3.5 rounded to 4 stars
Cute, but predictable. Mandy is preparing for her wedding on the wedding day. As she awaits the ceremony, she thinks back on her life with her best friend, Isa, and her fiancé, Edmund. Mandy and Isa did everything together, and when they separated for college, it was heartbreak for both of them. They didn't see each other for a long period of time and it was hurtful. However, they still supported each other, and although Isa and Mandy dated others, their friendship was strong. Now, on Mandy's wedding day, she reflects on her past relationships, her relationship with Isa and her family, with Edmund, and other boys/men, and if, on this day, everything will work out.
I did suspect the ending, but not exactly how it would come about.

I absolutely loved this debut queer romance featuring bisexual disaster Amanda Dean and her many failed love affairs. What made this story so unique is that it starts off on Amanda's wedding day but we don't find out who she's marrying until the very end of the book. Told through alternating timelines, this story jumps around from past to present and is as much a coming of age female friends to lovers story as a breakdown of Amanda's various major romantic relationships. Full of heart and heartbreak, this had so much emotional depth and nuance and I loved the narration by Victoria Villarreal.

Feeling a little torn on this one. On one hand, I loved the premise of the big wedding day, but not knowing for essentially the whole book who the lucky one in Amanda's love live was. But on the other hand, that also made this kind of hard to follow and I couldn't feel invested fully because it jumped around so much.

I also really wanted to love this because of the bi representation and

This book is so intriguing and it’s kind of magical and emotional at the same time. Amanda has reached her wedding day, but she can’t stop thinking about all her past loves. Majority of the book basically goes into all of Amanda‘s past relationships and we do see who she is going to be in love with at the end, but we don’t find out until the end of the book. It’s an intriguing premise and quite entertaining an emotional from start to finish.

I loved the premise of this one and I loved the representation of a bi character in a romance. Amanda or Mandy just so easily has relationships with both men and women and it isn't a big deal. What I had a little bit harder of a time with is I didn't connect with Amanda. I'm not sure if it was the doubt on her wedding day or all the I am always waiting for the shoe to drop or maybe we didn't get enough of her as the story flipped around, but I would have loved this one if I had connected with her.

This reminds me a little of Guy's Girl in it's premise. It starts out on Mandy's wedding day. Then each chapter flips back to either her childhood, one of her relationships that led her up to this point or more moments getting ready for her wedding. It's clever that we don't know who she is marrying but very quickly it became evident to me who it had to be. But every time it went to another of Amanda's loves, I did doubt who I choose. As the book flipped back and forth, it feels a little chaotic in the building of the story. As I write this it occurs to me that this could be why I didn't connect with her. It didn't feel like there was a rhyme or reason to where the story went. Maybe it was just me and I missed the connections.

But this one has one of my favorite quotes of the year. "It's funny how certain people have a way of sticking in your life. And it's funny that you never know which ones those would be. There are times when you couldn't picture your life without someone in it, but then they'd be gone. Things happened. You lost touch. You messed everything up. And then there were people like Aunt Mary who were always around when you didn't expect them to be." Doesn't this really sum up the people in your life?

Victoria Villarreal narrates this one and does a good job bringing all of Mandy's neuroses to life. Her voice fit with what I thought how Mandy would sound.

It's a little all over the place, but the premise and representation made this a worthy read.

REVIEW: The Seemingly Impossibly Love Life of Amanda Dean

In The Seemingly Impossible Love Life of Amanda Dean, Ann Rose explores love, identity, and the often tumultuous journey of self-discovery. The story follows Amanda, a relatable protagonist whose romantic escapades are humorous and heart-wrenching, making her journey resonate deeply with readers.

Rose's writing is witty and poignant, skillfully blending light-hearted moments with more serious themes. Amanda’s character is well-developed, and her struggles with love are authentically depicted. The narrative is rich with relatable scenarios, exploring the complexities of relationships in a way that feels fresh yet familiar.

The supporting characters add depth to the story, each bringing their quirks and challenges that enhance Amanda’s journey. The friendships and rivalries she navigates are portrayed with nuance, contributing to the overall richness of the narrative.

While the story engages, the pacing sometimes lags, particularly in the middle sections. Some plot twists may feel slightly predictable, but Rose’s strong character development keeps the narrative engaging and compelling.

