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Journey Into Romance
A Is for Amy follows a widowed mother of three who stumbles back into romance, desire, and selfhood through a chaotic alphabet of flirtation, exhaustion, and second chances, discovering that opening your heart again is both ridiculous and necessary. What was the inspiration for your story?
I wrote this novella when my two youngest children were under 3. Though I loved being a parent, I felt my prior self was completely submerged in the care of my kids. So, I decided to write something quick with a big heart, something for grown-ups to explore. A journey into romance grounded in the real-world of parenting young kids. I wanted to capture the economy and directness of short fiction with the ability to follow the significant development of a main character that comes with the novel.
The novella never treats motherhood as separate from desire. Why was it important to keep those parts of Amy’s identity intertwined?
She is a whole person. Her sexuality is a part of this wholeness. Her loss and suffering have affected how she perceives herself and her life. Her negativity at the beginning can be reductive and limiting. Sexuality is one way we can awaken to our true spirit. Amy is awakening in this novella.
The idea of Amy naming her life one piece at a time: Attraction, Baby Bartlette, Freedom, and Nutella, gives the structure emotional meaning. Did those specific entries arrive early, or did they accumulate through drafting?
Those are names that I choose, not Amy. Amy would see them as part of the ebb and flow of her life. They are details, not necessarily stages. They are on the cover to engage the reader. I see the cover as the beginning of the book, the beginning of the adventure for the reader. These words are welcome, mystery, and invitation. A tease if you like.
The alphabet format also makes the book look like a children’s picture book from the outside. Was that visual misdirection intentional — and what do you want a reader to feel when they open it and discover what’s actually inside?
Yes, the cover is deliberately deceptive. So parents, grandparents, and any caregivers can read the book incognito as they care for the children. The deception is clearly stated on the back cover. The inside design is quite different, too. It is for grownups. Like the story. I wanted the reading experience to be a refuge for the reader. A world grounded in the reality of parenting, but free from it at the same time. This is a book for the person every parent was before they were a parent. A place to laugh and cry and engage with a compelling character – to celebrate and suffer with her. To read not for a child, but for themselves. I hope the readers feel at their ease as they journey. My goal is to delight them.
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Amy Dellaconta Franklin is an independent mother of 3 kids under 5. Her life is often exhausting and isolating. Then, one day, love comes knocking at her front door.
Amy is a sassy, charming, yet lonely young widow who unexpectedly finds herself on the path of finding love again. Surprises overturn expectations at nearly every turn in this novella, which tells the story of how a life that seemed trapped in the too-hard basket became a voyage of romantic discovery.
A is for Amy tells it fast, straight and funny. From negativity to bliss. With no fluff and no wasted words.
Do you like reading but never seem to have enough space to start (or finish) a book? Each chapter in this romancecan be enjoyed in the time it takes to drink a good cup of coffee.
This is a great gift for parents or parents-to-be. It looks like an alphabet book for children. But inside, it’s a romantic adventure for grown-ups with a surprise ending that will touch your heart.
A is for Amy
A Is for Amy by Steven Crandell is a romantic comedy novella about Amy, a young widowed mother of three trying to find her way back into desire, confidence, and choice after grief, betrayal, and exhaustion have narrowed her life. The story follows her alphabetically through encounters with Charlie, an alluring ex-milkman with his own wounds, and Quentin, a gentler surprise who eventually becomes the more grounded romantic possibility. It’s funny, messy, and deliberately intimate, a romance that is less about being rescued than about remembering that wanting something is allowed.
I really liked the voice. It’s sharp, playful, and sometimes outrageous, but underneath the jokes there is real loneliness. Amy’s thoughts move the way a tired parent’s mind moves, bouncing from breast-feeding to unpaid bills to sex to self-help books to the weird emotional weather of being seen again. I liked that the humor doesn’t polish her life into something cute. It lets the house be chaotic. It lets grief be ugly. It lets motherhood be loving and boring and gross and sacred, sometimes all on the same page.
Crandell makes a bold choice with the alphabet structure, and I think it works because the book itself feels like Amy trying to name her life one piece at a time. Attraction. Baby Bartlette. Freedom. Nutella. Yes. The structure gives the novella a quick, bright rhythm, almost like flipping through snapshots. I did sometimes feel the comedy pushed hard, especially with Bart and some of the broader side characters, but even then, the excess seems tied to Amy’s way of surviving. She turns pain into punchlines because otherwise the pain would just sit there, heavy and unmoving.
As a romantic comedy novella, A Is for Amy will probably appeal most to readers who like love stories with bite, warmth, and a little domestic chaos. I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys character-driven romance, especially stories about second chances after loss. This book has sass, it has crumbs on the floor, kids at the door, and a heart that keeps choosing to open.
Pages: 95 | ASIN : B0GL9VKNXS
