Purchase a copy of Romero Pools. After you read it, please leave a review on Amazon, GoodReads or the review site of your choice. I’m asking for honest reviews. My goal is increased exposure, not to gain inflated ratings. Send me proof of purchase and proof of review,  (send to: alyssaalice@icloud.com) and your name will be entered into a draw to win: 
Eight days and seven nights stay in Oro Valley, Arizona. Accommodation for two people will be provided in the community of SCOV. Search SCOV and Oro Valley Arizona for more information on the area. Accommodation will be at the author's home. Photos available.
Here’s your chance to hike to Romero Pools, in the Catalina Mountains. Follow Marin’s steps visiting such places as: The Mission San Xavier del Bac, The Hotel Congress, Tubac, El Conquistador to name a few. 
Contest closes July 31, 2022.
Dates of trip to be chosen mutually between author and the winner and will be taken between October 2022 and October 2023. 

Addictive, thoroughly gripping…
Hall’s solid latest sees the private investigator Joe Parrott on the trail of a young woman’s killer. Joe finds himself entangled into a murder investigation after the body of a young woman is found near his home. Determined to uncover the woman’s identity and get her justice, Joe begins his quest, unaware the truth will impact his own life. Replete with relentless suspense and shocking revelations, the narrative moves at swift pace, offering almost nonstop twists throughout. Hall layers much emotion into her writing as she deepens her flawed but empathetic protagonist’s character. Readers will be on the edge of their seats as Joe is pressed into a long spiral of twisted investigation while trying to find the truth. With its tight plotting, deeply realized characters, and crisp writing that energizes a familiar plot, the novel makes for a page-turner. Hall deserves a wide readership.

A Goodreads coffee table selection.

By Aileen ZangoueiYorkRegion.com

​Newmarket native Alyssa Hall’s first book, “Trusting Claire,” contains many of her experiences growing up in a family of Russian immigrants. 
Hall, whose maiden name is Pugach, said she'd been wanting to write about her upbringing in a home of fresh immigrants for a very long time, but ultimately wrote it with a twist of a murder mystery to make it more interesting. 
“(‘Trusting Claire’) ended up not being about me, but a great deal of my memories,” Hall said. 
Claire Perova is the main character, whom Hall described as being “too trusting,” which is just one part of her personality that stems from the author. 
Claire has always struggled to find the people and places that make up “home.” 
After a lengthy university adventure in Greece, she returns to Canada, where she eventually meets two men. But just as her romantic life starts getting complicated, Claire becomes embroiled in a strange death, which is where the murder mystery kicks in.
Or was her boyfriend actually murdered? 
Despite her best efforts, she can’t escape the aftermath of the crime. Every new step gives rise to surprise encounters, risky situations, and all-or-nothing alternatives. Soon, Claire learns that people are not always what they seem, and smiling faces conceal scheming motives. 
Hall said the murder mystery is fiction and not based on her life; however, other experiences of Claire's, such as her job at a real estate office on Main Street, are. 
“Actually, when I grew up in Newmarket, I don't recall any murders happening there,” Hall said, adding that she doesn't officially mention in the book that it takes place in that town to avoid “tainting” the city that is very close to her heart.
Writing her first book was very important to Hall since growing up in a family of immigrants was difficult for her. 
Her family were Russian war refugees who were captured by Germans before coming to Canada in 1949, arriving first in Thessalon, near Sault Ste. Marie. Eventually her family would be sponsored by Bill Koshel of Newmarket, who had been running a “one-man” agency to bring refugees to Canada, according to an article in the Newmarket Public Library's digital historical collection. 
“It was really hard growing up as an immigrant ... children were cruel, and I grew up very insecure,” Hall said, adding that having written “Trusting Claire,” she has something that makes her feel good about herself for the first time. 
Pre-pandemic, Hall had only just thought of writing a book, but it was amid the pandemic that she finally decided to take the leap and pick up a pen to write. 
Since then, she said she has found something that many of her family and friends said she is very good at — writing — and is currently working on a romance novel.
Hall moved to British Columbia with her family in 1988, but often visits her friends in Newmarket.