Alyssa discovered her first romance novel at fourteen—hidden in a laundry basket full of stuff at a neighborhood garage sale—and she's been chasing that same electric thrill ever since.

Now in her early thirties with copper-streaked brown hair usually twisted into a messy bun and a collection of band t-shirts that would make a vintage store jealous, she writes the kind of love stories that make you laugh out loud on the subway, grin and shed tears at the same time, and then immediately want to throw your e-reader across the room (in the best way possible).

Her workspace is organized chaos: half-empty coffee mugs competing for desk space with sticky notes covered in dialogue snippets, a playlist that swings wildly from Taylor Swift to movie theme songs, and a well-worn copy of Pride and Prejudice that she swears she only keeps for "reference purposes." Sure, Alyssa.

She writes contemporary romance and rom-coms because, as she puts it, "Modern love is messy as hell, and I'm here for all of it." Her heroines are the kind of women who trip over their own feet, say the wrong thing at exactly the wrong moment, and still somehow manage to snag the guy who makes their heart do that ridiculous fluttery thing. Her heroes? Flawed, funny, and refreshingly human. And there’s usually a cat or dog somewhere in the background.

Alyssa's deal breakers include instalove (she'll DNF a book faster than you can say "love at first sight"), perfect characters who never screw up, and any romance that doesn't earn its happily-ever-after. She believes the journey matters more than the destination, which is why her couples get on a rollercoaster that goes through absolute hell before they get their HEA. Angst? You betcha. Slow-burn to a hot sizzle? She serves it up like it's her job (because it literally is).

When she's not torturing her characters by making them sweat it out before they get physical, you'll find her binge-watching romantic comedies while taking notes, arguing with strangers on book forums about whether enemies-to-lovers is superior to friends-to-lovers (it is, fight her), and drinking iced tea year-round because hot coffee is for people with time to kill, and she has none. (Her coffee cup is usually half full of c.o.l.d. coffee, just sayin’)

She writes sassy because she lives sassy. She writes sweet because underneath all that snark, she's a hopeless romantic who still believes in love stories—especially the complicated, imperfect, beautifully messy ones.