Eileen Wilks’ first book, a Silhouette Desire published in 1996, hit the USA Today Bestseller List and was nominated for Romantic Times' Best First Short Contemporary award. Since then, her books have appeared consistently on national bestseller lists. With thirty two books in print and novellas in nine anthologies, she has been a finalist in the prestigious Rita Awards three times, as well as receiving several nominations from Romantic Times, including one for Career Achievement in Series Romantic Suspense. Each book in her World of the Lupi series gains a larger audience. It was originally sold in the Romance section of bookstores, but more and more you will be able to find copies cross-shelved under Sci-Fi and Fantasy as the popularity of the series grows! Eileen has lived in the West Texas town of Midland, TX for over 30 years—three years as a young teen, and the remaining years since she moved back here as an adult. When she first started writing over 10 years ago, it hit her like the first drink for an alcoholic . . . or the first kiss for Romeo and Juliet. She came to writing romance in a roundabout way. Having read and loved science fiction for years, that’s where she first tried her hand when the writing bug bit. Somehow her stories always ended up having a strong romantic subplot, but she hadn’t read a romance since the early 80’s and didn’t think “those little books” were her kind of stories. But when a friend in her critique group began working on a romance novel, Wilks decided she needed to give the genre another try. She asked her friend to recommend some titles—and quicker than you can say “Jayne Ann Krentz,” she fell in love. The genre had been busy growing up while she wasn’t watching. These days, with romances comprising over 50% of the mass market books published in the U.S., there are romances to appeal to almost every taste—historicals, paranormals and contemporaries that range from romantic suspense to romantic comedy, from inspirational to sizzling. Eileen covered a lot of territory before coming home to Midland, having lived in Canada and Venezuela as well as twelve U.S. cities in five states. Profile taken from the author's site with her permission.

Sherrilyn McQueen aka Sherrilyn Kenyon & Kinley MacGregor

Since first publishing in January 1996, Lori Foster has become a USA Today, Publisher’s Weekly and New York Times bestselling author. Lori has published through a variety of houses, including Kensington, St. Martin’s, Harlequin, Silhouette, Samhain, and Berkley/Jove. She is currently published with HQN. Lori hosts a very special annual “Reader & Author” event in West Chester, Ohio. Proceeds from the event have benefited many worthy causes, including the Hamilton County YWCA Battered Women’s Shelter, the Animal Adoption Foundation, The Conductive Learning Center for children with spina bifida and cerebral palsy, and The One Way Farm, Children’s Home. Each year Lori donates all proceeds from one book to charity. You can see the benefit romance books here: http://lorifoster.com/benefit-books/ Career Highlights •In 2001, Lori received the prestigious Romantic Times “Career Achievement Award” for Series Romantic Fantasy. •In 2002, Lori’s book Too Much Temptation was the top-selling romance title for Amazon books. •In 2003, Say No To Joe was the second “Bestselling Original Contemporary” romance title for Waldenbooks. •In 2004, Lori Foster was a clue in the New York Times crossword puzzle. •In 2004, The Secret Life of Bryan was the “Bestselling Original Contemporary” romance title for the BGI group. •In 2005, Lori received the prestigious Romantic Times “Career Achievement Award” for Contemporary Romance. •In 2006, Jude’s Law was the “Bestselling Romantic Comedy” romance title for the BGI group. •In 2007, Lori launched a new “urban fantasy” series under the name L.L. Foster. See more on her “dark side” at www.llfoster.com. •In 2007, Causing Havoc was among Amazon’s Top Ten Editor’s picks in Romance. •In 2008, Hard to Handle made #2 on The New York Times. •In 2009, Servant: The Acceptance was Amazon’s #1 Editors’ Pick in Romance. •In 2010, Lori was a clue in the USA Today Quick Cross puzzle.