An Oregon native, Lori Borrill moved to the San Francisco Bay Area just out of high school and has been a transplant Californian ever since. Her weekdays are spent at the insurance company where's she's been employed as a data analyst for over twenty years. The bulk of her evenings are spent at the Little League fields cheering on her son. Lori started writing in June of 2004 after her husband left his job to pursue his dream of owning a business. Not only did the move help ease their hectic schedules, but he became a solid example that those dreams that seem impossible can often come true. She proved that point herself exactly two years later when Kathryn Lye called to tell her she'd sold to the Harlequin Blaze line. Lori claims it was the eHarlequin.com community that prompted her to write her first novel. "After reading countless romances, I saw the Web address on a book and decided to check it out," she says. "At the time, I was just looking for writer's guidelines, but the moment I clicked into the Learn To Write forum, I was amazed by the volume of information available to aspiring writers. They really came across like they wanted me to try this." Since then, she's been an active member of the eHarlequin.com community, finding all of her closest writing friends through the site. "What propelled me from novice to published author were the people I've met through the Harlequin boards," she says. "I've made some treasured friendships with talented authors who not only helped me hone the craft, but have become a system of support I can't imagine writing without."

I often read of or hear about authors who knew they were meant to tell stories from the time they left the crib. Me? I didn't decide what I wanted to be when I grew up until I was thirty years old - and then sold my first book at thirty-four. Still, it was obvious that I always knew I was going places. Like so many other authors, I was a voracious reader from day one, devouring everything from Nancy Drew to My Friend Flicka, which I remember sitting hovered over the heater vent in the kitchen floor to read while my father made his coffee. I moved on to my mother's Phyllis Whitney, Dorothy Eden, and Mary Stewart gothics before discovering my first true romances written by Lucy Walker and set in the Australian Outback. And then, at last, when I was 18 I found 'The Flame and the Flower'. (My son almost spent his life as Brandon because of that, but I spared him and named him Casey instead!) Why write romance? Because love stories have always been a major part of the books I've loved. Father Ralph and Meggie Cleary. (I did name my daughter Megan after reading The Thorn Birds! Do you see a trend here?) The aforementioned Brandon Birmingham and Heather Simmons. Wolf Mackenzie and Mary Potter. Even more so, it's because I love writing romance heroes. The men who sweep both heroines and readers off their feet - not to mention their authors, too! I've spent several years happily writing action adventure romance for Kensington Brava along with hot and sexy series romances for Harlequin Blaze. Now I'm thrilled to be a launch author for Vows.

I always wanted to be a writer—from the moment I put fat pencil to brown-lined paper in second grade to write an elaborate story using all the spelling words on our list. Though I always wanted to be a professional writer, I wasn't sure I had the stuff, so I graduated from college with a teaching degree and taught elementary school—second and third grades (the best)—and then began freelance feature writing for newspapers and magazines, local and national. I left teaching to work in public relations—skills I use today in my job as a writer/editor for the Arizona Education Association. I met my husband, David Weiss, my very own hero, in 1980, on an airplane. We made the "love thang" permanent in 1985, when we married taking our Hobie sailboat to San Diego for our honeymoon. Then in 1990, we welcomed a son into our lives. He continues to be the light of our life together. My first romance credits were two stories in True Love magazine. I went on to write a sexy romance in 1983, which was rejected—sniff. Years later—1996—I got serious about getting published. Though I endured some rejections as I honed my craft, in 1998, I sold the first of two short romantic comedies to Kensington Publishing—Getting Zack Back, published in December. In July 2000, Baby Makes Three was released. After coming in second among published authors in a Harlequin Duets contest, I sold to Harlequin in 2001, quickly selling another comedy. In addition to Duets, I write for Temptation, Blaze and, the new comedy line Flipside. Most of my hobbies—sailing, scuba-diving, playing the piano (badly)—have gone by the wayside as I devote all my non-family spare time to writing. I live in the Phoenix area with my husband and son, who proudly brings my books to his teachers and swears he doesn't read them—except for the funny parts.

