I had the opportunity to meet and room with Amanda Berry last year during Georgia’s Moonlight and Magnolias Conference. I liked her immediately. She’s the kind of person who is super sweet and always seems to have a smile upon her face. When her debut book, L.A. Cinderella, came out, I rushed to the store to purchase it and was not disappointed. I read it in one day; I couldn’t put it down! Join me in welcoming Amanda to the blog!

Can you tell us about your debut release?


L.A. Cinderella
. I’m so excited about this book. Natalie and Chase were a lot of fun to write.

Career-driven accountant Natalie Collins wasn’t the type to wish for a Hollywood hero to rescue her. She preferred life away from celebrity glitz. Too bad the man who drove her wild was an A-list actor.

With her understated beauty and brains, Natalie was the one person Chase Booker could trust. He could see the strong, sexy woman beneath her shy exterior, and she stirred a blinding passion in him that made it easy to forget that they were from different worlds. But when she was in his arms, their worlds were dangerously close to colliding….

Your plot is really a universal fantasy; the idea of a hot, famous actor falling for a “normal” girl. Who is your favorite actor?

Okay, it’s no secret that I love James McAvoy. He had me when he opened his mouth on the red carpet and that sexy Scottish accent came rolling off his tongue. That and the guy totally rocked the tuxedo. Have you seen Wanted? If not at least google Wanted and James McAvoy for the picture. *sigh*

Did you always want to be a writer? And how long did it take for you to get published after you wrote that first book?

I’ve wanted to be a writer since I was a little girl. I wasn’t a big reader until Jr. High, but I wanted to write before then. I always figured I needed to get some experience behind me before I could write well. A lot of the decisions, stupid and smart, that I made along the way were for the experience. I’d started lots of stories but didn’t actually finish my first story until 2007. But I’d been learning about writing and plotting and critiquing for years before that. 2 years and 3 finished books later and I published that 3rd complete MS.

Tell us about your call story.

I wrote L.A. Cinderella during NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) and finished it a few days later. I’d put it to the side for revisions until a friend of mine mentioned that a contest was low on Category Romance entries. I entered and ended up winning the 2009 Marlene and a request from the final judge. After sending in the full, I tried to put it out of my mind since Harlequin in notorious for long response times. I was pleasantly surprised when my editor called three months later to make an offer on my book. I was in shock the rest of the day and the rest of the weekend.

What do you do when you’re not writing? Any hobbies?

Does collecting books count? Or is that just hoarding? LOL I taught myself to knit with a book when I was 9, but haven’t done much lately. I love TV and movies, but for some reason those don’t count as hobbies. I’m really looking forward to being able to exercise more, but writing does tend to consume me.

Where can we find you on the web?

My website is www.amanda-berry.com. I love the design and try to keep up as much as possible on my blog which is accessible from my website.

What’s next for you?

I’m currently working on revisions to the next book I sent in to my editor. Unfortunately some of the premise was too farfetched for her. But fortunately I think I’m making a stronger book with the revisions. The premise is another actor who is very much a ladies’ man and a gossip columnist who works at the equivalent of the Enquirer. It’s been fun to write and hopefully Silhouette will buy it. If not, I’ve still got a few more tricks up my sleeve, including Robert’s story from L.A. Cinderella.

A special thanks to Amanda for joining us. Leave a comment and tell us who your favorite actor is! One person will win a copy of L.A. Cinderella.