Meet the Authors
Donna Alward
Award-winning author Donna Alward has the best job in the world: a combination of stay-at-home mom and romance novelist. In 2001 she penned her first novel and found herself hooked on writing romance. In 2006 she sold her first manuscript, and now writes heartwarming Romances from her home in Nova Scotia, Canada. Donna loves to hear from readers; you can contact her through her website at www.donnaalward.com or through her publisher.
Twitter: @DonnaAlward Facebook
* * *
Caroline Anderson
Caroline Anderson has had a variety of careers, from nursing (very short-lived) to secretarial (ditto) to teaching (longer but not much) and then via her own soft furnishings business (too long!) to writing. Perfect! She can be anyone, anytime, anywhere in the world, and can’t imagine a better way to earn a living (all those wonderful men to fall in love with? Who would want to do anything else?) which is why she’s written over 90 books for Harlequin over the past 22 years.
But in her ‘spare’ time, she’s a wife, a mother, a grandmother (new, this one, and delightful!), looks after a horse and a dog and a cat who’ve made their home with the family over the years in the Suffolk countryside just north of Ipswich (East of England and blissfully close to Kate Hardy), and in between these demands she eats cake, drinks interesting coffee (all coffee can be interesting at certain points in a book) and daydreams about the next book. Or the current one, because a little daydreaming is what it’s all about, after all.
* * *
Leah Ashton
An unashamed fan of all things happily ever after, Leah Ashton has been a lifelong reader of romance. Writing came a little bit later, although in hindsight, she’d been dreaming up stories for as long as she can remember. Sadly, the most popular boy in school never did suddenly fall head over heels in love with her…
Now she lives in Perth, Western Australia with her own real life hero, two gorgeous dogs and the world’s smartest cat. By day, she works in IT, and by night she considers herself incredibly lucky to be writing the type of books she loves to read, and to have the opportunity to share her own characters’ happy ever afters with readers. You can visit Leah at her website, www.leah-ashton.com.
* * *
Claire Baxter
Claire Baxter tried several careers before finding the one she really wanted. She’s worked as a translator, a PA, a PR consultant, a corporate communications manager and a tender/submission writer. Now she can’t imagine a better job than writing romance.
While Claire grew up in Warwickshire, England, she now lives in the beautiful city of Adelaide in South Australia with her husband and two sons. When she’s not writing, she enjoys reading, naturally, swimming and walking.
* * *
Ally Blake
In her previous life Australian romance author Ally Blake was a head cheerleader, a maths tutor, a dental assistant, and the secretary of the Australian Cinematographers Society. She married in Las Vegas – no Elvis in sight, though Tony Curtis did put in a special appearance. In this life Ally is a bestselling, multi-award winning novelist who has been published in over twenty languages with more than two million books sold world-wide. Ally and her family, including three boisterous toddlers, share a property in the leafy western suburbs of Brisbane, Australia, with kookaburras, cockatoos, lorikeets and the occasional creepy crawly. When not writing she loves eating M&Ms, watching The West Wing reruns, playing hide and seek, and barracking til hoarse for the Collingwood Magpies AFL team. Ally’s latest reads can be found on her website www.allyblake.com and you can follow her on twitter @ally_blake.
* * *
Jackie Braun
Jackie Braun is the author of more than 25 romance novels. She is a three-time RITA finalist, four-time National Readers’ Choice Award finalist, winner of the Rising Star Award and was nominated as Series Storyteller of the Year by RT Book Reviews in 2008. Her first Harlequin Romance, HER STAND-IN GROOM, was published in 2004. For more information on Jackie or her backlist of titles, visit her website at www.jackiebraun.com
* * *
Michelle Douglas
At the age of eight Michelle was asked what she wanted to be when she grew up. She answered, “A writer.” Years later she read an article about romance writing and thought, Ooh that’ll be fun. She was right. When she’s not writing she can usually be found with her nose buried in a book. She lives in a leafy suburb of Newcastle on Australia’s east coast. She loves to hear from readers and can be contacted at her website: www.michelle-douglas.com
* * *
Jennifer Faye
In another life, Jennifer Faye was a statistician. She still has a love for numbers, formulas and spreadsheets, but when she was presented with the opportunity to follow her lifelong passion to spend her days writing and pursuing her dream of becoming a Harlequin author, she couldn’t pass it up. These days when she’s not writing, Jennifer enjoys reading, fine needlework, quilting, tweeting and cheering on the Pittsburgh Penguins. She lives in Pennsylvania with her amazingly patient husband, two remarkably talented daughters and their two very spoiled furbabies otherwise known as cats, but shh…don’t tell them they’re not human.
