A few facts: Studio Ghibli films have been a constant source of inspiration throughout my life, and I still maintain that Howl Pendragon was my first great love. I'm also unapologetically obsessed with coffee—the kind of person who packs an espresso machine for vacation. As kids, Greenie and I liked to imagine we had elemental powers and I always chose Air. Holly Black is one of my favorite authors, so much so that one of my children is named after one of her characters. I owe so much to her stories.

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Before I found my way back to my own stories, I belonged to music. I spent my adolescence performing and studying it, and for a long time I thought that would be my future. In another life, I think I'm a high school music teacher. Instead, writing found me again during one of the hardest seasons of my life. What began as a way to cope with postpartum depression slowly became the place where I rediscovered myself. Somewhere between rough drafts and forgotten notebooks, I realized storytelling wasn't just something I loved—it was a way to make sense of the world.

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When I'm not writing, you'll usually find me wandering the outdoors with my family, collecting shells, driftwood, oddities, and rocks. So many rocks. One kid wants to be a geologist and the other a paleontologist, so we own a lot of bones and sticks and pebbles. Between raising two endlessly imaginative children, keeping up with my wonderfully chaotic dog, and plotting the end of my husband's suspiciously consistent winning streak at every game we play, life is rarely quiet—and I wouldn't have it any other way.

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If you'd like to follow along between book releases, I also write about storytelling, publishing, creativity, and whatever fascinating rabbit hole I've fallen into lately over on my Patreon.

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Xx Rhea

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p.s. it's pronounced Ray (it's a family name)