Battle of the Bookstores

Alison Hammer lives in Chicago and works as a creative director in the advertising industry. She is Founder and Co-President of The Artists Against Antisemitism. Her solo author career is defined by her romance novels, You and Me and Us (2020) and Little Pieces of Me (2021). Bradeigh Godfrey lives in Utah with her husband, four children, and two dogs. Her day jobs include being a doctor and an author of psychological thrillers. Her solo-authored novels are Imposter (2022) and The Followers (2023). Alison and Bradeigh became friends after meeting in 2017 through the Women’s Fiction Writers Association. Alison made the first move in their friendship by asking Bradeigh to swap pages for critique during a virtual writing workshop. What followed was several years of partnership that not only built their skills as writers but also their personal connection as soon-to-be best friends.

During the COVID-19 lockdown of 2020, while discussing two individual book ideas they had, Hammer and Godfrey realized that the two concepts would be an even stronger story if they combined them into one novel. They write the story together and found the partnership natural. Taking their first names, they created the pen name Ali Brady. Their first idea was a twist on the 1961 film The Parent Trap and involved two girls meeting at a camp only to realize they are sisters.