Hi, I'm Linda Rey.

As a child, I was shy, awkward, and usually hiding behind a book. For a time, I struggled with a lisp and hearing loss, which meant I often missed conversations entirely—not because I wasn't listening, but because I couldn't always hear that people were talking to me.

Then something unexpected happened.

By the time I reached high school, speech therapy had corrected my lisp, my hearing returned, and the shy girl who spent most of her time reading books somehow found herself modeling for teen magazines, winning Homecoming Queen, and later being crowned Miss Burbank.

The funny thing is, no matter how much the outside changed, I still felt like the same awkward kid on the inside.

Maybe that's why I've always been drawn to stories about outsiders, dreamers, and people searching for where they belong. Today, I write books for middle grade and young adult readers filled with humor, heart, history, mystery, hope, and characters who discover that being different isn't something to overcome—it's often their greatest strength.

I didn't begin pursuing my writing dream until later in life, which taught me another important lesson: it's never too late to become who you were meant to be.

These days I live in the Pacific Northwest with my husband, a stack of books, and more story ideas than I could possibly write in a lifetime. I also have a small tattoo on my wrist that says Believe, because some dreams are worth holding onto.

If I can be remembered for one thing, I hope it isn't the books I've written. I hope people simply remember that I was kind.