Amanda LaPera is a national award-winning author. Her first book, Losing Dad, Paranoid Schizophrenia: A Family's Search for Hope received a Silver IBPA Benjamin Franklin Award, was a Quarter Finalist in the Publishers Weekly BookLife Prize where it received a score of 10/10 and was selected as an Editors' Pick, and was a Finalist in the Reader' Favorite Awards, where her book garnered a 5-star review. Her second book, Finding Dad, Paranoid Schizophrenia: An End to the Search received a Readers' Favorite 5-star review and has been nominated for several awards. She is a member of the California Writers Club and teaches English and Creative writing. She's currently working on her Desert of Dreams Young Adult Series, set in the High Desert during the 1980s and 90s. She knows the subject matter well. For thirteen years, she grew up in the small rural community of Lake Los Angeles, where, much like her characters, she was disappointed to learn there wasn't a lake and everything she planted died. She and her friends survived, buoyed by resilience and determination.

Now her hobbies include watching hummingbirds in her yard that has actual trees, playing board games with her husband, taunting her sons, and appeasing her dogs. She has sworn off succulents, because she believes they belong in the desert. Visit her website for more information: www.amandalapera.com.