What is the title of your latest release?
EIGHT WAYS TO SAY I LOVE YOU
What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?
Two childhood friends realize they’re meant for each other over eight years of Hanukkah parties.
How did you decide where your book was going to take place?
My previous books have all taken place in the city, but I wanted this one to take place in the suburbs, where I grew up, so that writing it would feel like going home for the holidays.
Would you hang out with your heroine in real life?
The book takes place over eight years – at the beginning she’s kind of judgmental and shallow, ambitious to a fault, but by the end she’s matured and those traits have mellowed out. So yes, I’d want to hang out with the later version of her!
What are three words that describe your hero?
Kind, steady, curious.
What’s something you learned while writing this book?
It was my first time writing a book with multiple points of view! It was challenging but fun.
Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done?
I have to wait until I’m totally done or else I’d never finish.
What’s your favorite foodie indulgence?
One of my hobbies is making homemade ice cream. My favorites this year have been chocolate ice cream with chopped Mallomars mixed in and honey-lavender ice cream made with lavender from our yard.
Describe your writing space/office!
It’s just a desk in the corner of my bedroom – not very exciting. Usually, I end up writing downstairs on the couch before my kids wake up anyway.
Who is an author you admire?
Too many to name, but I especially admire authors who are able to pivot between genres and age groups, like V.E. Schwab.
Is there a book that changed your life?
Is it too cheesy to say my own book? LOVE YOU A LATKE, my last Amanda Elliot book, hit the USA Today bestseller list, was featured multiple times in The New York Times, and really changed the trajectory of my career.
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.
This is my fourth book with Berkley, and I was so happy that they wanted to keep working with me!
What’s your favorite genre to read?
I read everything, honestly. My favorite changes day by day and is usually whatever I’m in the mood for – sometimes I feel like learning something in a heavy nonfiction book, sometimes I feel like crying at the beauty of the prose in someone’s literary prizewinner, and sometimes I’m sad and just feel like a happy romance or cozy fantasy.
What’s your favorite movie?
I watch a lot of kids’ movies these days with my daughter, and have really enjoyed getting to experience all the Disney princess movies again through her eyes.
What is your favorite season?
I’m a basic white girl and I love the fall! Bring on the sweaters, pumpkin spice, and Halloween décor.
How do you like to celebrate your birthday?
I’m not really a birthday person – it just reminds me of my own mortality, and I also don’t love being the center of attention. I usually prefer just ordering takeout sushi (the fancy special rolls that I can’t justify spending the money on for an ordinary night) and having my husband surprise me with a dessert.
What’s a recent tv show/movie/book/podcast you highly recommend?
Re: TV, I am so not a horror person (giant chicken here), but I loved Widow’s Bay – the perfect combination of humor and heart along with the horror. Re: books, I’m so enjoying WELL VERSED, the fifth and final Ren Faire romance from Jen DeLuca. I’ve spent so many years with these characters at this point and am going to miss them all.
What’s your favorite type of cuisine?
I can’t think of any that I dislike, but when I get to choose the takeout or the restaurant, it’s usually Japanese, Thai, or Vietnamese food.
What do you do when you have free time?
I have a 3-year-old and a baby – what is this thing you call free time? In the spare bits of time I can snatch when I’m not taking care of them or working, I like to read, go for runs, or go for a stationary bike ride.
What can readers expect from you next?
I’m working on my next book with Berkley, a time slip romance called THIS TIME, IT’S YOU. It follows two college exes who bump into each other on the subway and make awkward small talk, each counting the seconds until the train stops and they can flee, only to discover at the next stop that the train’s jumped forward ten years in time and the only thing that hasn’t changed around them is each other. It should be out in Spring 2028!
EIGHT WAYS TO SAY I LOVE YOU by Amanda Elliot
A spark of attraction burns brighter each year between childhood friends in this sweeping Hanukkah romance by USA Today bestselling author Amanda Elliot.
This Hanukkah, Shira Levinson is returning home to New Jersey riding the high of achieving major milestones. Though she only just graduated from college, she’s got her dream job and a perfect Los Angeles apartment—an actual miracle in the city of dreams.
Life has not been quite as kind to Leo David. Not only did he fail out of college, he was forced to move in with his estranged dad, who he still hates for cheating on his mom years ago. The only silver lining? Getting to see Shira, his childhood friend (and crush, though he’ll never tell her that) while she’s home for her family’s holiday party.
But that’s just the beginning. Over the next eight years, Shira’s and Leo’s lives spin them in all sorts of directions as they grow and change, taking them places they never imagined going. Sometimes those paths take them farther away from each other, and other times closer together. If they can only time it right, they might uncover a love that burns forever.
Romance Contemporary | Romance Holiday [ Berkley, On Sale: October 27, 2026, Paperback / e-Book / audiobook, ISBN: 9798217189618 / eISBN: 9798217189625 ]
Buy EIGHT WAYS TO SAY I LOVE YOU: Amazon.com | Kindle | BN.com | Apple Books | Kobo | Google Play | Books-A-Million | Indie BookShops | Libro.fm | Audible | Walmart.com | Amazon CA | Amazon UK | Amazon DE | Amazon FR
About Amanda Elliot
Bellamy Rose bio: Bellamy Rose has never solved an actual murder. When she’s not writing about them, she spends her time trying to taste every cuisine in the world, befriending all the animals she meets, and publishing non-murdery rom-coms as USA TODAY bestselling author Amanda Elliot. She lives with her family in New Jersey.
Amanda Elliot bio: USA Today bestselling author Amanda Elliot lives with her family in New Jersey, where she experiments with homemade ice cream flavors, tries her best to grow vegetables in her tiny garden, and writes mysteries under the name Bellamy Rose.
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