Beverly confesses to having been the prototype of the rebellious teenager. By the age of five—when she tried to rewrite the ending to The Wizard of Oz because it scared her—she knew she would be a writer. Therefore, the high school regimen was obviously not for her, and childhood was just something to get through before she could make her mark on the world. On one memorable occasion, she stood up in chemistry class to inform her teacher that she did not need to understand the subject because in a few years she would be writing for a living anyway. She failed the class, of course. Then, some 20 years later, she had to face the teacher at a reunion and admit that when she had to research DNA for a recent book she still had no clue what it was about! Since words are meant to be read and not eaten, Beverly turned seriously to writing when she was 22. The stars aligned for a time—she was single and her rent was astronomically low because she looked after the elderly lady who owned the building. She’d just gotten laid off from an advertising job with a newspaper due to budget cuts and therefore had an unemployment check coming in weekly. She decided that it was now or never—and Emeralds in the Dark was born, published by Silhouette to launch the Intimate Moments line in 1983. Since then, Beverly has published 20 books with Silhouette as well as several romantic suspense and historical novels. She prefers strong heroines with hidden soft spots and a penchant for getting themselves into trouble, figuring that she has had some experience herself in that area. Though she has lived in several places in the United States, Beverly returned to her roots to live on a barrier island off the coast of New Jersey with her son and a Chihuahua named Taco, where periodically she risks running into that chemistry teacher. But these days, she is much less rebellious and tends to tuck tail and run when she encounters someone she probably ticked off 25 years ago! Beverly loves to hear from readers but admits that she is seriously negligent about actually traveling to the post office and snail-mailing her replies. She asks that anyone who would like to contact her please do so via email at Bvrlye@aol.com.

Candace Schuler is a writer with a multiple personalities. In her 30+ year career, she has written software user guides, various types of instruction manuals, marketing collateral, grant proposals, case statements, case studies, business profiles, newsletters, press releases, white papers, speeches, scripts, short stories, a cookbook—and 26 (to date) romance novels. Candace credits her husband Joe and her love of travel with starting her career as a romance writer. It was his comments on a letter describing a trip to New Orleans that prompted her to try writing romance fiction. She wrote her first novel Desire’s Child by hand on 12 yellow legal pads. It was published by Harlequin in September, 1984 (after she typed it into a computer, of course). Her second book A Cherished Account was published by New American Library under the pen name Jeanette Darwin just one month later. She is also published under the name Candace Spencer. Her books have appeared on the B. Dalton’s and Waldenbooks bestseller lists and have twice been nominated by the Romance Writers of America for a RITA award in the Best Short Contemporary Romance category—in 1996 for Passion and Scandal and in 2003 for Good Time Girl. Good Time Girl also received the 2003 Scarlett Letter Award, presented by the Tampa Bay Romance Writers for excellence in sensual romance writing. Candace’s books have also received three Reviewers’ Choice Awards from Romantic Times magazine. In 1992, she was awarded the Career Achievement Award as Series Story Teller of the Year by RT. Because romance is truly universal, most of her books have been published in at least 20 languages, including Mandarin, Japanese, Greek, and most recently, Russian. She is currently in the process of digitizing her backlist for e-book publication. Other stuff: •Married almost 40 years to Joe, who recently retired from the IT industry to become a golf bum •“Mom” to two 75-pound Dobermans who think they are lap dogs •Plants a garden every year in hopes of producing the perfect tomato •Bakes a to-die-for chocolate cheesecake •Is a Big Brother Big Sister volunteer •Buys way too many shoes •Holds the Grant Professional Certified credential •Is a member of Novelists, Inc.