the short and sweet

I write YA and kids books about fierce girls, family curses, and everyday magic. Ever chasing stories, I’ve hiked over 500 miles across Spain, explored elephant sanctuaries in Chiang Mai, and taught English in Prague (all on a backpacker budget). In my professional life, I work with college kids who never let me forget the YA perspective. 

My contemporary fantasy YA debut novel The Vanishing Station is forthcoming from Abrams/Amulet in 2024. It’s about a girl named Ruby Santos who learns to dream beyond her tattered life. Get ready to discover magic train portals across the world, escape the ruthless crime family ruling the San Francisco underground, and maybe even fall for a boy full of secrets. Are you ready to vanish?

In the kids book realm, Roman the Renegade—my middle grade graphic novel about street art and Filipino monsters—was awarded the 2021 New Visions Honor and a publishing contract with Lee & Low Books (forthcoming in 2024-2025). Growing up in San Francisco’s Mission District, Roman was partly inspired by my love of street art, my Filipina grandma’s dementia, and the Minokawa myth (a Filipino legend about a bird-dragon who swallows the sun or moon).