Mary Mecham writes clean young adult fairy tale retellings packed full of adventure and romances. Get a FREE e-copy of her Rumpelstiltskin retelling, A Curse of Gold and Beauty, when you sign up for her newsletter at MaryMecham.com Mary is a born and raised Texan with a love of theater and books overshadowed only by her passion for disability advocacy. After she was cast in a theatrical production of Cinderella as the Ugly Stepsister, Mary decided to give a voice and background to her character and created her first novel Ugly: The Stepsister's Story. When she is not writing, Mary is an active disability advocate and speaker and holds multiple leadership positions in various disability rights related organizations, including running her own non-profit and coordinating Disability Book Week each year. Her dream is for everyone with a disability to find themselves represented in literature. Mary lives in Texas (and will never leave!) with her husband and three children. "I only review books I love. I don't want to tear down what someone worked hard on. If I didn't like it, I probably wasn't that book's target audience, so I don't review it, simple as that."

I love words. I always have. In songs, in poems, in books, in movies—words move me. In my younger years, I dabbled in writing as a therapy and an escape, but I never expected it to become more than that. While deep in the depths of mommying several small children, I took seven years to write my first book, Just Ella. During that time, I taught myself how to write a novel through a whole lot of trial and error. Not the most time-efficient method, but it gave me an education I wouldn’t have received from a class or a how-to book. Something about the struggle of writing without a formula or rules worked for me. I wrote for me. I wrote from my heart space, and I think that’s the reason that Just Ella has found room in so many of my readers’ heart spaces. I write clean romance because I love it. I love the discovery of new love. I love the relationship building that’s done with looks, words, brushing fingers, and tentative kisses. Jane Eyre is the hero of my youth and taught me that being true to yourself and clinging to your convictions will be hard, but it will bring you more genuine happiness than giving up on yourself ever can. I am an extraordinarily happy wife, and a mother of five kids. I’ve lived in Utah, Arizona, Missouri, and Virginia, but my heart is now firmly ensconced in Idaho where we’ve built a home and a community. I love chocolate, waterfalls, pretty teacups, the sight and sound of ocean waves, and most especially my husband and my five littles. I love books that leave me with a sigh of contentment, and I aspire to write stories that do the same for my readers. Find me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/annetteklar... Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authoraklarsen Follow me on twitter: @AnnetteKLarsen Contact Me: http://www.annetteklarsen.com/contact...