Layne is a native of Plantersville, Texas. When she wasn’t working as the sample girl at the grocery store and playing a food wench during seasons at the Texas Renaissance Festival, she was nose-deep in R.L. Stine, Lois Duncan, and Mary Higgins Clark novels. Her private passions included playing Barbies far longer than her friends, penning angsty poetry, and creating music videos in her mind while recording mixed tapes and CDs.

Two points away from a perfect ASVAB score, she was courted by the military, flirted with an Interior Design degree, but motherhood became the love of her life. When divorce and post-partum depression derailed her dream, she entered the battle of a lifetime and became the unintended heroine of a harrowing journey in the name of mother’s love.

To cope, she siphoned strength from characters she’d grown up reading before ultimately trying her hand at writing what she wanted to read.

Though still obsessed with music, she’s grateful for Spotify playlists and exchanged the Barbies and poetry for novel-writing. As for the military, they eventually got their hooks in her when she was courted by and married a Naval officer who doubled as her battle buddy during her worst. Together they’ve bounced around the US and landed in the heart of sweet home Alabama. They now relish the gift of boring simplicity, homeschool three of their five children, and are the organizers of TropiCon Book Expo & Writing Convention.

To date, Lynessa is a five-time Silver Falchion Award finalist and a two-time Silver Falchion Award winner for Best Suspense and Best Book. She’s penned over twenty novels and short stories, written for Mystery and Suspense Magazine, has worked as a professional book formatter, and holds a certification in copyediting.