Ria MacAlister has not lived a fairy-tale life. Molested as a child, raped as a teen and abused as a wife, she buried herself in books and relationships to help numb self-deprecating feelings. When her fifth marriage started heading south, she began writing as a panacea of sorts to help heal her own scars. Also writing as VJ Dunn, believable Christian romance. The upcoming Tenderize© Series is dedicated to those men who aren't the good guys, not the handsome heartthrobs; the lowest of the low, the dregs of society, the men you cross the street to avoid. But for every hardened bad guy, there is always one woman whose soft and tender touch can bring them to their knees…because everyone knows just a little sweetness can tenderize the toughest cut. Ria/VJ lives in the southwestern United States with her sixth (and she swears last!) husband, who happens to closely resemble the hero of her first novel 'Heartshaped Shards'. She met her husband after she wrote the novel, knowing right away this marriage was meant to be. "There really are happy endings out there…you just have to wait for them."