Last November, my heart was pinched and bruised by a member o’ boykind – I got angry, I did A LOT of crying, punched a few pillows, ate A LOT of chocolate and for a while, really thought my life would never, ever be the same again.

Amanda Cole’s adorable illustrated grown-up girl fairy tale, I hate Cinderella is told from a mix of personal heartache and her best girlie friends’ heartache stories.  It’s not a ‘boo-to-boys’ book, far from it, it’s quite possibly the prettiest, lovliest story with the most beautiful illustrations that will support you through the heart-break process and shows you that there’s hope, and that you can love again.

And she’s right. I am in love again.
With life.
I met a cute Italian-o in Paris on New Years Eve who reminded me to fill my life with magic moments, I’ve had amazingly awesome times with my bee-you-tiful friends and I’ve got the best job in the world – um…what’s not to love about that, right?

Meet the amazing Amanda, read about how awesome she is, then buy her book – yep, in that order.

What is it you do exactly, Amanda – care to share?
I work as a Marketing Account manager working on designing and making covermounts- the free items on the magazines. Plus I run my own Photography company- www.amandacolephotography.com.au and market ( PR) my book www.ihatecinderella.com

I was so excited to receive my copy of I hate Cinderella – it’s bee-you-tiful, like a modern fairy-tale for grown up girls – what inspired you to write it?
I fell asleep on a plane on the way to a  meeting, and had the dream that became the book. It was an amazing bubble of a dream that was given to me in my sleep as I flew to Melbourne VIC. I have always thought it would be brilliant to write a book to share with my younger siblings, and friends so that they never felt the full brunt of a break-up. Once I had the dream, I had told my housemate and she said to write it out, so I went and bought a gorgeous felted aqua notebook and wrote the whole thing over the course of the next month on the bus on the way to work.

You’ve self-published I hate Cinderella – can you tell us why you made that decision? Did you approach publishers or was it a conscious decision to go it alone?
I had bought a book on all the publishing houses in Australia and I carried it around with me, flicking through it and getting annoyed that they asked for all this information from me. I held on to it for a week and then had lunch with one of my besties and she asked me what the hold up was, and I said I should just self publish—and then she agreed. From that I found my editor, printer and all the rest come together so easily.

It’s such a great way to deal with the not-so great subject of break-up – I love how it’s got a real feeling of hope about it, have you had your heart broken, Amanda and how did you deal?
Yes, I’ve certainly had my share of heartbreaks and given them, it is the most atrocious feeling of emptiness and my solutions to myself was really to do as Lucy did in the book, making tea, catching up with friends lots, taking long baths, eating chocolate, re writing old memories, listening to completely different music, and saying ‘yes’ to every random offer of entertainment, whether it be a football match with your guy friends, or any after hours work functions or BBQs with people you wouldn’t normally hang out with. Meeting new people is a wonderful balm as you see your strength to put on a brave face and also to meet new friends. I think the best solution really is to fall in love with yourself and treat yourself to everything you deserve.

What tunes would be on a I Hate Cinderella soundtrack?
1. Ben Zemanek – I hate Cinderella ( specially written for the book by my good friend)
2. Jeff Buckley – The Last Goodbye
3. U2 – Beautiful Day
4. Lady Ga Ga – Just Dance
5. Cyndi Lauper – Girls Just Wanna Have Fun
6. Bianca Chen – Something Great
7. Ruby for Lucy – Standing in line
8. James Blunt – Goodbye My Lover
9. Fergie – Big Girls Don’t Cry
10. Halo – Pussycat Dolls

What makes you jump-in-the-air happy?
Achieving a goal, a gorgeous kiss and receiving an email from someone who has read it “I hate Cinderella” and remembering playing with my dog “Octavian” at the beach.

What’s your motto for life?
“…You have to know what you want and you will have it…”

What’s a typical day in the life of Amanda?
waking up at 7.30 get ready for work at my marketing company, grab a fresh fruit juice on the way the bus stop, a short bus ride ( but long enough to write some ideas down, then a Full on day talking to clients about what their marketing plans are and how we can help execute them, maybe a lunchtime run or gym workout, then after work i will meet up with either wedding clients, or friends for a drink then dinner, come home at 10pm or so then check my emails and reply back to wedding clients and posting out copies of “I Hate Cinderella” form the daily orders. Then finally some peppermint tea and bed!  Tiring but i love it. the weekend are different, lots of Friend and down time in the sun.

Quick fire round – what’s your favourite:
City: Sydney has the best of everything you need for love (and rebound!)– beach, sunshine, theatre, sport and some great bars where you can really let your hair down
Book: Time travellers wife
Movie: Pretty Woman – Julia Roberts, Richard Gere – the ultimate love story!  And I want that red hot evening dress she wears in the movie….
Website/blog: www.sassisam.com
Hang-out: I love relaxing at Crumpet in Coogee, where they do amazing fruit juices and you get to sit in the sun with friends.
Way to chill: a bundle of laughs on a Sunday afternoon with a pot of peppermint tea, good friends and some chocolate please…..!
Store: anywhere quirky to get chic, funky bargains that look amazing day or night
Celebrity: Scarlett Johansson
Must-have item: Matte Gold Havaianas thongs, my Tiffany & Co starfish necklace, and my favourite fragrance – Issey Miyake

To get your copy and to look at more of the amazingly bee-you-tiful illustrations visit Amanda at: www.ihatecinderella.com