Alyssa Burns’ mail carrier is always late.
She knew this, and yet she still found herself sticking her head out the window in the pounding rain, hour after hour, checking the tracking on a package, wondering: Is it here yet?
The package in question held a proof of her debut novel, the first hard copy she would hold after more than a year of work, laborious hours, and seemingly infinite cups of coffee. When it was finally in her hands, she flipped through the pages, relishing the moment: “I did it.”
Burns has dreamed of writing a novel her entire life, and her debut novel, The Last Special Thing, releases April 1. To celebrate, the Coronado native is hosting a book launch party at the Coronado Tasting Room from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. on March 30. The entire community is invited.
Burns said she wants to share her milestone with the community that helped shape her as a child and later, embraced her as a storyteller for The Coronado Times.
“There’s no place like Coronado,” said Burns, who lives in Idaho with her husband, another Coronado native. “I can’t wait to go home again.”
She’s always wanted to be a novelist, but in her younger years, chose a practical route instead. She majored in communication as an undergraduate and ultimately earned a master’s in business administration.
But that itch to write fiction never quit.
In October 2024, she and her husband took a vow renewal trip. Due to his work schedule, her husband left a day before Burns did, giving her a day to herself at a Montana hot spring. She felt, as she had for years, that tug.
“I just started writing,” Burns said. “I had to get it all down on paper.”
That was the beginning. She decided, on that trip, to honor her lifelong dream, a pursuit her husband wholeheartedly supported.
Burns’ path from first draft to book launch has been threaded through the familiar chaos of parenting young children. A blend of structure, support, and strict boundaries paved the way.
Every weekend, she heads to a coffee shop for about six hours, while her daughters enjoy what they call “Daddy Days” with their father.
“They love their mornings with Dad,” Burns said. “It’s one-on-one time for them, and for me, it’s focus time. Writing isn’t something I can do with my kids around. When I get in a flow state, hours go by and I haven’t moved.”
As her children have grown — her oldest starting kindergarten and her youngest beginning a full-day preschool — her schedule has opened up, but she’s quick to point out that balancing work, the pursuit of dreams, and motherhood is a moving target.
“I don’t think any mom has it figured out,” she said. “We just do our best day by day.”
She’s strict about boundaries: closing the laptop late at night, putting the phone down when her daughters are around, and reminding herself that social media posts can wait, but childhood can’t.
“My kids are right here in front of me,” she said. “They’re the most important thing, and they’re going to go to bed. I can do this stuff when they’re asleep.”
The Last Special Thing is a young adult fiction novel that tackles drug exploration, a topic she approached with caution. It’s a book that she wished she had read while younger, because it explores how quickly people can find themselves in unexpected situations. It aims to teach young readers to navigate these things without condescension.
“You don’t open to page one and someone’s doing heroin,” she said. “There’s a step stool to how these things escalate, and that structure came naturally to this story.”
Burns was intentional about refusing both glamorization of drugs and oversimplified scare tactics.
“How we talk about drug use is: ‘Don’t do drugs because you’re going to get addicted and die,’” she said. “Maybe you’re not going to get addicted and die, but you’re also not going to have a good time. You’re going to make decisions you wouldn’t have made otherwise.”
The core message of the book is embedded in its title.
“You don’t need drugs, you don’t need a guy, you don’t need a thrill to be special,” Burns said. “You already are.”
She hopes the book will not only reach individual readers but also find a home in schools and book clubs, helping teens navigate situations they may encounter before they have the language or perspective to recognize the stakes. As a mother, she is hyperaware of those stakes as she watches her young daughters grow.
“I’d rather (my daughters) learn about some of these things in a book than in a social situation where you don’t know what to do,” she said.
True to her Coronado roots and her desire to support youth, Burns will be donating copies of her novel, plus 15 percent of her sales during October — National Substance Abuse Prevention Month — to Safe Harbor Coronado.
The Last Special Thing is only the beginning. Burns is planning a five-part series centered around a fictional band, Honey Cat, with each book focusing on a different band member’s romantic journey and personal growth.
Book one is complete. Book two is in beta reading, with a tentative release goal of Oct. 6. Books three and four, she plans to draft in tandem, as she did with her first two, and the fifth will serve as a “where are they now” conclusion.
Burns hopes Coronado residents will not only show up for the launch, but also connect with the heart of her story: that the “special thing” so many young people go searching for is something they already possess.
“I just think everyone needs to take a chance on themselves and follow their dreams, even if it’s scary,” she said. “This seemed so crazy to me. My goal was one copy on my shelf. Now the dream is bigger: to share it with as many people as possible.”
Readers can preorder a signed copy of The Last Special Thing on Alyssa Burns’ website. To read more of Burns’ writing for The Coronado Times, click here.
