This book is turning FIVE today! On May 19th, my birthday, five years ago I hit publish on my first novel. A YA Dystopian Realism novel about fighting for what you believe in and protecting the ones you love at all costs.

But this book was born long before it was introduced to the world.

One August evening, as we were outside in the Texas summer heat, my parents were watering the yard. I was fifteen and had just begun to discover my love of writing. I wrote short stories based off a website that ...