Full Circle Moment: Amy Whittenburg, aka AJ Whittier, at Third Place Books

In Spring 2024, Amy Whittenburg made a huge leap of faith.

At the time, she was the Executive Director of Third Place Commons, where she had served proudly for over eight years. But following the pandemic and the subsequent recovery period, her desire to chase her dreams grew until the time came to make a big decision. In June of last year, she left her role at Third Place Commons to work full-time on writing a book series.

Now, just over a year later, she returns with not one, but two new novels. Always Never Meant To Be: A Love Story is a bittersweet, yet funny, uplifting tale of right person, wrong time soulmates literally made for each other who absolutely can’t be together. The slightly heartbreaking and very heart-healing story is full of music, magic, and so much Seattle.

It’s Book 1 in her series called Magical Seattle, where anything can happen and love is always on the menu. Seattle is essentially a third major character in the book thanks to a whirlwind tour of the city that draws the leads together. The plan is for each book in the series to take place in a different Seattle nook, and each will also feature its own unique magical twist.

Book 2, entitled The God in 3B, is a cozy, fantasy romcom set in a slightly fictionalized version of Kirkland. Amy describes it as one-third new Kirkland, one-third old Kirkland, and one-third imaginary Kirkland. Like her first book, this one also features a variety of well-loved spots around Seattle, this time in a sexy tale of a quiet divorcee who just wants to be left alone to read with her dog and her hot god neighbor on a mission.

To celebrate the release of both books, Amy is partnering with Third Place Books, Lake Forest Park, for an upcoming author event, which will feature readings from each book and a signing.

The event takes place on Wednesday, August 27, 2025 at 7 PM. Tickets are free, but Third Place Books requests registration to assist with planning. Register here.

In the meantime, Always Never Meant To Be: A Love Story was released in July and is currently available at Third Place Books. The God in 3B comes out August 20th, just in time for the big event.

For Amy, returning to this beloved community as author AJ Whittier is a wonderful full circle moment. “I’ve spent a lot of years of my life building vibrant community in the Town Center,” she notes. “So it’s a real thrill to return now in a new role to share my current work with this community I love.”