Young Adult Author

I'm currently revising my YA novel FADED

awards & contests:
*February 2021: Author Mentor Match Round 8 Mentee
with Bethany Mangle

*2019: SCBWI KS/MO YA Mentorship
with Cynthia Leitich Smith

*Winner: SCBWI KS/MO 2017 Work of Promise Scholarship

FADED
is YA Contemporary w/ spec elements

18-year old Tommy Kendrick had it all: looks, charm, popularity, mad basketball skills, and a raging opioid addiction that ended in his overdose death. Now his 16-year old twin siblings Oliver and Sadie are starting their junior year in a home paralyzed by grief and guilt. Awkward, insecure Oliver battles anxiety and filters the world through a camera lens, desperate to have his hero back. Fierce, analytical Sadie wants to skip the emotions and move on. She's unmoored in the shattered remains of their family and furious at Tommy for the devastation he caused.

But Tommy's spirit hasn't passed on. He's resisting the pull of the Other Side, lingering in the home he loved, adrift on a sea of happy memories. He locks away the darkness of addiction so he doesn't have to face it, and uses his siblings' energies to anchor himself back in the physical world. Oliver's thrilled to have Tommy back but Sadie wants nothing to do with this version of her brother. She turns to pot and Xanax to cope with his ghostly presence and the tragic secret she's hiding about the night he died.

As Oliver fights to keep Tommy with them, Sadie's drug use escalates until she's dangerously skirting the same path that led to Tommy's downfall. In order to save Sadie and help their family heal, all three will have to dig deep and uncover their darkest moments. But what will those revelations mean for each of them and their broken family?