Deanna Roy

Six-Time USA Today Bestselling Author

special days

Sep 13, 2014

On loss: The disappointing day that never was

Deanna / Poignancy / loss, miscarriage, mourning, special days /

If things had gone as planned with my pregnancy sixteen years ago, I would have one ticked off teenager right now.

For one thing, this would be just about the worst sixteenth birthday in the history of sixteenth birthdays. It’s supposed to be Independence Day #1, because in Texas, this is when he could have tested to receive his driver’s license.

But it’s a Saturday. The DMV isn’t even open.

To add to the insult, it’s raining nonstop.

I imagine a cranky boy joking and getting shoved by his friends as they shovel in cake. Looking out the window at the rain, wishing it weren’t a Saturday. The ONE TIME he finally gets a weekend birthday, and it’s the one he doesn’t want to be a weekend!

But these scenes are only in my mind. They aren’t happening. They will never happen.

He won’t drive a car. He didn’t even live to know cars existed. The only way he probably even knew his mother existed was a steady beat of sound that mirrored his own, a slow heavy thud that underscored the warbling muted voices through the walls that held him suspended in the only world he would ever know.

Happy Sweet Sixteen, Casey Shay, wherever your spirit resides these days.

[ More about Casey Shay ]

My latest book is an emotional ride

This Kiss by Deanna Roy The first time I lost all memory of Tucker, we had just met. We were seventeen, stuck in the disco room of the children’s hospital, both of our heads covered in electrodes wrapped in gauze. Not exactly attractive.Except we were—attracted, that is. I never got to meet boys my age(…)
The Trail to Rom Com Land

I’m known for my ugly-cry books. I’ve always landed on the dramatic end of the scale, which has served me well for my biggest bestselling books like Forever Innocent and Baby Dust. I’d written a few rom coms here and there, almost by accident. (I’m funny? No. No one thinks the Queen of the Ugly(…)
Seizures, daughters, and books that matter

In the life of an epilepsy mom, the longest minute of your life is the one when your child stops breathing. I’ve been through it more than once. I’ve seen Elizabeth turn completely blue on the floor of a restaurant. I’ve dried her off, shivering, after seizing in a downpour at Disneyland. I’ve snatched her(…)
Forever Innocent, 7 years later

Late last year, I was contacted by Radish, a reading app for phones, asking to publish a long serialized version of my series that begins with Forever Innocent. With six books, they told me, I would have a successful run with their readers. So in January, we began the process of breaking the books into(…)
On My Friend John J Asher

Sometimes the people who become your best friends are who’d you expect. The kid your age who ends up living next door. The neighborhood family expecting a baby the same time as you. A coworker you laugh with at lunch. But then there are the ones who are only on the periphery of your life(…)
New year, new pen name!

I haven’t written a Deanna-book in a while, as I’ve been focused on branded pen names that write very specific types of books. The Sweetest Match and The Perfect Disaster both take place in the fall of 2018 in Applebottom, Missouri. The two books can be read in any order and are completely standalone. You(…)
The Little Dude Book is here!

I’ve never had a book more people have asked for than this one! A couple years ago, before we adopted Little Dude, I typed up the very first conversation between him and Elizabeth. We were out walking, hoping to find a good spot to view the super moon. It went like this: Eliza: Look at(…)