MENTOR:
Amy Buchanan (she/her)
CATEGORY:
New Adult, Adult
SUB GENRES:
Contemporary Romance, Rom Com, Fiction with strong romantic elements
BIO:
I am a contemporary romance author who, after decades of devouring love stories written by others, finally decided to share the ones pinging around in my brain. I write fun and spicy romances with relatable heroines, swoonworthy heroes, and loving found families.
I was a member of the SmoochPit 2022 class and am now represented by Jemiscoe Chambers-Black at Andrea Brown Literary Agency. My debut rom com, LET'S CALL A TRUCE, about a recently widowed single mom reentering the corporate world and her annoying (and attractive) workplace rival, will be published in early 2025 by St. Martin's Griffin.
I live in Central Florida with my three littles, two pups, and one husband. On top of writing, I use my Masters in Higher Education Administration to run a scholarship foundation for first-generation college students. When not working, I troll travel sites for luxury rentals outside of my travel budget and–poorly–train for half-marathons.
MSWL:
I love reading all kinds of romance, but for this program I’m specifically looking for contemporary romance and rom coms. That’s what I personally write and what I feel I could give the best feedback on. I’m also open to women’s fiction with strong romantic elements, but I need the romance to still be a large piece of the story to be fully bought in.
I’m drawn to authors like Abby Jimenez and Talia Hibbert, who cut serious topics with fresh comedic voices that make me laugh and cry! Feel free to send me all heat levels, though I personally write (and tend to read) open door romances. I love most tropes, with enemies to lovers and estranged friends to lovers holding a special place in my heart. I don't usually love Insta Love, but it's not a hard no if you read the rest of my MSWL and think we'd be a good fit. While I’m open to New Adult, I tend to be drawn to characters in their late-twenties/thirties who are more established. Some specific things I’d love to see in a manuscript (please don't think you have to match any or all of this! Just some ideas!) include:
- Single moms! We get all the single dads (and I love them too), but where’s the love for moms?
- Insight into a country and culture outside of the US (written by someone from within that culture)
- Travel/Road trip romances! The only thing I love more than reading is traveling, so combine my loves!
- Plus size female main characters
- Strong, supportive friend groups, especially between women
- Pining! Especially of the mutual variety, but I'll take any pining you want to throw at me
- Banter for days! Whether they hate or love each other, I want to see their best one-liners!
- A touch of angst. I don't usually love books that are really heavy on the angst, but a bit of it, especially at the end after a fun, lighthearted read is my kryptonite. I love a good third act conflict that doesn't pull punches!
I’m not the right fit for anything featuring sexual assault, child abuse, storylines with cancer as a major component, or the surprise pregnancy trope. No hate toward surprise babies. If you had three kids in four years, you wouldn't want to read about pregnancy, either!
MENTORING STYLE
I’m very friendly and open, and believe that pointing out the strengths of a manuscript is as important as providing constructive feedback. I love brainstorming on the big picture to help the writer come up with different paths for the characters to take.
I plan to use a combination of Zoom check ins, document notes, and texts/discord to keep a line of communication open with my mentee. I'd also like to help my mentee write up a querying plan and will happily toss around thoughts on different agents. I’m newly out of the querying and sub trenches, so I understand how overwhelming and exhausting it is. I want to be a part of my mentee’s support system as much as I want to provide feedback on their manuscript.