Author Tori Carrington is the penname of husband and wife writing team Lori and Tony Karayianni. Hands down, penning a bio is always the most difficult writing challenge we take on. What do we say? What do we keep a secret? Considering we've been writing together for over twenty-two years...well, that reveals more about us than anything you'll likely read here. We're fiction writers simply because we enjoy escaping into an exciting, colorful, fictional world of our own making. Take great, shameless pleasure in delving into the lives of others. Revel in living vicariously through our characters, trying on career hats we'd never otherwise put on, stretching muscles we'd probably be better off excercising in reality. We won't even discuss how our writing allows us to voice opinions on society, romance and human sexuality that aren't subject to public ridicule but rather presented as entertainment. To go there, well, we'd be revealing a little too much, now, wouldn't we? So we'll stick to just the facts, ma'am—or sir, depending on your preference, which may or may not have anything to do with your sex. Should you desire more information, feel free to e-mail us and we'll provide you with our phone number, or—our preference—arrange to meet with you one-on-one where we can learn as much, or perhaps more, about you as you will about us. Depending on our mood, we may spill everything we'd prefer to keep a secret, like which traits we would change about the other if given half a chance. Likewise, we may wisecrack our way through the interview, sprinkle our responses with what we find exciting about our latest book, and blissfully skate over personal details that might bare a little too much. Trust us, this is not an attempt to create an aura of mystery. We're not quite that saavy. No, we're just very protective of our evolving selves and consider ourselves open-minded, known to change an opinion the moment we voice it or are presented with further information, so we're hesitant to commit any to writing. Guess we're very Socrates-like (as opposed to Socratic) in that way, which isn't altogether a bad thing.. So rather than dictate to you here, we'll lay out the basic facts, then provide a number of links to others who have interviewed us. I'm (Lori Schlachter Karayianni) a Holy Toledo, Ohio, native, having attended Central Catholic but ultimately graduating from Macomber-Whitney with certification in computer science. After working in the computer industry for a number of years—and after Tony and I endeavored to write our first novel—I switched to temp work which ultimately led to a four-year stint as a secretary/sales clerk in the engineering and international sales departments of Owens-Illinois, the international container company that put the "glass" into The Glass City. I put the brakes on before I reached the five-year mark, however, the point of no return for most dreamers who get caught in the corporate trap (more vacation time? Better benefits? Probably I should stay until retirement). Tony's background couldn't be more different from mine, but thankfully it led him to me. Born in Smila, a small hillside village in the area of Ancient Olympia outside Pyrgos, Greece, (where his family has deep roots and an older brother still maintains the family olive groves) he was raised in Athens during a time of political and cultural upheaval, although neither stopped him from becoming a drummer in a successful pop band that often played with Greek singer Teris Chrysos. He immigrated to the U.S. in late 1976 and with the help of the Greek community achieved the American Dream. Only the hunger for something more, the restless searching that originally compelled him to turn his back on his successful music career and brought him here, remained. It wasn't until after we'd become a couple, and he turned to me and suggested that we try our hand at writing, that both of us discovered the true meaning of th

USA TODAY bestselling author Stephanie Bond was seven years deep into a systems engineering career and pursuing an MBA at night when an instructor remarked that she had a flair for writing and suggested that she submit to academic journals. But Stephanie, a voracious reader, was only interested in writing fiction–more specifically, romantic fiction. Upon completing her master’s degree and with no formal training in writing (her undergraduate degree is in computer programming), she started writing a romance novel in her spare time. Two years later in 1995 she sold her first manuscript, a romantic comedy, to Harlequin Books. In 1997, with ten sales under her belt to two publishers, Stephanie left her corporate job to write women’s romantic fiction full-time. In 2011, Stephanie launched a self-publishing business. Since that time, she has sold more than 1 million copies of her own books. To-date, Stephanie has published over 70 novels and has over 6 million copies of her work in worldwide distribution in numerous languages and formats.

I've always been an incurable romantic. While I enjoy reading all types of fiction, my favorites, the books that touch my soul, are romance novels. From sexy to thrilling, sweet to humorous, I like them all. But what I really love is writing romance—the hotter the better! I started my first novel back in high school and have been writing ever since. To date, I've published over thirty novels, one of them a prestigious RITA Award nominee, Romance Writers of America's highest award of excellence. I have also been nominated by Romantic Times magazine for several Reviewer's Choice awards, as well as a career achievement award. I've written for several different publishers, including Harlequin Books, Leisure Books, Berkley/Jove, St. Martin's Press and Warner Books. Born and bred in the Lone Start State, I still live deep in the heart with my real-life hero, Curt, and our young children. Like any over-worked, under-appreciated wife and mother, I have very little free time. But when I find a few precious moments, I LOVE to read. Some of my favorite authors include Janet Evanovich, Vicki Lewis Thompson, Charlaine Harris (see my Favorite Reads page for more) and the exceptionally talented Nina Bangs. Give me a bag of Sugar Babies, a Toby Keith or Kevin Fowler CD (I love Texas music), and a great book, and I'm in heaven!