What is the title of your latest release?
THE ODDS OF GETTING EVEN
What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?
Opposites attract when a shy snake scientist falls hard and fast for a poker-playing artist in this twist on the classic screwball comedy The Lady Eve. What starts as a vacation romance turns into an ocean-hopping quest for revenge, culminating in a showdown at a Wild West-themed festival in the Black Hills of South Dakota. Celebrities, secrets, mistaken identities, and snakes are all on tap in this over-the-top farce about taking a gamble on love.
How did you decide where your book was going to take place?
For each of the three books in this loosely connected series, I wanted the setting to play a major role. The first was always going to take place in Hawaii, and I knew the third would be set in the south of France, but it took a little longer to decide where to situate the second half of Book 2. On a practical level, I was looking for a landscape I knew well enough to bring to life on the page, and western South Dakota was familiar to me from having lived there many years ago and continuing to visit my parents every year.
During a recent summer trip, I was struck by the Wild West/frontier vibes, which mirrored my main character’s adventurous personality. After I stopped by the home of some old friends in a beautiful secluded canyon with a trout stream running through it, I felt it click into place: this would be the model for my love interest’s family estate. And when I found out that Henry Fonda, star of The Lady Eve, had stayed in the very same spot while filming a movie in the area, it seemed like a sign from the universe that it was meant to be.
Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life?
Considering how much of her personality is based on my best friend of almost forty years, absolutely! We introverts, who get tangled up in our own thoughts, need someone like Jean to push us into action.
What are three words that describe your protagonist?
Bold, impetuous, unfiltered.
What’s something you learned while writing this book?
Much like my main character, I picked up just enough snake trivia to make off-color jokes. As a bonus, I got to explore the microbrewery scene in the Black Hills, as crucial background research for the love interest’s family business.
Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done?
I line edit (cleaning up smaller mistakes) as I go, but generally can’t see the big picture issues until I have a complete draft. For the last several books, that has meant writing an almost entirely new draft in the revision stage, though of course it’s easier once you know the characters and world to think of better ways to tell that story.
What’s your favorite foodie indulgence?
When I feel like I really deserve a treat—after hitting a big deadline, for example—the top options are malted milk balls and carrot cake.
Describe your writing space/office!
I am lucky enough to have a room of my own on the second floor of our house, with a desk that is almost large enough to accommodate my piles of clutter and a lounging cat. The view out the window is all leaves and branches, which makes it feel a bit like a treehouse. And if I roll my chair into the hall, I can squeeze in a yoga mat for those daily stretching sessions I am absolutely going to get back to any day now.
Who is an author you admire?
Megan Bannen, author of The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy, among other wonderful books. I admire Megan as an artist, because I have witnessed her process up close and am regularly floored by her dedication to research and asking the big questions and having an unwavering fidelity to her personal artistic vision—without ever sacrificing her sense of humor and creative experimentation. And I also admire her as a human being of uncommon grace and strength who is the kind of friend who makes your life better every day.
Is there a book that changed your life?
Robin McKinley’s The Hero and the Crown is one of the first books I remember giving me the feeling I’m always chasing when I read, of being utterly consumed by a story, where it’s so thrilling to be inside that world you can’t turn the pages fast enough, and you forget the real world so entirely it’s a rude awakening when you have to return to your mundane existence.
That is the kind of reading experience that made me want to become a writer. Even now, every time I read something that lights me up inside, I think: I hope I can conjure this feeling for someone else one day.
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.
A few summers ago, my stepdaughter and her boyfriend were visiting from Paris. We had just gotten into the car to take them to the best burger joint in town, to kick off their American holiday in style, when I got an email from an editor who was reading the first book in this series. She’d only had it a few days, and I am definitely someone who likes to shield herself from disappointment by assuming the worst, so when I opened that message and saw glowing excitement instead of the expected rejection, I was floating with happiness.
Being with my family, and already on our way to a celebratory meal, made it that much more special. I kept sneaking glances at my phone to re-read the email, after carefully wiping off the grease from the truffle fries!
What’s your favorite genre to read?
For pure escapism, I adore a good urban fantasy. Throw a little magic and mystery into the real world and I’m hooked.
What’s your favorite movie?
