Meet Joanne:

When not writing, Joanne Macgregor is a counselling psychologist in private practice where she works mainly with victims of crime and trauma.

Although she lives in the frenetic adrenaline-rush of the big city, Joanne has always been in love with nature, and escapes into the wilds whenever she can. She’s a Harry Potter fanatic, bakes the best choc-chip cookies on the planet, and is addicted to chilies and bulletproof coffee.

She started her professional life as a high school English teacher and loves writing about, and for, teens. She is the author of several books for Young Adults, including Hushed, Recoil, Refuse, Rebel, Scarred, and for younger YA readers – Turtle Walk, Rock Steady and Fault Lines.

Why Did You Start Writing?

My children were coming into adolescence and I could only find very few books suitable and interesting for them to read – and most of those were fantasy and featured male lead protagonists. Following the edict to be the change I wanted in the world, I started writing Young Adult books with realistic stories, featuring clever, kickass heroines!

Books:

Recoil Trilogy

When a skilled gamer gets recruited as a sniper in the war against a terrorist-produced pandemic, she discovers there’s more than one enemy and more than one war. The Game is real, and love is in the crosshairs.

Three years after a series of terrorist attacks flooded the US with a lethal plague, society has changed radically.

Sixteen year-old Jinxy James spends her days trapped at home – immersed in virtual reality, worrying about the plague and longing for freedom. Then she wins a war simulation game and is recruited into a top-secret organisation where talented teenagers are trained to become agents in the war on terror. Eager to escape her mother’s over-protectiveness and to serve her country, Jinxy enlists and becomes an expert sniper of infected mutant rats.

She’s immediately drawn to Quinn O’Riley, a charming and subversive intelligence analyst who knows more about the new order of government and society than he is telling. Then a shocking revelation forces Jinxy to make an impossible decision, and she risks losing everything.

Recoil is the first book in a fast-paced, compelling Young Adult dystopian romance trilogy, and makes great reading for fans of the Hunger Games, Divergent and 5th Wave trilogies.

Scarred

Life leaves you scarred. Love can make you beautiful.

Sloane Munster had the perfect life, until she didn’t. Now seventeen year-old Sloane is trying to reboot her life after a serious accident left her badly scarred and emotionally traumatized.

Starting her senior year at a different school, she recognizes Luke Naughton, a swimmer whom she once had a crush on, in her new class. But when she smiles at him, he glares back with revulsion and she’s sure he’s disgusted by her ugly scar. No matter how hard she tries to keep out of his way, life keeps bringing them together and despite misunderstandings and guilty secrets, the chemistry between them sparks. Meanwhile, tensions are mounting at their school where bullying is rife and Sloane is not the most deeply scarred person.

Sharp with bittersweet humor, Scarred is an intense, beautiful, compelling story of life, death, damage, and fighting for love against all the odds.

A great read for fans of Sarah Dessen, Stephanie Perkins and Abbi Glines.

Seventeen-year-old Alex Spurlock finds herself burdened with a tragic secret… With no one to turn to and wracked with guilt over what she did, Alex shuts herself off from her family and the rest of society. She goes from being the popular girl everyone loved to the weird girl who never leaves her house. When Alex’s twin sister, Anna, finally persuades her to venture out of her room, Alex can’t help but feel like someone is watching her, following her every move. Constantly looking over her shoulder, Alex tries to convince herself she is just being paranoid…until she starts receiving threatening letters and taunting text messages. Someone knows what she did and is out for revenge. Not knowing who to trust, but determined to find the person who knows her secret before it is exposed and her life is forever ruined, Alex takes matters into her own hands. She vows to do anything to keep the events of that fateful day buried… But is she willing to die along with it? When she learns who is behind it all, will she change her mind.

Hushed – a modern romance inspired by the classic tale of The Little Mermaid.

Would you sacrifice your voice for love?

18-year-old Romy Morgan desperately longs to escape the boring future her parents have planned for her, and explore the world.

When she saves her celebrity crush, superstar Logan Rush, from drowning, Romy is offered a job as his personal assistant. She strikes a deal to reinvent herself in exchange for entering the exciting world of the movies, and love sparks between her and this prince of Hollywood. But Romy soon discovers that she has traded her voice and identity for an illusion of freedom.

When she discovers a dreadful secret with the power to destroy Logan, Romy must choose between love, revenge and finding her own, true element.

If you like contemporary young adult romance with all the feels – and a twist of humor – then you’ll love this refreshingly modern and realistic spin on the classic tale of The Little Mermaid from award-winning YA author, Joanne Macgregor.