romance space – Emily Henry, Ali Hazelwood, Lynn Painter, Christina Lauren, Sally Thorne, Katherine Center, Sarah Hogle, Ashely Poston, I could go on and on and on…
I also admire every fantasy and romantasy writer –the way you create worlds and magic systems while also keeping track of all those place names and character names – I’m beyond impressed!
And also my friend Paige Crutcher, who has a way with words that is so poetic and descriptive. This is a skill I admire and am working on. Coming from TV and film, I didn’t have to describe what people and places look like in scripts, so that’s been a fun new challenge.
Is there a book that changed your life?
The first book that inspired me to be a writer was my favorite book as a child. It’s called HOW FLETCHER WAS HATCHED by Harry Devlin and Wende Devlin. It’s about a dog that’s jealous of a cute new family pet. It clearly hit for me at the time my little sister was born. I remember copying it letter for letter on my mom’s typewriter and telling my parents I was an author because I wrote a book. (Plagiarism is cute when you’re 5. Not when you’re AI.)
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.
It was actually a huge surprise because my agent hadn’t submitted my book to Harper Perennial. We were waiting to hear back from an editor at another publisher, who was taking it to meeting, when Sophia, my current editor, reached out to my agency, Root Literary. Sophia was looking to add romance to her list and Root is is known for its romance author roster. My wonderful agent, Samantha sent her “Reality Bites,” Sophia read it that weekend and we had our first call a few days later. It was a kismet fantasy whirlwind that didn’t fully sink in until I held my ARC for the first time.
What’s your favorite genre to read?
I used to be much more varied in my genres but then during Covid, I needed guaranteed happily ever after’s, characters you want to root for and escapism. (I call it the “Ted Lasso effect”) So I got really into romance, rom-coms and romantasy - anything with a “rom” in it – and I haven’t turned back since.
What’s your favorite movie?
“When Harry Met Sally” - Enemies to friends to lovers with banter and chemistry from the Queen Nora Ephron – chef’s kiss!
What is your favorite season?
FALL!!! I am so basic for fall, especially Halloween. I have a group of friends called the Boo Crew (I had shirts made for them) who help me decorate. There are several different phases, from general fall décor in September until my house is the house Halloween threw up on by mid-October.
How do you like to celebrate your birthday?
Like most things I do, it’s usually over the top. One year I wrote a murder mystery and created characters for 30 of my closest friends. They all showed up in costumes and really committed. The “murder victim” was even found in a pool of fake blood. For my 40th, I had an epic 80s dance party complete with a flashmob, costume contest and musical performances. As I answer this, I realize I force my friends to wear costumes a lot…but honestly the best present anyone could give me is being a part of my shenanigans.
This year, my book comes out the week before my birthday, so I’ll happily spend it traveling to bookstores doing fun book events. Who knows, maybe I’ll even wear a costume.
What’s a recent tv show/movie/book/podcast you highly recommend?
It’s not a new show but keeping with the reality TV theme of my book, I’ve recently gotten back into Master Chef Junior because my 8-year-old daughter is obsessed with it. It’s been so fun watching it with her because after every episode she’s inspired to cook or bake for us. I also love seeing how she roots for the contestants and hypes them up: “Mom! She’s only 8-years-old and she just made a perfect beef wellington! Can you believe it?”
What’s your favorite type of cuisine?
3-way tie between Greek, Vietnamese and Indian
What do you do when you have free time?
I like to do arts and crafts with my daughter, see live music with my husband, take aerial yoga (it’s so fun pretending you’re in cirque du soleil) and host game nights with friends.
What can readers expect from you next?
Putting the com in more rom-com novels. I also have a rom-com movie in development at Netflix as well as some action-comedy movies at various stages of development. Like with “Reality Bites”, my hope is to give readers and viewers a fun break from reality.
Narrator: Christine Lakin
A Novel
A wickedly funny debut romcom in which a young scientist reluctantly becomes a contestant on a reality TV dating show to save her lab—and realizes her secrets are threatened when romance unexpectedly finds her behind the scenes.
Grace Lambert’s entire family are all influencers. Her mom runs an HGTV-like Instagram, her dad operates a Yoga for Men Youtube channel, and her brothers are famous on Tiktok and Twitch. Grace, however, is a scientist devoted to saving the Southern Mountain yellow-legged frogs from extinction, who has never had social media.
When her mom signs her up for a dating show with a cult-like following, Grace hangs up on their lawyer, Andrew, immediately. She has no interest in reality TV—until her lab loses its funding, and her coworkers learn about not only the show’s worldwide viewership . . . but the cash prize.
Arriving on set, Grace immediately feels like a frog out of water. She doesn’t know how to mug for the cameras, make effortless small talk with the contestants, or watch her tongue in an interview—making her a constant thorn in Andrew’s side.
The more time Grace spends competing in challenges, unexpectedly flirting with contestants, and making Andrew’s life a living hell, the more she realizes that being there for the wrong reason and keeping it secret might be trickier than she thought—not to mention just how much trouble an illicit, off-screen romance can bring.
Romance Suspense | Romance Contemporary [ Harper Perennial, On Sale: May 12, 2026, Paperback / e-Book / audiobook, ISBN: 9780063475656 / eISBN: 9780063475663 ]
Amy Mass began her career in New York City, writing those “Can you hear me now?” Verizon commercials, before moving to Los Angeles where she wrote TV comedies for 12 years, including hit shows like Last Man Standing and The Goldbergs. During the pandemic, she moved to rural Georgia, where as a City Girl in a Small Town, she obviously had to write romance novels and romcom movies. While she’s on her third writing career, she’s still in her first marriage, despite her husband’s questionable sports teams allegiances. She has two rescue mutts and an eight-year-old daughter who is the funniest one in the family by far. When not writing, Amy can be found hanging upside down in aerial yoga, dressing in team costumes for trivia night, or pressuring her family and friends into flash mobs and theme parties.
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