We're excited to welcome local author Ali VanCleave into our taproom with copies of her debut novel, Roses are Royal, which just came out on September 9th. Swing by for a beer, a signed book, and to chat about romance, writing, and life in general.

About Ali:
Ali VanCleave is a fiction author drawn to stories that live in the tension between desire and consequence. Her work explores identity, power, intimacy, and the quiet moments that crack people open.

Ali writes fiction that prioritizes mood as much as plot. If you like characters who are self-aware enough to know better and reckless enough to do it anyway, you’re in the right place.

Ali didn’t arrive at writing through a linear path. Instead, her creative lens was shaped by years immersed in branding, visual storytelling, and culture — learning how narratives are built, sold, and felt before ever putting her own on the page.

When she’s not writing, Ali is probably watching or playing sports, traveling to new places and romanticizing her own life just enough to stay inspired, and drinking coffee...lots and lots of coffee. She believes fiction should entertain first, linger second, and occasionally make you question your own choices.

Ali lives in Colorado with her two senior fur babies, Lola, her 18-year-old kitty and Guiness, her 14 year old puppy and is a lover of skulls and all things neon.

About the book:
He never feared losing control...until he met her.

Rose has spent her entire life relying on one person: herself.

Abandoned at birth and shuffled through the foster care system, Rose learned that independence isn’t a choice…it’s survival. So when she walks away from a prestigious interior design firm in New York City to launch her own business, failure isn’t an option.

Her first client should be the break she’s been waiting for.

The estate is breathtaking. Its owner is enigmatic, attractive, and impossible to read.

As their connection deepens, Rose can’t shake the feeling that her client knows things he shouldn’t. He notices details no stranger could possibly know.

While Rose has been fighting to build a future of her own, someone has been quietly watching her past.

As the long-buried secrets begin to surface, the more dangerous it becomes to hide why she was brought into his life in the first place.

Because she was never brought into his life by chance.

She was never hired for the job.

She was the job.

Roses are Royal is book 1 in the Darkness Blooms series with morally grey characters, packed with humor, SLOW BURN/yearning spice, and delicious plot twists.

Tropes: Stalker romance / Morally grey MMC / He falls first / Witty Banter / Hidden Identity / Love Triangle / Suspense