The Seemingly Impossible Love Life of Amanda Dean

Starred review from July 15, 2024
As bisexual painter Amanda “Mandy” Dean’s wedding approaches, disaster after disaster looms in the poignant adult debut from YA author Rose (Breakout). Mandy’s life unfolds in a series of flashbacks that break up the frantic wedding prep, each focusing on her relationship struggles from junior high through adulthood and leaving readers guessing who will be awaiting her at the altar. There’s Brandon, with his dimples and fickle heart; V, with her artistic soul and tendency to cheat; and the single-mindedly focused Edmund. Through all the romantic turmoil, the one constant is Isa, Mandy’s best friend since kindergarten. The pair weather it all together, including family conflicts and broken hearts. Readers are treated to an intimate, vulnerable portrait of a complicated woman who is trying to apply all she’s learned into building a life with someone. The joys of living are laid bare alongside such challenges as coming to recognize that one’s parents are imperfect and fallible. The result is equal parts heartbreaking and heartwarming. Agent: Eva Scalzo, Speilburg Literary.

August 1, 2024
It's Mandy Dean's wedding day, and she's terrified. Everything seems to be going wrong. It's raining; her makeup is a mess; and she's not even sure she believes that love is for her. She's great at falling in love (despite being a self-described bisexual disaster); it's staying in love that eludes her. Then the narrative jumps back to 1998, and her middle-school crush whom she caught kissing another girl on a Ferris wheel. Then, in 2002, her homecoming date, V, admits to cheating on her. In 2009, she has a one-night stand with a water polo player, but somehow they're still together. As the narrative ping-pongs between the present and various points in the past, the one constant is Isa, Mandy's best friend who becomes something more. Except in between high-school graduation and Mandy's gap year in England, something happens that tears them apart. And which of Mandy's past disasters is she marrying in the present? The unique structure makes Rose's charming adult debut stand out, and readers will fall for bighearted Mandy and her messy love life.

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