Today we are very excited to share an interview with Author Anica Mrose Rissi (Girl Reflected in Knife)!
Meet the Author: Anica Mrose Rissi
Anica Mrose Rissi is the award-winning author of more than a dozen books for kids and teens, including picture books, chapter books, middle grade, and YA. Her essays have been published by The Writer and The New York Times, and she plays fiddle in and writes lyrics for the band Owen Lake and the Tragic Loves. Anica grew up in Maine and spent many years in New York City, where she worked as an executive editor in children’s book publishing. She currently lives in central New Jersey with her very good dog, Sweet Potato.
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About the Book: Girl Reflected in Knife
Destiny can’t count on anyone but herself. Her mother has struggled with addiction for all of Destiny’s life, moving them from town to town, bad boyfriend to bad boyfriend—including a particularly dark period in Texas, where Destiny ended up in a psychiatric hospital. But Destiny’s mother is newly sober and stable. And Destiny is falling in love.
Destiny never believed in happily ever after, but that doesn’t stop her confidence from fraying when the first guy she ever trusted casually shatters her heart. Spiraling hard, she tells a tiny, desperate lie to buy herself a moment of hope. But as the lie grows and the pressures tangle, she gets lost in her own deception, and the line between truth and fantasy starts to blur.
With time untethered and her perception in knots, Destiny must find a way to reclaim her story and weave a new ending—before its beginnings unravel.
“Be careful of the story you tell yourself. It might become the one you believe.”
~Author Chat~
YABC: What inspired you to write this book?
So many things! Girl Reflected in Knife is an exploration of love, heartbreak, addiction, mental health issues, friendship, and survival. It’s a modern fractured fairy tale about the stories we tell ourselves in order to survive—and what happens when those stories and our lived realities no longer align. I’ve touched on some of these topics in my previous books, but I was excited to really go deep on them here. The further into the novel I fell, the more inspired I got about the challenge of weaving together its multiple threads in interesting and unexpected ways.
YABC: What scene in the book are you most proud of, and why?
I loved writing the scenes with Destiny and her mother, April, who is legitimately sober for the first time in Destiny’s life, but still isn’t someone Destiny can trust or rely on. Their relationship is intense and complicated, infuriating and heartbreaking, and the last scene they share gives me chills every time I read it. But if I had to choose a single favorite chapter, it would be Chapter One, which is only three sentences long:
Listen. Be careful the story you tell yourself. It might become the one you believe.
YABC: Thinking way back to the beginning, what’s the most important thing you’ve learned as a writer from then to now?
I am always, continuously learning to trust the process. Every book needs something different from me, and the only way I know how to find it is to keep exploring and experimenting, stay curious, and allow lots of time and space for failure. Writing a novel is never a straight path. I’ve learned that if I keep showing up and let the story lead the way, I will eventually figure out how to tell it, but it takes the time it takes. In the case of Girl Reflected in Knife, it took over a decade! I almost gave up more than a few times along the way, but this book would not let me go.
YABC: What do you like most about the cover of the book?
Oh my goodness, I love everything about the cover, from David Roy Ocotla’s stunning artwork to Kaitlyn Yang’s striking design. Their use of collage is a gorgeous representation of Destiny’s increasingly-fractured sense of reality and the way her story gets pieced together through multiple layers of narrative. And wait until you see how Anna Booth designed the interiors! So many people on the team at Dutton gave their time and talent to making this a better book and a beautiful object, and I’m grateful to all of them. The first time I held a finished copy, I couldn’t stop beaming and hugging it.
YABC: What is the main message or lesson you want your reader to remember from this book?
More than any message or lesson, I hope the story itself sticks with readers. I love a novel that leaves me thinking about it for days after I’ve finished, and my dream is for Girl Reflected in Knife to linger with its readers in that way.
YABC: Do you have an unusual office supply that helps you in your writing routine?
I’m tempted to spin an exciting tale about a random object in my office, but the truth is: the two most essential things that help me write are the pot of tea I brew each morning and the very good dog who snores at my feet. (The tea is a masala chai. The dog’s name is Sweet Potato. His snores are my favorite soundtrack.)
YABC: How do you cope with criticism from editors or the public?
There’s a scene in Girl Reflected in Knife where Destiny’s art teacher, West, says: “Art is for the artist during the period of its creation. Once it is out in the world, it belongs to those who behold it—becomes theirs to interpret, react to, ignore. The artist decides neither the artwork’s meaning nor its importance. …Do I actually believe that? Sometimes, in part. Discuss.” I’m mostly with West on this one.
In a world that contains so many other things to read, see, or do, I’m grateful for every person who spends their time, attention, or money on something I wrote. That’s such a gift! And of course I hope that many of this book’s readers will love it. I’m also certain not all of them will, because there’s no such thing as a book every reader loves. That’s okay. The saddest outcome for me as an author would be if no one engaged with the book at all. I can find much less effortful and time-consuming ways to pour my heart into the void.
In terms of feedback from an editor: That part of the process is thrilling. This book’s editor, Andrew Karre, read and responded to multiple drafts with curiosity and incisiveness. He saw my creative ambition and matched it with an enthusiasm that empowered me to experiment, take risks, and play with the text in ways I might not have dared on my own.
YABC: What new release book are you looking forward to in 2026?
Two of my favorite authors have new releases this spring. Corey Ann Haydu’s first adult novel, Mothers and Other Strangers, is about two estranged childhood best friends, their complicated mothers, and the unearthing of multiple long-held secrets. In my editor days, I acquired and edited Corey’s first four books (three YA novels and one middle grade), so I’ve been a fan from day one, and I can’t wait to read her adult debut.
Anna-Marie McLemore new YA thriller, We Could Be Anyone, features a brother-sister pair of con artists, a near-impossible scam, and the opulence and secrets of Golden Age Hollywood. I’m sure it will also include A-M’s ridiculously gorgeous and atmospheric prose, and their magical eye for detail.
YABC: What’s up next for you?
I have multiple secret projects in the works, including a new YA novel that explores similar themes to Girl Reflected in Knife, such as love, addiction, survival, and perceptions of time, but in very different ways. And I just saw illustrator Heather Fox’s sketches for the first book in a new graphic chapter book series we’re creating together, Inspector Quack and the Case of the Missing Underpants. This series is like if Amelia Bedelia starred in Knives Out as a duck who helps look for things. Plus, butt jokes. (I contain multitudes.)
YABC: Is there anything that you would like to add?
Thank you for having me! I’m always glad to connect with fellow book-lovers.
For anyone interested in reading more about the creative process, I write a free quarterly newsletter with four close friends who are also multi-published authors. In each issue of The Eavesdrop, we share the ins and outs of our writing processes, go deep on craft, and nerd out about publishing and other obsessions. Find it at ThisIsTheEavesdrop.com.
Title: Girl Reflected in Knife
Author: Anica Mrose Rissi
Release Date: 4/7/2026
Publisher: Dutton Books for Young Readers
Genre: Young Adult
Age Range: 14+
