Amanda is the author of the historical action & adventure series A Country for Castoffs, which combines her family history with the larger historical context to educate and entertain a new generation of readers. She has been researching her family genealogy for decades and taught middle and high school history for over a dozen years. She loves the fragile beauty Sonoran Desert where she lives most of the year and the vibrant Willamette River each summer. Though her best inspirations reside with the ever-changing Sea of Cortez, where she has watched her three children grow up over the years, and now enjoys watching her grandchildren making new discoveries for themselves!