Jennifer loves to hear from readers–you can contact her via: Website http://jenniferfaye.com/, Twitter: https://twitter.com/JenniferFaye34, Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JenniferFayeAuthor Tumblr: http://jenniferfaye34.tumblr.com/, Google+: https://plus.google.com/u/0/104684479474442299926/posts
* * *
Liz Fielding
Multi-award winning author, Liz Fielding has written more than sixty romance novels for Harlequin Romance. She has lived in Africa and the Middle East but is now settled in a small village in Wales with her “best beloved”. When she’s not writing, she’s
pottering in the garden or knitting for her granddaughter.
You can catch up with Liz at her site: www.lizfielding.com and follow her on twitter: @lizfielding.
* * *
Lucy Gordon
Lucy Gordon’s destiny as a romance author was decided when she went on vacation to Venice, and met a dashing Italian who proposed within two days. Years of happy marriage later she has written over ninety romances in which the heroes come from many difference parts of the world. English, American, French, German, Chinese, Russian, she’s written about them all. But most of her heroes are Italian, and Venice is her favourite setting.
She has won the Booksellers Best Award twice, The National Readers’ Choice Award twice, been a RITA finalist four times, and won twice. www.lucy-gordon.com
* * *
Barbara Hannay
After many years of living in cities, Barbara Hannay now lives on a misty hillside in Far North Queensland’s Atherton Tableland along with platypuses, tree kangaroos and a gazillion varieties of birds. When she’s not lost in the world of her stories, she enjoys reading, movies, gardening and she’s recently ventured into the ancient art of bottling home grown fruit and veggies. Barbara records her country life in her blog Barbwired.
She is a winner of both the RITA award and the Romantic Book of the Year award and she loves to hear from readers via her website www.barbarahannay.com.
* * *
Kate Hardy
Kate Hardy is an award-winning author of more than 50 romance novels for Harlequin Mills & Boon. She lives in Norwich (in the east of England) with her husband, two children, a Springer spaniel, and too many books to count. She loves cooking (which is why you’ll find a recipe in most of her books), reading, films, the theatre, long walks along the North Norfolk coast, and pottering around ruins and ancient churches.
You can catch up with Kate on her website –www.katehardy.com.
* * *
Fiona Harper
As a child, Fiona was constantly teased for two things: having her nose in a book and living in a dream world. Things haven’t changed much since then, but at least in writing she’s found a use for her runaway imagination. Fiona lives in London, England, with her very patient husband and her two wonderful daughters. She loves good books, good films and good food – especially anything cinnamon-flavoured, and she can always find some room in her diet for chocolate. You can visit Fiona on the web at www.fionaharper.com
* * *
Nina Harrington
Nina Harrington grew up in rural Northumberland, England, and decided age eleven, that she was going to be a librarian, because then she could read all of the books in the public library whenever she wanted!
Since then she has been a shop assistant, community pharmacist, technical writer, university lecturer, volcano walker, and industrial scientist, before taking a career break to realise her dream of being a fiction writer.
When she is not creating stories which make her readers smile, without the aid of pharmaceuticals, her hobbies are cooking, eating, enjoying good wine, and talking, for which she has had specialist training. You can visit her site at www.ninaharrington.com
* * *
Jessica Hart
Jessica’s earlier career was a haphazard one, including stints as foreign newsdesk secretary in London, cook on an Australian outback cattle station, TEFL teacher in Jakarta and interpreter on expedition in Cameroon. She first stumbled into writing as a way of funding a Ph.D. in Medieval Studies, and since then has written nearly 60 books for Harlequin Romance. Jessica lives in York with deadlines and a cat called Douglas. You can catch up with Jessica at her website: www.jessicahart.co.uk.