Overall, The Seemingly Impossible Love Life of Amanda Dean is an enjoyable read that balances humor and heart. Ann Rose has crafted a delightful story that will resonate with anyone who has ever faced the challenges of love and self-acceptance. It's a perfect pick for fans of contemporary romance looking for a heartfelt and entertaining escape.

Thank you, Netgalley and Berkley Publishing Group | Berkley, for the free advanced copy for my honest review!

**Many thanks to Berkley and Ann Rose for an ARC of this book!**

"If I know what love is, it is because of you." - Herman Hesse

Amanda Dean has finally made it to the Big Day...but is she heading toward yet ANOTHER Big Disaster?

You see, Amanda has never exactly been lucky in love. She calls herself a 'bi disaster', as she has moved from boyfriend to girlfriend and back again over the years, but has never felt quite certain if she's found 'the one.' She has tried to keep her focus on her fledgling art career, but she's had so few constants in her life...aside from her closest friend Marisa (or Isa, as she calls her). But even this relationship has had its ups and downs (to say the least) with the pair being at times incredibly close, not speaking, and back again...and trust me, it's enough to give anybody whiplash!

But as troubles mount on the wedding day to her mystery love (we are not let in on WHO her betrothed is until nearly the end of the book), will the day she's been dreaming about for years lead her to the Happily Ever After she's not even sure she deserves? WHO was the love to break through the noise and confusion, stand by her side, and take this giant risk for a chance at wedded bliss? Or will Amanda's propensity to ruin everything she touches when it comes to matters of the heart take what should be the happiest day of her life...and cement it as the worst?

First off, it was INCREDIBLY difficult to write a synopsis for this book without giving anything away. So much of the plot revolves around the love of Amanda's life, but telling you who that is in any shape or form (or even alluding to it!) completely spoils the book. The premise, however, is fairly simple, in that we essentially spend the 300+ pages of this book revisiting Amanda Dean's love life (a la "This is Your Life"), and trying to determine who the lucky person is that completely stole her heart. This would be fine, and even sounds fun in theory....but there is one tiny (okay, GIANT) problem with all of this.

This book is ALL OVER The Place...more so than ANY time travel or time hopping book I have EVER read...and after a while, the headache just didn't feel worth it.

We literally visit Amanda in no less than 5 or 10 different years in her life (after a while, I stopped attempting to keep track), and not only did this give the book a painfully disjointed feeling, I could not feel grounded for more than 5 minutes while reading. I had no idea how old Amanda was at any given moment, what grade she was in, what friends she was or wasn't speaking to, or even keep track of the long list of 'who's who' from her dating pool. Not only was this frustrating, but it put such roadblocks in the way of character development not knowing when or where we were at any given moment, and somehow this also managed to slow the pace down too, to the point where it took me SEVERAL days longer than it should have to finish the book...and unfortunately, it isn't because I was savoring every moment.

That isn't to say this was all bad by any stretch: Amanda is an interesting character, and I did feel very drawn to wanting to know what happened with several of the relationships in question...I just felt stonewalled by the disastrous book structure. To be honest, once you know who the 'central' love is, you'll wish that the book had sort of clearly focused on this relationship and left so much of the extraneous detail provided to keep everything a mystery out entirely: this just wasn't needed to make it a decent read. There was more than enough content and potential for a deep dive into the intricacies of the relationships explored here without the added layer of "can you guess?" throughout. (And again, no spoilers, but this one is very YA in its ending as well...if you DON'T predict it, you probably fell asleep somewhere along the way!) To top it all off, since so much of this book is focused on Amanda's younger years AND the author comes to the NA world from YA...plenty of these sections read exactly like YA, so if this is a no-go for you as a reader, I would also give it a pass.

And after finishing this book, the only thing that was 'seemingly impossible' to me was a lot less the very predictable HEA of Amanda Dean...but instead finding a cure for my aforementioned (and lingering) headache.

3 stars

Huge thank you @berkleypub and @netgalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.
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Amanda’s strongest asset is the way she falls in love. From the cover this may look like a cute wedding rom com but it’s so much more. It’s a story about opening yourself up to love and finding yourself along the way!

