Shameez Patel was born and raised in Cape Town, South Africa. She lives there with her husband, child, and two cats named Turbo and Charger. During the day, she juggles her time between parenting her daughter and working as an engineer, but at night, she escapes to new worlds that always have someone to fall in love with. Shameez became obsessed with fiction, especially fantasy fiction, at a young age. Her parents fondly recall receiving her first handwritten story before the age of ten, titled The Treasures of Zombie Island, which surprisingly featured no zombies at all. She has been writing ever since.