Also writes under the pen name Laurie Fitzgerald. Lorie O'Clare was born in 1965 in San Diego, CA. She's the oldest of three children and for the first part of her life traveled with her family, living in many Midwestern states, Iowa, Missouri, Indiana and finally Kansas. She graduated from high school in 1983 as a junior and began her college life at age 17. She received a double major in English and Political Science in 1991. Although her original intentions were to go on to law school, and she went as far as taking the LSAT, being a lawyer wasn't in the writing for Ms. O'Clare. The same year she graduated from the Univ. of KS. she also married. Ten months later she gave birth to her first son. Her second son was born in 1994 and her third son in 1996. Although she wanted a daughter, this was also a plan of hers that would never happen. Six months after her third son was born she had a hysterectomy. Her marriage lasted ten years with an amiable parting. During those years, Lorie began reading every romance she could get her hands on. Times were hard and she went through every romance novel her library had, then found very cheap book clubs and received new romance novels in the mail each month. The Internet also entered Lorie's life during this time and she made on line friends with similar interests to hers. Lorie continued with her passion for reading, merging into other genres when she was convinced she'd read every published romance novel out there. While reading she often experienced the sensation that she could have made the story better. She began writing, purely for her own satisfaction. In those early years, when her boys were young and she was newly divorced, Lorie wrote eight full length novels. All but one of those novels would later be published. In 1998, Lorie took the push from her on line friends and tried publishing her first novel, a children's story called Dolls Of Tashan. She printed manuscripts on her word processor and mailed them out as often as she could afford the postage. The rejection letters were painful but she kept every one of them, first in one spiral notebook, then eventually adding another, and finally a third. In 2003, Lorie published her first book with a very small epublisher called Amber Quill Press. The book wasn't her children's story but a romance novel. To this day she has not published Dolls of Tashan, the first book she ever wrote. Later that same year, a good friend encouraged Lorie to try writing erotic romance. Lorie had a completed novel ready to submit. Instead of sending it to her current epublisher, she submitted it to a larger epublisher called Ellora's Cave. Although this was an erotic romance publisher and Lorie's novel was a simple romance, with little more than a chaste kiss, Ellora's Cave contracted the book and assigned an editor who taught Lorie how to write erotic romance. The book contracted was In Her Blood, a werewolf novel. Her new editor suggested she write a short story and turn the werewolves into a series. Lorie did this and her first book published with Ellora's Cave was Pack Law in October, 2003. Today Lorie O'Clare has published over 60 books. She still writes for Ellora's Cave. In 2008 she sold her first book to St. Martins, which took her name into mass market publishing. Today Lorie has two books out with St. Martins with six more scheduled to release over the next couple of years. She also sold a book to Kensington Press in 2008. Currently she has two books out with Kensington and plans to continue writing for them as well. Lorie writes full time, lives with her teenage boys, her two dogs, Dude, her Boston Terrier, and Lady, her Beagle. She also has two American Short hair cats, Ernie and Tigger. She plans on writing until she dies. "There is nothing more fulfilling than creating a new world and walking through it with the people who live there,

The only thing Cindy had in mind when she started writing her first book was finishing it. The issue of actually selling it came much later. Only after she made that life-altering first sale did she realize that one book would never be enough. Now, over 20 books and numerous awards later, Cindy laughingly admits that she can barely remember life before...well, was there life before writing? Actually, yes there was, and still is. A professional career woman, Cindy is a trainer for the Iowa Department of Human Services, a position she states is both challenging and rewarding. "Human Services is a front-line, real-life event. Everything about the job is immediate, from serving families in crisis, to assisting staff with difficult situations, to meeting tension-fraught deadlines." Cindy's career has taught her much about the human condition, its frailties, its strengths, and its spirit. The evocative emotions that pour from the pages of her books are a reflection of some of her work experiences. Her writing celebrates life's richness and trials, offering a wide range of emotions—hope and elation, anger and indecision, laughter and, of course, love. And, according to her readers, her powerful love scenes run the gamut from steamy to tender to lusty to just plain fun. Cindy's writing has netted her spots on bestseller lists, numerous RT nominations and awards, the Colorado Romance Writers Award of Excellence, a National Reader's Choice Award and two RITA nominations. Between writing and working full time you wouldn't think Cindy would have much time for anything else. And while she does find her work and her writing rewarding, there does have to be more. Cindy has more. Much more. She is happily married to the perfect man. Tom's a cowboy, ladies! Yes, even Iowa has its share of that saddle-straddling, Wrangler-wearing species who love their horses almost as much as they love their women. As a matter of fact, recently a whole herd of Texans gathered at the Gerard "Ranch" to treat their little ones to real horseback rides. Go figure. Cindy has a passion for pink depression glass—she always has her eye out for the special piece to add to her collection. Cindy's down time often takes the form of the classic "busman's holiday." She loves to read and most of all, she loves to read at their summer place, a cabin in the woods on Lake Kabetogama in northern Minnesota. Both Tom and Cindy enjoy gardening and have recently expanded their annual beds into a perennial garden. Cindy says she can hardly wait for spring and the promise of all that reawakening and the colorful blooms. In addition to the horses, the Gerards have two dogs, Ellie and Boomer, who pretty much get anything they want. Tom and Cindy have one son, Kyle, who, after years of keeping them in suspense, found Eileen, the perfect woman. http://us.macmillan.com/author/cindyg...

Lora Leigh lives in the rolling hills of Kentucky, often found absorbing the ambience of this peaceful setting. She dreams in bright, vivid images of the characters intent on taking over her writing life, and fights a constant battle to put them on the hard drive of her computer before they can disappear as fast as they appeared. Lora’s family, and her writing life co-exist, if not in harmony, in relative peace with each other. Surrounded by a menagerie of pets, friends, and a teenage son who keeps her quick wit engaged, Lora’s life is filled with joys, aided by her fans whose hearts remind her daily why she writes. Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/6... http://us.macmillan.com/author/loraleigh