This was a unique and creative storytelling structure, with each chapter jumping around among Mandy’s love interests and time periods randomly. It was disjointed, but it had something of a thematic momentum that made me willing to go along for the ride.

I knew very early on where the end was going, which was OK, but I didn’t like how it resolved. The twist at the end felt abrupt. I went back in the story to figure out why I thought she was marrying Edmund, and I realized it was two different anecdotes about food during her getting-ready process: Edmund’s thoughts on orange juice and Edmund sneaking kale into her smoothie. It was also weird that she was never shown thinking about Isa during the wedding day except a quick mention right at the beginning. I get what the author was trying to do with it, but it didn’t quite work for me.

I also didn’t really know what Mandy wanted. She seemed kind of aimless other than wanting to be with Isa.

Other than those challenges, I liked the characters and the setting. The plot was interesting enough to keep me reading. The relationship between Isa and Mandy was sweet.

Thank you to the publisher - I received a complimentary eARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

A Romance Book that Keeps You Guessing

While it's cliche to say you know how a romance novel ends by reading the first chapter (or sometimes just looking at the cover), that definitely can't be said about THE SEEMINGLY IMPOSSIBLE LOVE LIFE OF AMANDA DEAN. Right up until the end, I never knew what the next chapter would reveal. the nonlinear timeline only heightened this effect since I didn't know what decade we would be in next, never mind what was going to happen!
I will say though that some of this unpredictability was at the cost of believability. Without getting into spoilers, the last few chapters had a lot of very quick (and I would say unearned) changes of heart that led to it all tasting of deus ex machina.

2.5 stars. Thank you to Berkley for the free book. Unfortunately this was pretty mid for me. I'm so down for a bi disaster but when we are first introduced to the main character I just didn't feel very interested in her. And I had a sinking feeling in my gut on the rest of the book being entirely about her life story (hence the title). I just felt so apathetic. And I agree with other reviews that the chapter time jumps are confusing because they are only listed by year and not age, I don't read romance to do mental math it was pretty disorienting. By the end it was sweet and satisfying but the romance didn't feel well won, it just was.

This book was not on my radar, but I’m so happy it was included in the Berkley Besties selection this season. I really enjoyed it! The book opens on Amanda’s wedding day and things just aren’t going right. As the disasters seem to pile up, Amanda reflects on the ups and downs of her past relationships that brought her here.

I loved how the novel opened on Amanda’s wedding day, but we don’t see who she ends up marrying until the very end. The main focus may be on Amanda’s romantic relationships, but I also loved the friendships and the family love that is explored. I loved her friendship with Isa and how hee family became a second one to Amanda. The only thing that took away from my enjoyment was just how frequently the story jumped around. I loved the idea of it, but it was just too frequent. There were moments where I had to stop and get my bearings as to who Amanda was dating/what was happening in the given year. That took me out of the story a bit.

Thank you to Berkley and NetGalley for a review copy. I will definitely read from this author again in the future.

This was a unique romance with great queer representation. The book jumps around in time a lot to show you the path of Amanda Dean’s love life. It was a little hard to follow at times as characters or situations would be shown before they were explained but near the end when it came together it all made sense. I’m still not positive it was the best way to tell a story, but I did like that it was unique. In some ways it broke the rom-com rules because you don’t go through the problem that tears the lovers apart you get to skip those parts and get to the end. Amanda Dean, or Mandy, is an artist who is about to get married. As she gets ready in between calls about bumps for the day she reminisces about her past and thinks of all of the people she has loved and how she got to be where she is today. It was a sweet story with a predictable but satisfying ending. Overall I gave it 3.5 stars rounded up for the creative way the story was told.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for an early copy in exchange for an honest review.
I definitely had fun with this one, and especially appreciated the "bi-disaster" representation (it feels good to be seen). I loved the structure- starting on the wedding day and moving backwards through past loves and breakups- and have not seen it before, so that was a fun touch.

Finding out who Amanda ends up with at the end made the book feel like a little scavenger hunt of sorts, picking up pieces of the puzzle as you read, and I absolutely loved the ending.

Overall, this is a fun, quick read that explores the complexities, trials, and realities of love in an honest and beautiful way, and I think that readers are going to really enjoy it!

