Amanda Sellet gives us something to say “oui” about...plus a book giveaway

We're pleased to welcome Amanda Sellet to CLC today to celebrate the publication of her latest rom-com, My Best French Wedding. We've featured some of her books in the past and are glad we got a chance to chat with her this time. Her answers to our questions were enjoyable to read and we hope you will like them too. Thanks to St. Martin's Press, we have FIVE copies to give away!

Amanda Sellet is a former journalist and the author of rom-coms for teens and adults, including By the Book, which Booklist described in a starred review as, “impossible to read without laughing out loud.” She loves old movies, baked goods, and embarrassing her teen daughter. Visit Amanda at her website and on Instagram.

Synopsis:

Will it be l’amour the merrier or too haute to handle when rival reporters with a tangled history compete to tell the story of the year at a ritzy destination wedding?

Once upon a time, Walter was Hildy’s favorite person—until he crushed her teenage dreams. A decade later, she has a new beloved: the magazine she built from the ground up. Unfortunately, getting rid of Walter isn’t as easy as shedding her romantic illusions. He’s always around, vying for the juiciest scoops on the elite wedding circuit and provoking her into public displays that don’t scream “mature and sophisticated media maven.”

When Hildy scores exclusive access to the wedding of the season—a week-long parade of luxury in southern France—it’s a chance for her magazine to finally make its mark. Except Walter isn’t sitting at home crying; he’s right there in France, trying to steal Hildy’s story. Again.

Now it’s a head-to-head battle to see whose coverage will make it to print. The problem? Between the champagne and the chateaux, it’s easy to lose sight of the prize. Hildy knows better than to believe in fairy tales, but Walter is doing his best to convince her they could have a part deux.

In this gender-flipped twist on His Girl Friday, Hildy has seven days to prove she is totally over it, living her best life, and definitely not hung up on the past . . . or Walter.

“Sellet is one of the wittiest writers out there.”

―Dahlia Adler, author of Soon by You

“A joyful escape, a loving tribute to a fabulous film, and a perfect fit for armchair travellers who enjoy a lot of push in their push-and-pull love stories, and a lot of “com” in their rom-coms.”

―Jacqueline Firkins, author of The Goode Girls of Maple Lane

“Amanda Sellet is a comic genius.”

―Megan Bannen, author of The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy

What is a favorite compliment you've received on your writing?
When I was still working for a newspaper full-time, I wrote a story about one of the top restaurants in Chicago. A few days after it ran, I got a call from the very famous chef’s personal assistant, asking me to hold, and then the chef himself got on the line to thank me. He told me that no one had ever written about his food so well, and since he and his restaurants had been featured in media outlets all over the world, that was thrilling to my early career self. Plus I care deeply about food, so I loved the idea that my words might have been able to bring that sublime meal to life for readers. 

How is Hildy similar to or different from you?

On the surface, Hildy is a bold and confident extrovert who acts first, whereas I am much more likely to lurk in the background making snarky comments and second-guessing myself—though I did give her some of my insecurities to balance the bravado. Nor do I share her economic privilege, to put it mildly; my background is closer to Walter’s in that respect. 

Where Hildy and I align most closely is probably our career ambitions. Writing books is a quieter lifestyle than running a magazine, but both pursuits demand a level of persistence that can appear borderline delusional from the outside. You gotta want it, as my middle brother likes to say. 

If My Best French Wedding was made into a movie, who would you cast in the leading roles?
For Hildy, I’d go with someone curly-haired who has enough of an edge to handle the rapid-fire dialogue, so maybe Zendaya or Odessa A’zion. And for Walter, I think Andrew Garfield has the right slightly shy vibe, and his hair is also on point. 

Which book made you fall in love with reading?
As a very early reader, I couldn’t get enough of Greek mythology and fairy tales and the Arabian Nights, but if we’re talking books in the strictest sense rather than collections of stories it was probably somewhere between The Light Princess by George MacDonald, The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley, whichever Madeleine L’Engle I read first, and Anne McCaffrey’s Dragonriders of Pern series. The years between second and fifth grade may have been my peak reading era!  

If your life was a TV series, which celebrity would you want to narrate it?

Emma Thompson would be my first choice, though Tina Fey might be more fitting. 

If we were to visit you right now, what are some places you would take us to see?
The first stop would be my local indie, The Raven Book Store, to meet the majestic resident cats, Sammy and Dean, and do a little shopping. Assuming you aren’t gluten-averse, we would follow that up with a Tour de Beurre, as I have dubbed my self-guided downtown bakery crawl. Bougie donuts, a twice-baked croissant, homemade pie—there are so many options, depending on your tastes (and your tolerance for buttery pastries). Plus we might run into a few local author friends and join them for a beverage and a chat, which is one of my other favorite treats.  

Thanks to Amanda for visiting with us and to St. Martin's Press for sharing her book with our readers.

How to win: Use KingSumo to enter the giveaway. If you have trouble using KingSumo on our blog, enter the giveaway here. If you are still having issues, please contact us.

Giveaway ends August 17th at midnight EST.

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