* * *
Melissa James
Melissa James is a Sydneysider, a wife and mother of three kids, and numerous and varied pets. Living on the beautiful beaches north of Sydney, she swapped beaches for the Swiss Alps for a few years, but has now returned to Australia. The daughter of a child-abuse counsellor led to her deeper emotional tales and characters with turbulent pasts. Having studied various eras in history at university, she writes historical fiction as well, filled with mystery and suspense. Visit her website at www.melissajames.net for tips on writing.
* * *
Shirley Jump
New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Shirley Jump spends her days writing women’s fiction and romantic comedies (The Princess Test,September 2011) to feed her shoe addiction and avoid cleaning the toilets. As AJ Whitten (www.ajwhitten.com), she also writes horror young adult novels for Houghton Mifflin’s Graphia imprint with her daughter (The Cellar, May 2011). She cleverly finds writing time by feeding her kids junk food, allowing them to dress in the clothes they find on the floor and encouraging the dogs to double as vacuum cleaners. Visit her website at www.shirleyjump.com or read recipes and life adventures at www.shirleyjump.blogspot.com.
* * *
Soraya Lane
Writing romance for Harlequin Mills & Boon is truly a dream come true for Soraya. An avid book reader and writer since her childhood, Soraya describes becoming a published author as “the best job in the world”, and hopes to be writing heart-warming, emotional romances for many years to come.
Soraya lives with her own real life hero and son on a small farm in New Zealand, surrounded by animals and with an office overlooking a field where their horses graze. Visit Soraya at www.sorayalane.com.
* * *
Marion Lennox
Marion Lennox lives in Australia’s Southern Highlands, with husband, kids, dogs and chaos. Her first novel, `Dare To Love Again’, was published in 1990, standing to this day as a testament to a family’s ability to survive on toasted sandwiches and spaghetti.
Marion’s now had over ninety romances published by Harlequin. She’s won the prestigious US Rita Award twice, having been
nominated 12 times, and in 2009 she won the US Romantic Times Career Achievement Award for a body of work which `makes us laugh and teaches us about love’. Read more about Marion at www.marionlennox.com
* * *
Nikki Logan
Nikki Logan lives on the edge of a string of wetlands south of Perth, Western Australia with her better-half and a menagerie of animals. She writes captivating, nature-based stories full of romance in descriptive natural environments. She believes the danger and richness of wild places perfectly mirror the passion and risk of falling in love.
Twitter: @ReadNikkiLogan Facebook
* * *
Myrna MacKenzie
Myrna Mackenzie grew up a daydreamer, knowing more about what she wasn’t qualified to be than what she actually wanted to be (no athletic skill, so pole vaulting was out; not a glib speaker, so not likely to become a politician; poor swimmer, so the door to marine biology was closed). Fortunately, daydreaming turned out to be an absolutely perfect qualification for a writer, and today Myrna feels blessed that she gets to make her living writing down her daydreams.
When she’s not writing, Myrna spends her time reading, hiking, collecting recipes she seldom makes, attempting to garden, and
writing a blog (which is so much fun)! Originally from Missouri, she and her husband divide their time between two lakes in Chicago and Wisconsin. Visit her at www.myrnamackenzie.com.
* * *
Nicola Marsh
USA TODAY bestselling author Nicola Marsh is addicted to books, both reading and writing them. Her dream to write got sidetracked when she worked as a physiotherapist for 13 years but these days she’s lucky enough to have the best of both worlds: raising her gorgeous little heroes and creating fun, flirty, feel-good stories. She’s been nominated for many awards and sold over 3 million copies worldwide.
When she’s not busy running around after her guys, she can be found researching foodie hotspots in her beautiful home city Melbourne, curled up with a fabulous book, or chatting-a lot-on Twitter! You can catch up with her via her website www.nicolamarsh.com Twitter @NicolaMarsh or Facebook http://facebook.com/NicolaMarshAuthor
* * *
Melissa McClone
With a dream to publish a romance novel and only rejections to show for her efforts, Melissa McClone’s quit her engineering job to give writing her best shot. Her first effort as a “full-time” writer was published by Silhouette in 1999. She has won a RT Reviewer’s Choice Award and was a Rita® Finalist in 2011.
