Award winning New Zealand contemporary romance novelist and short story writer, Stephanie Ruth lives in the South Island, Te Waipounamu, with her husband, three children, and an ever expanding array of animals. If it doesn't have a happy ending in some form or other, Stephanie's not writing it. You can find her on Facebook @stephanieruth.nz, Instagram and Twitter @ruth_writes_nz, or on her website www.stephanie-ruth.com

Alexa Rivers writes about genuine characters living messy, imperfect lives and earning hard-won happily ever afters. Most of her books are set in small towns, and she lives in one of these herself. She shares a house with a neurotic dog and a husband who thinks he’s hilarious. When she’s not writing, she enjoys traveling, baking, eating too much chocolate, cuddling fluffy animals, drinking excessive amounts of tea, and absorbing herself in fictional worlds.

Amy Blythe lives in Christchurch, New Zealand, with her husband, two kids, and one enormous fluffy cat. She’s a High School English teacher by day (and sometimes night), and writes whenever she gets the chance. Jane Austen was her first love, closely followed by Marian Keyes, and rather than pick one flavour of fiction, she’s gone ahead and written both historical and contemporary novels. If you like earls and viscounts, elaborate gowns and unspoken passions, manners and morality, secrets and swordplay, then the regency romances are for you! If you prefer a more modern jaunt to Paris or London, a sexy stranger, misunderstandings and mishaps, terrible timing and tantalising near-misses, the romantic comedies are going to be more your jam. If you love to read both, well, talk about kindred spirits! It’d be a crime not to be friends! Amy would love to hear from you. A big believer in creative communities, Amy often reads at local open-mics, loves her chapter of Romance Writers of New Zealand, and used to chair the Canterbury branch of the New Zealand Society of Authors. Every school holidays, a highlight is going along to the weekly write-in she started over three years ago.

Kiwi Emmy-Lou James loves anything romance. Her romance novels include the Heaven Sent series based around the Devereaux family in up-state New York, and the spin-off series Beneath the Mackenzie Sky, based in New Zealand and the Pegasus Days series based on South Island, New Zealand. She's published a number of articles relating to writing, along with several short stories. As a member of the New Zealand Society of Authors, Romance Writers of New Zealand and Romance Writers of Australia, she is an active member of the writing community across Australasia. In addition to this, she is one of the NaNoWriMo's co-Municipal Liaison for her region. She also chairs the local chapter of Romance Writers of New Zealand, founded the North Canterbury Writers group and co-hosts the Christchurch NZ Writers online hub. If that's not enough, Emmy-Lou is lucky enough to share her life with her soulmate and best friend, is proud mum to six beautiful kids and shares her home with her two pedantic cats and a recently rescued, somewhat hyperactive kitten named Cass. You can find out more about Emmy-Lou's projects on Twitter @emmyloujames or on her Facebook @EmmyLouJamesAuthor