I spent a lot of years watching a lot of movies, especially while getting my M.A. in Cinema Studies at NYU. I’ve loved many of them, but for my favorite, I still default to the great love of my youth: The Empire Strikes Back. Adventure! Epic stakes! And of course, romance! Luke’s side quest is a minor distraction compared to the crackling banter between Han and Leia, as in this iconic exchange:
“I happen to like nice men.”
“I’m nice men.”
What is your favorite season?
I’ve always felt like a fall person. It gives me a little thrill even on this hot summer morning thinking about that first snap in the air, all things apple and butternut squash, and of course the gorgeous colors. I still have a weakness for dressing in shades of flame orange and rust and yellow, even though I am no longer a brunette.
How do you like to celebrate your birthday?
I am a fairly low-maintenance person the other 355 days a year, but I like to make birthdays special. Pastries and presents for breakfast, lunch with friends, phone calls from family, an old movie in the afternoon, and a meal I didn’t cook in the evening, followed by champagne and carrot cake. Light the candles and sing the song! It’s worth it.
What’s a recent tv show/movie/book/podcast you highly recommend?
I just finished reading Detective Aunty by Uzma Jalaluddin, and it was a great time. Her take on the cozy mystery delivered all the best elements of the genre: a vivid sense of place and community; deeper layers of family relationships interwoven with the criminal investigation; a hint of romance; and best of all, the utter plausibility of Kausar Khan, a recent widow who has never worked outside the home, playing detective.
And for my fellow fans of slice-of-life mysteries, I also loved Elise Bryant’s It’s Elementary and am excited for the sequel!
What’s your favorite type of cuisine?
I’m going to have to say French, out of loyalty to my husband—and also because we ate at a lovely new bistro in our smallish town last night, and the duck confit was divine.
What do you do when you have free time?
I try to catch up with people, in person if they live nearby, or by writing a long newsy email. It’s so easy to blink and realize a year has gone by without seeing someone you care about, but there’s no substitute for chatting with a friend face-to-face.
I also read more and differently, but I never really stop reading at least for a few minutes before I fall asleep, even when I’m facing a crushing deadline, so that’s more like business as usual.
What can readers expect from you next?
I have two books coming out in 2026, which is a first for me! The April release is FLIRTING WITH MURDER, a lighthearted and romantic YA mystery. Then in July, the follow-up to THE ODDS OF GETTING EVEN comes out. We’re still settling on a title, but it will most likely contain a pun related to the French language and/or marriage, since the story takes place at an exclusive destination wedding in the south of France. Hopefully the busyness of next year will distract me from the fact that I am about to become an empty nester!
THE ODDS OF GETTING EVEN by Amanda Sellet
A Novel
A fling with a mysterious stranger leads to a rollicking adventure in the wilds of South Dakota in this madcap and romantic follow-up to Amanda Sellet’s Hate to Fake it to You.
The last thing reluctant resort employee Jean Harrington expected to find on a middle-of-the-night towel run was a bashful scientist in desperate need of company . . . and clothes. Charmed by his awkwardness and endearing tangents about reptiles, she returns the next day to give the handsome mystery guest she knows only as “Charlie” lessons in poker.
He’s reserved and she’s chaotic, but together, the two of them just click. It’s like a honeymoon without the hassle of a wedding, until Jean discovers there’s a lot more to Charlie’s story than shyness and snakes—and she isn’t the only person with a pressing interest in his whereabouts, not to mention his secretly scandalous dating history.
When Charlie has the audacity to abandon her without a word, Jean has a score to settle. She’ll do whatever it takes to get him back—no, get back at him—even if it means chasing him across an ocean to brave the wild west of his remote hometown, and the famous family business he neglected to mention. With flames from their pasts raising the stakes, Jean is gambling she can get the upper hand before Charlie calls her bluff.
The real trick will be remembering what they’re playing for, when the biggest risk is putting all their cards on the table.
Humor | Romance Comedy [St. Martin’s Griffin, On Sale: July 15, 2025, Trade Paperback / e-Book , ISBN: 9781250906274 / eISBN: 9781250906281]
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About Amanda Sellet
Debut author Amanda Sellet had a previous career in journalism, during which she wrote book reviews for The Washington Post, personal essays for NPR, and music and movie coverage for VH1. She has an M.A. in Cinema Studies from NYU and spent a year in England as au pair to an actress who has played in her share of period dramas. These days she lives in Kansas with her archaeologist husband and their daughter.
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