I grew up on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, and I've been a fan of romance for as long as I can remember: movies, TV, books, all of it. But as I got older and started understanding what relationships actually look like, I found myself questioning why so few of those stories felt realistic. Not every romance ends in a fairytale, and I started to believe that a failed relationship isn't just heartbreak. It can be its own form of trauma.

I'm a debut author, finally following through on a dream I've carried for years: writing the book I always wished existed on the shelf. My debut novel, The Years I Gave Away, is my attempt to write toward that honestly, and toward the people who've lived it.

Fans of Colleen Hoover's It Ends With Us and Ana Huang's Twisted Love will recognize the emotional intensity I write into my stories: romance that doesn't look away from what love can cost, and doesn't rush the process of finding yourself again after it does.

I believe trauma doesn't ask permission before it reshapes you, and that no one should have to prove their pain was "bad enough" to deserve grace. The Years I Gave Away is, first and foremost, a love story, but it's also an honest look at the part most love stories skip: what comes after.