About the Author

Rachel Carrera

Official Biography

Rachel Carrera has always been a story-weaver, and she’s been writing short stories for as long for as she can remember.  But she never had a desire to turn her tales into books until mid-2013 when she dreamed her first novel The Prison (unpublished) three nights in a row.

Each night, she dreamed more and more details of the same plot.  When she woke after the first night, she thought Wow, what a cool movie, but then she realized it wasn’t a movie she’d ever seen.  After the second dream, she was impressed by the magnitude of details that returned.  Following the third dream, she knew Divine Intervention was tapping her on the shoulder, telling her to write a full-length novel.

Rachel enjoys reading multiple genres, especially thrillers, but she favors psychological and historical thrillers that make people think and don’t insult their intelligence by being predictable.  Her favorite authors range from Edgar Allan Poe to Stephen King, William Golding, Patricia Cornwell, V.C. Andrews, John Boyne, Sue Grafton, and Dennis Lehane.  When she needs a break from the twists and turns of thrillers, she indulges in her affinity for Amish fiction by Wanda Brunstetter and especially Beverly Lewis.  She also loves most of the original Grimm’s Fairy Tales, Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There.  She appreciates many of the classics such as Charles Dickens and some Shakespeare, as well as most of C.S. Lewis and Mark Twain.  And she’s adored Johanna Spyri, Jonathan Swift, Daniel Defoe, and Laura Ingalls Wilder from the time she could read.  Another of her favorite books is The Diary of Anne Frank.  She also generally enjoy reading anything about Medieval times, historical fiction, and classic television actors’ autobiographies and memoirs. Because Rachel is an empath, she often reads and studies what she can about the Holocaust, slavery, and the sinking of The Titanic, all of which make her heart hurt for the victims of these atrocities.  Additionally, from time to time, she enjoys re-reading the books she read as a kid, such as those by Beverly Cleary and Judy Blume.

Rachel is a mom to a beautiful daughter, Stefani, and a handsome son, Jeremy. She currently live in Florida, but she’s also lived in New York and spent a great deal of time in Canada as well as Pennsylvania.

Rachel was a litigation and trial paralegal for fourteen years, and managed three different law firms during that time.  When she decided to get out of law, she trained and then opened her own wedding photography studio with her sister, Michelle.  They did professional photography full-time for seven years until the industry took a nosedive.

Rachel then became the Director of Marketing at a law firm, which allowed her to utilize her writing skills as well as her photography and Photoshop abilities.  When her Lupus took a turn for the worse, she reduced her hours and began working from home  as the firm’s On-Line Marketing Strategist.  It’s still the perfect job to exercise all her creative talents.

Life with Autism and Lupus

Rachel has Asperger’s Syndrome which is a high-functioning form of Autism.  On most days, this doesn’t really bother her. As a matter of fact, both of my kids are also “on the Spectrum.”  Some days are more challenging than others, but they’ve all learned that they are who they are despite having Asperger’s, not because of it. (If you want to know more about living with Autism, Rachel frequently discusses it throughout her blog.)

In late 2016, after a year and a half of baffling numerous doctors, Rachel was diagnosed with Lupus.  Currently, she’s still learning how to cope and what to do when her body screams at her to stop whatever she’s doing and rest (because she’s not the kind of person who can easily sit still and do nothing).

Etc.

Zsa Zsa

Rachel love, love, loves cats!  (Isn’t owning a cat a prerequisite to being a writer?) (Besides all cats, domestic and wild, she has a special fascination with elephants, sea mammals such as dolphins and whales, and most members of the monkey family…  Okay, truly, she adores all animals.)  As of 2024, she has four indoor cats (Zsa Zsa, Snow, Nova, and Stewie).  In 2023, Rachel lost her beloved Cleo who often felt compelled to help her write.  In remembrance of Cleo, Rachel’s books are published by Cleo’s Room Publishing.

Cleo