4.5

I really enjoyed this one! Going in, I had no idea what to expect. I kinda just had it and the premise of a wild love life and honestly being in chaos just sounded fun - so I picked it up... Then suddenly... I read it all. In a day... HOW?! No clue, but that just goes to show how easy to read and entertaining it was.

This book follows Amanda Dean (obviously?) as she navigates her relationships. She always thought she was unlucky in love and we get to follow different times in her life and relationships that led her to think that way. From the highs of romance starting and the lows of how they ended.

The reality and rawness of this book was so real! Amanda was very relatable and while she proclaimed herself to be "a self-proclaimed bi disaster", I feel like everyone will be able to see a little bit of themselves in her.

Watching Amanda grow up and mature throughout her different relationships was so much fun! The balance of all the emotions were so well done. I loved the storytelling and how the author got you to love Amanda and all the side characters as well. Even the platonic relationships that Amanda forms throughout her life was so important.

I loved that there were lessons in every relationship. You always left the relationship learning a little more about Amanda and seeing how she became the woman on her wedding day. I couldn't stop rooting for Amanda to find the happiness she deserved - even when she felt like she didn't deserve it.

I genuinely couldn't put this book down and it was so easy to read! I was nervous with the jumping of timelines that it would've been hard to follow but I didn't feel that way at all. I always knew where we were and who we were with. The format going between timelines also just made sense.

Overall, I very much enjoyed this one!

felt extremely mid. self described chaos bisexual who is not chaotic at all? very predictable slice of life, not a bad read but just quite forgettable.

It's Amanda Dean's wedding day, but who is waiting for her at the altar? Is this going to be her happily ever after?

Amanda loves being in love. But it seems her heart gets broken almost every time. As she makes her way to her wedding, we get flashbacks of her relationships that lead to this moment. For me, the back and forth non-linear timeline was a bit distracting, and it made it hard to get into the story. But the story was told we'll enough that I did find myself interested in the outcome and was rooting for Amanda, even when she occasionally got in my nerve. It is a novel about love but also about family, friendship, and finding oneself.

I received, read, and reviewed an advanced copy from netgalley and the publisher.

I don’t know how to feel about this book. I have a lot of mixed feelings because I didn’t like the changing timelines. It often took me out of the story where I had to do math to figure out how old she was or even what state/country she was in. I didn’t mind not knowing who she was marrying until I got to 50% in and it was still not revealed. I think it would’ve been better had everything not been a mystery. Plus this “thing” she does to Isa isn’t revealed until almost 80%?! That’s way too long. This is a contemporary romance, not a murder mystery. Had this story been told in order, I think I would have given it 5 stars. The writing and storyline was great, but the stuff I mentioned just wasn’t for me.

Thank you to Berkley Romance for the free book and to PRH Audio for the complimentary audiobook. These opinions are my own.

This romance is such a unique format. We first meet Amanda Dean on her wedding day, as she is wondering whether this love will truly stick. But she never mentions who the love interest is. From there, we skip through different times in her life and different love interests. As we go, we learn a lot about her and guess who she will marry.

I found I really needed to pay attention to the dates at the start of each chapter and to focus. Otherwise, I wasn't able to follow the chronology and know which relationships ended when. I was especially pleased that the tracks in the audiobook included the dates in the title, as they facilitated my reading.

I really liked Mandy and loved seeing how she grew over the years. I quickly determined who I wanted the love interest to be and how I wanted the story to end. And I especially loved that she was bisexual, and both female and male love interests seemed to have equally plausible chances at a long-term relationship.

I think this book is great for people like me who are especially interested in the character aspects of romances. It's quite a unique format and one that I enjoyed. I found it contemplative and fascinating.

Victoria Villarreal did an excellent job narrating throughout the audiobook.

CW: death of a loved one

In the Seemingly Impossible Love Life of Amanda Dean, we are privy to the rollercoaster love life of a woman, Amanda Dean. The book starts in present day getting ready for her wedding (without knowing to whom) and then flip flops all around a crazy timeline to explain how she got there. Childhood best friends, crushes, first loves, bad boyfriends, acceptance and love, all of it is detailed in a sweet, romcom way. Including a stint in Europe where she desperately misses the Mexican food from her home in Southern California. This was just a very entertaining, heartwarming story about finding true love and finding yourself along the way. About being true to yourself