For thirteen years, Amanda LaPera grew up in the small rural community of Lake Los Angeles, where she, much like her characters, 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 surrounded by 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.

Amanda LaPera is a national award-winning author. Her first book, Losing Dad, Paranoid Schizophrenia: A Family's Search for Hope won a Silver IBPA Award, was a Quarter Finalist in the BookLife Prize and a Finalist in the Readers' Favorite Awards. The sequel, Finding Dad, Paranoid Schizophrenia: An End to the Search was awarded a 5-star review by Readers' Favorite. She teaches English and is a member of the California Writers Club and Southern California Writers Association. She's currently working on her Young Adult Desert of Dreams Series, set in the California High Desert during the 1980s and 90s.