About Me


Hi, there! I'm Sharon Huss Roat, author of young adult novels BETWEEN THE NOTES (June 2015, HarperTeen) and HOW TO DISAPPEAR (August 2017).

Short bio:

grew up in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, and now divide my time between my home in Delaware and a small Cotswolds cottage in the village of Minchinhampton, UK. I worked in the public relations/communications field for twenty years before pursuing my dream of being a novelist. When not writing, I can usually be found reading, gardening, or cooking. Also napping. (Naps are key.) I loves to hear from readers, so visit me online at www.sharonroat.com or Instagram @sharonhussroat.

Long bio:
I am a mother of two, grower of veggies, taker of naps, and writer of books. Growing up in Lancaster County, Pa., I attended a small high school where students who were involved in anything were involved in everything. I was both a jock (field hockey, basketball, track) and a band geek (clarinet!). I sang (badly) in the choir and performed in musicals. Last time I checked, I still held the record for high jump at my high school.  

I wasn’t recognized as much of a writer back then, and didn’t even get accepted onto the school newspaper staff until my two best friends were named co-editors and took pity on me. During my sophomore year at the University of Delaware, a Communication professor finally took me aside and said, “You can write!” No one had ever acknowledged it before, and his vote of confidence made all the difference. I went on to work in the communications/public relations field for more than 20 years, writing and editing for magazines and employee publications, and running my own PR business.

It was around 2008, while doing publicity for the Delaware Book Festival, that I met YA author Laurie Halse Anderson. To promote the festival, a newspaper editor and I had arranged for students at six schools across the state to provide questions for six different authors. They ALL wanted Laurie! Her novels had made such an impact on them. I look back to that experience as a turning point for me, as it was then that I first gave serious thought to writing a novel. When I shared that seemingly crazy idea with another author at the festival, she said, “go for it!” So I did.

With my husband’s enthusiastic thumbs up, I handed most of my PR clients over to a colleague, trimmed the household budget so our family could survive on half the income, and dug into a huge pile of YA novels and writing books.

Two years, six drafts, a trail of traumatized Beta readers, and countless rejection letters later, I secured a literary agent. After another two years and several drafts of a second novel, we found a wonderful publishing home for me at HarperCollins.

Today, I divide my time between my home in Delaware and a small Cotswolds cottage in the village of Minchinhampton, UK. BETWEEN THE NOTES was my first published novel. HOW TO DISAPPEAR is my second. I hope there will be many more to come.
I'd love to hear from you! Email me here.

I'm also active on Instagram if you want to follow me there. That would be very nice.