Being a teenager can be hard. Being a teenager with supernatural abilities can be murder. Nova Harris hasn't had the easiest life. Her mother died when she was five, and she never knew her father. Her stepdad wasn't exactly the warm and fuzzy type...but Nova had never meant to kill him. Now Nova has discovered that she is an Alternate - a person with supernatural abilities - and that there are others just like her at Tidemarsh: a school for freaks. When Nova finds herself drawn to a mysterious boy being held in The Tombs; a place where the most dangerous Alternates are locked away in the dark, she ends up with more questions than answers. The more she explores, the more secrets she uncovers that she really should have left well alone. Welcome to Alternate Academy, where the only things not falling apart, are probably already on fire!

Melissa is a Primary School teacher by day and a writer by night. She grew up in a small town in the UK, and spent of her time with her nose in a book. Her childhood was filled with R.L Stein, Jacqueline Wilson, and J.K Rowling, and they inspired her to begin creating her own worlds. Melissa has always been fascinated with stories about living through an apocalyptic event, and with characters who feel so real that they become part of the reader long after the book was put away. She wrote the first draft of Alive? at sixteen, and has been hooked on writing ever since.

When she's not writing, Melissa enjoys reading, playing video games, crocheting, and spending time with her two dogs (and occasionally her husband).