Kathleen Duey has written over 80 books for K-YA. Many are titles in my middle grade series: American Diaries, Survival, and Hoofbeats. The Unicorn’s Secret and The Faeries’ Promise series are for young readers. (from blog)

And according to Goodreads (where I nabbed that author pic from) she grew up in Colorado. She loved riding her horses, hiking, being in the mountains. Reading was always important to her. Writing became a fascination early in her life. In the fourth grade, Kathleen began writing stories and told everyone who would listen that she was going to be an author. Then she did nothing about it until she was 35 years old.