Available Now - a Free, 7000 word prequel to Away From Here - includes the first 2 chapters and an original prequel!
Click below to see some of the amazing feedback of the advanced copies of Away From Here. See the full reviews on Goodreads
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/38212508-away-from-here
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/38212508-away-from-here
Thank you so much for visiting. Come in, stay a while, kick off your shoes, read a blog post or two, and check out all of my past and upcoming releases. On this page you'll find a signup for my newsletter, a little about my first YA novel, a bit about me and my inspirations for writing, and ways to contact me.
If you have any questions or comments you can email, comment on blog, or contact me.
If you have any questions or comments you can email, comment on blog, or contact me.
Coming Soon. . . "Away From Here: A Young Adult Novel" (Coming Tuesday, April 24th, 2018. Pre-Order beginning March 24th, only on Amazon!
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A book that's the most personal and semi-autobiographical thing I've ever written, Away From Here tells the story of Logan Santiago, a self-proclaimed ". . .mixed up mixed kid" who, on top of the normal stresses of adolescence, is also navigating a severely mentally ill mom suffering from depression and anxiety in the wake of his parent's divorce. It's then, when his sad teenaged soul is drowning in the abyss of a Bleh, that he meets Annalise, the girl he's loved from afar for an entire year. When he finally decides to speak to the girl he refers to as his 'goddess', he'll come to realize that real life is more complex than he even imagined. In Annalise he meets another troubled soul, one whose life mirrors his own, but together they may just find the salvation and purpose that has so far eluded each of them as individuals. A story of first love, loss, parent-child relationships, mental illness, and the whirlwind of adolescence, Away From Here will remind you of the power of love, and the complexity of being a teen.
Synopsis
When I was seventeen years old there were only three things that I knew for certain: I was a mixed up mixed kid, with weird hair and an unhealthy love of comics; I wanted to forget I’d ever heard the words depression and anxiety; and I was hopelessly in love with a girl named Annalise who was, in every way that you can be, a goddess. What can I say about Anna? She wasn’t the prom queen or the perfect girl from the movies, she was my weird, funny, messed up goddess. The girl of my dreams. The reason I’m writing these words.
I’d loved Anna from a distance my junior year, afraid to actually talk to her, but then one day during lunch my best friend threw a french fry at my face and changed everything. The rest, as they say, is history. Our History. Our Story. Annalise helped make me the man I am today, and loving her saved my teenaged soul from drowning in the depths of a terrible Bleh, the worst kind of sadness that there is, a concept Anna taught me about a long time ago, when we were younger than young. So flip the book over, open up the cover and let me tell you Our Story, which is like Annalise, herself - complicated, beautiful, funny, and guaranteed to teach you something by the time you’re through. Maybe it’ll teach you the complexity of the word potato, something I never understood until the very last page.
A Little Bit About Me and My Writing
I believe that no author worth their salt is anything if not a dedicated, lifelong reader, and if you asked me I'd describe myself as a lover of books first, and a writer of books second. I grew up surrounded by them, and the love of a good story was instilled at an early age, and is something that excites me like nothing else. I've always written down my crazy ideas, since I was a small child, only now I do it with an editor and an Amazon page, and I'm beyond honored that anyone takes the time to read my words when they certainly don't have to.
As far as my work, I'd brand my stories without the confines of genre, as love stories. Whether Contemporary Romance, Young Adult, or any other sign you'd see in particular section at Barnes & Noble, the theme that permeates all of my stories is that of love. Whether the love of a special needs teacher for her students, the love between two lost souls looking for sense in the world, the love of police officers and soldiers of city and country, or just simply love as we all know it.
As far as my work, I'd brand my stories without the confines of genre, as love stories. Whether Contemporary Romance, Young Adult, or any other sign you'd see in particular section at Barnes & Noble, the theme that permeates all of my stories is that of love. Whether the love of a special needs teacher for her students, the love between two lost souls looking for sense in the world, the love of police officers and soldiers of city and country, or just simply love as we all know it.
Why I Write...
There's an expression that I'm going to paraphrase terribly here, but it's something like (forgive inappropriate quotes) "Inspiration is like bathing - it's effective but it needs to be done all the time to work. This is very true, which is why I rarely go on about what inspires me, but in this case it will certainly be appropriate. Strong women.
In stories, as in life, often times the men get the spotlight, but it's the women who are the reason I've always turned the pages. I was raised by a strong woman, and now my wife and I are raising one ourselves, and I've never ceased to be amazed the strength, resilience, struggle, and power of a strong woman. That was my life, and it continues to be.
In my work I've always tried (and continue to try) to write the type of female characters who represent the type of women I was always around in my life: strong, flawed, complex, and inspirational. In this, more than my sales, social media follows, or any other metric, I hope I'm successful in. Enjoy the stories, there are always more to come. . .
In stories, as in life, often times the men get the spotlight, but it's the women who are the reason I've always turned the pages. I was raised by a strong woman, and now my wife and I are raising one ourselves, and I've never ceased to be amazed the strength, resilience, struggle, and power of a strong woman. That was my life, and it continues to be.
In my work I've always tried (and continue to try) to write the type of female characters who represent the type of women I was always around in my life: strong, flawed, complex, and inspirational. In this, more than my sales, social media follows, or any other metric, I hope I'm successful in. Enjoy the stories, there are always more to come. . .
