Mary Strand practiced law in a large Minneapolis firm until the day she set aside her pointy-toed shoes (or most of them) and escaped the world of mergers and acquisitions to write novels. The first manuscript she wrote, Cooper’s Folly, a romantic comedy, won RWA’s Golden Heart award and was her debut novel. Her love of Jane Austen prompted her four-book YA series, The Bennet Sisters. Driving with the Top Down is her second novel in The Pendulum Trilogy of women's fiction novels. Mary lives on a lake in Minneapolis with her family, too many Converse Chucks, and a stuffed monkey named Philip. When not writing books or songs, she lives for sports, travel, rocking out on guitar, dancing (badly), and ill-advised adventures (including dancing) that offer a high probability of injury to herself and others. Mary writes YA, romantic comedy, and women’s fiction novels. You can find her at www.marystrand.com, follow her on Twitter or Instagram (@Mary_Strand), or “like” her on Facebook (www.facebook.com/marystrandauthor).