Growing up in sunny Sawtell, a small beachside town on the east coast of Australia, it would be easy to assume I spent my youth at the beach soaking up the sun or surfing the waves. I didn’t. Instead, I spent my time buried in a book or dreaming up adventures in a snowbound wonderland far, far away.

After completing a degree in psychology I moved away from the coast, crossing state lines and becoming a Queenslander. Settling in Brisbane, I began forging a career in sleep science. Creative genes are hard to deny, though, and it wasn’t long before I started following in my mother’s (pioneering YA author Marianne Curley) footsteps.

My first novel, A Life Worth Living, was published by Escape Publishing in December 2013, and I’ve never looked back.

These days I have a house in the suburbs, a husband, two children and a dog. I split my time between writing, working as a scientist, and escaping to the beach as often as I can.