Melissa lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband, three children, four cats and a dog named Chaos. Visit her website at http://www.melissamcclone.com.
* * *
Barbara McMahon
Barbara McMahon is an award-winning, best selling author of more than eighty novels. Known for warm family type stories, she enjoys capturing the first stage of a relationship and showing how despite obstacles thrown in their way, a man and a woman can find true love and lasting happiness.
Her books have been translated into 23 different languages and sold in more than 50 foreign countries.
Barbara’s home is in the Sierra Nevada mountains of California where she relishes the change of seasons, but likes spring best. You can find Barbara on the web at www.barbaramcmahon.com.
* * *
Susan Meier
A one-time legal secretary and director of a charitable foundation, Susan Meier found her bliss when she became a full-time novelist for Harlequin. She’s visited ski lodges and candy factories for “research,” and works in her pajamas. Her Christmas book, KISSES ON HER CHRISTMAS LIST, is a nominee for a REVIEWER’S CHOICE AWARD and an RT 4-1/2 star top pick for December 2011. You can find her at her website at www.susanmeier.com and on twitter: @susanmeier1 .
* * *
Barbara Wallace
Barbara Wallace has been a life-long romantic and daydreamer so it’s not surprising she decided to become a writer at age eight. However, it wasn’t until a co-worker handed her a romance novel that she knew where her stories belonged. Her first Harlequin Romance debuted in November 2010.
Barbara loves writing sweet, smart, ‘it-could-happen-to-you’ style romances. She lives in Massachusetts with her other loves – her husband, their teenage son, and three very spoiled pets (as if there could be any other kind). She also loves hearing from readers. You can find her at her website (www.barbarawallace.com), on Twitter (@BarbaraTWallace) and on Facebook.
* * *
Rebecca Winters
Life gets more exciting every year. I’m able to write stories that take place around the world and right here in my home state of
Utah. When you’re in the mood to get inside the skin of a royal or a Mediterranean tycoon who is suddenly a daddy, then my HARLEQUIN ROMANCES are for you. If you like a bigger story with more background that often contains a little suspense and undercover heroes like a Texas Ranger, try out my latest HARLEQUIN AMERICAN novels. And that’s only what is going on in my head and on the computer. I’m also a mom and the proud nana of 5 wonderful grandchildren who along with my church, enrich my life. You can find out more about my books at www.cleanromances.com.
* * *
Scarlet Wilson
Scarlet Wilson wrote her first story aged 8 and has never stopped. Her family have fond memories of ‘Shirley and the Magic Purse’ with its army of mice, all with names beginning with the letter ‘m’. An avid reader Scarlet started with every Enid Blyton book, moved on to the Chalet School and many years later found Harlequin Mills and Boon.
She’s worked in the health service for over 20 years, training as a nurse and a health visitor, and now currently working within public health. For her, finding medical romances was a match made in heaven. She’s just made her first sale to the Mills and Boon Cherish/Harlequin Romance line too. Her first book comes out in January 2014. You can catch up with her at her website, on Twitter and Facebook.
* * *
Trish Wylie
Trish Wylie lives on the borders between Counties Donegal and Fermanagh in Ireland where she splits her time between writing and numerous demanding four-legged friends. She has been writing for the Romance line since her first book was published in 2003 and has won the Romantic Times Reviewers Choice Award three times. To discover more about Trish you can visit her website at www.trishwylie.com or follow her on Twitter at www.twitter.com/@TrishWylie
* * *
Joss Wood
Joss Wood wrote her first book at the age of eight and has never really stopped. Her passion for putting black letters on a white screen is only matched by her love of books and travelling (especially to the wild places of Southern Africa) and, possibly, by her hatred of ironing and making school lunches.
Fueled by coffee, when she’s not writing or being a hands-on Mom, Joss works for a non-profit organization to promote the local economic development of her town and area. She lives in Kwa-Zulu Natal, South Africa with her husband, children and their many pets. Twitter: @JossWoodbooks Facebook: Joss Wood
