Amy’s Melancholy

A story about a young lady who’s mastered the art of being treated like an unwanted guest, exchanging letters with a childhood friend buried in books and complaining all the while.

Twelve years after her mother remarried Duke Humphrey and moved into his household, Amy finds herself reluctantly roped into playing social shield for the duke’s daughter, Lady Viola, and dragged down south to Dublin Castle.

Life at Dublin Castle isn’t bad. But then a demoted maid vanishes without a trace, a monster starts appearing at the village entrance below the castle, and to top it all off, Viola suddenly disappears along with a suspicious man named Kyryl……

Will Amy ever find the peaceful life she wants, free from any connection to the Humphrey ducal household?

Setting/Genre: Western fantasy, adventure, romance observer

*Keywords: Western fantasy, letters, childhood friends, power dynamics, friendship, romance with a twist, villainess POV, story-driven, epistolary, mystery/thriller, brilliant hero, aloof hero, gentle hero, straightforward heroine, girl crush

*Male Lead:

◆ Leslie Fox: Amy’s childhood friend. He’s studying hard to graduate from the Academy. He faithfully exchanges letters with Amy. With sharp, hawk-like eyes, he sees right through Amy’s situation and keeps telling her, “Hey, you’re in a real mess right now. Can’t you be a little more careful?” He knows he’s brilliant and shows it plenty, but since he really is brilliant, there’s no arguing with him.

*Female Lead:

◆ Amy Ellis: Twelve years into living at Humphrey Manor after her mother’s remarriage. She’s long since grown numb to being treated like an unwanted guest. She loves pretty, glamorous things, handles a sword well, and has excellent instincts. The kind of girl who’ll cry her way through a crisis and punch right through it. Permanently maintains the state of: Viola is insufferable, Boris is insufferable, the Humphrey household is insufferable.

*Read this when: you’re in the mood for a girl-crush story, you’re tired of the male lead solving everything, you want to do a little armchair detective work while reading, you want a plot-driven story over romance, you want a friendship that hits harder than a love story, you want to write or read letters, you want to see impressive women, you want to see a genuinely brilliant man, you want a fated adventure-romance fantasy seen through the eyes of an outsider.

*Resonant Quote:

“I’ll give you everything I have. Come with me. Let me protect you forever. It’ll be hard…… But if you’ll have me, I promise I’ll always be by your side.”

So what Kyryl is basically saying is, “I’ll stay by your side forever so I can make your life difficult.” Isn’t that a little cruel to say to someone you love?