Dear Readers, The love stories in my family have always been fodder for romance novels. My maternal grandmother and grandfather simultaneously ran a business together and raised four daughters, long before it was an accepted thing to do. Grandpa O’Dell ran the gas station and the barber shop; Grandma O’Dell managed the grocery and cooked for customers. They were true partners and madly in love and parted, tragically, way too soon when he succumbed to cancer when he was in his early fifties. Grandma grieved deeply but eventually picked herself up, started a new career as a cafeteria chef, and eventually found deep romantic love and happiness again, in the form of a second marriage. Read more here...

As a youngster growing up in the wide-open spaces of the Texas Panhandle, Sandy Steen loved storytelling—everything from tales about her family’s pioneer history, to movies and, of course, books, books, and more books. "My earliest memories are of reading. I would absorb the characters, and replay the stories over and over in my mind." And even though she often got into trouble for daydreaming instead of doing homework, she credits teachers who stressed the benefits of reading for the foundation of her writing success. From that early beginning her love of storytelling found its way into almost every corner of her life including such jobs as writing descriptions of new houses, speeches, and advertising copy. It was through one of those jobs that she met a published writer who suggested she try her hand at writing a romance novel. She’s been writing ever since. Even her hobbies reflect her career choice. Sandy collects Gone with the Wind memorabilia and has an extensive film noir collection. She’s also an avid Jeopardy buff, putting to use all of those bits and pieces of information from all the wonderful books she’s read. Those early years also gave Sandy a love and appreciation for the people and traditions of Texas. She likes nothing better than tapping into the rich heritage of the cowboy mystique for her heroes and setting her books in her home state. Texans are known for being larger than life, and she loves creating sexy, macho bad boys looking for good women. Sandy claims Texans have a reputation to protect, after all, so why settle for plain old happily-ever-after when her heroines can ride off into the sunset with a cross between John Wayne and Tom Cruise. "If you’re going to daydream," Sandy says, "might as well do it up right."

Sally McCluskey (aka Bethany Campbell) was born and raised in Omaha, Nebraska, as an only child. She attended college beginning as a chemistry major, after quickly switching her major to English. She obtainded a B.A. from Wayne State Teachers College, and an M.A. in English from the University of Arkansas. She met her husband, Dan Borengasser, while both were graduate students at Northern Illinois University, where she obtained a Ph.D. in English. Sally taught and in her spare time wrote, but after marriage, the couple moved to an area where teaching jobs were scarce, and she turned to writing full time. She wrote poetry, articles, short stories, and contributed to textbooks, but finally decided to try a romance novel at the urging of her mom and aunt, both avid romance fans. To Sally’s amazement, Harlequin bought her story After the Stars Fall and published it in 1985 under the pseudonym Bethany Campbell. She has also written as Lisa Harris. She has won three Romance Writers of America (RWA) RITA Awards, three Romantic Times Reviewer Awards, a Maggie Award, and the Daphne du Maurier Award of Excellence. She lived with her husband in northwest Arkansas. Her husband, who serves as Vice President of Ozark Film & Video Productions, also writes, and has had several short films and plays produced.