Multi award winning author, Barbara Hannay, is a city bred girl with a yen for country life. Most of her 50 plus books are set in rural and outback Australia and they've been enjoyed by readers around the world. Barbara has been nominated five times for Romance Writers of America's RITA Award which she won in 2007 and she has twice won Australia's Romantic Book of the Year award. In her own version of life imitating art, Barbara and her husband currently live on a misty hillside in beautiful Far North Queensland where they keep heritage pigs, hens, ducks, turkeys and an untidy but productive garden. Visit Barbara's website at www.barbarahannay.com Follow her on Facebook and Twitter

Bestselling, award winning author Barbara McMahon has written more than 80 novels which have sold more than 16 million copies world wide in more than fifty countries in twenty-eight languages. Known for her heartwarming, emotional stories, she excels in capturing those feelings when first falling in love. She has won or been nominated for every major award in the romance genre from a double nomination in the RITA to winning the Bookseller's Best, National Readers Choice Award and the prestigious HOLT Medallion, among others. Barbara lives in a rural county in California's gold rush country. She loves the history of the place and is involved in the county's genealogy group and historic cemetery preservation in addition to volunteering one day a week at the local Animal Shelter.

Rebecca Winters, an American writer and mother of four, lives in Salt Lake City, Utah. When she was 17, she went to boarding school in Lausanne, Switzerland, where she learned to speak French and met girls from all over the world. Upon returning to the U.S., Rebecca developed her love of languages when she earned her B.A. in secondary education, history, French, and Spanish from the University of Utah and did postgraduate work in Arabic. Because of her studies overseas, Rebecca decided to become a teacher and studied French and history at her alma mater in Utah. For the past 15 years, she's taught junior-high and high-school French and history, and says she got into serious writing almost by accident. "I went through a back door to begin my writing career," she says. "In the first place, I never liked to write anything—I only wrote mandatory papers for school. If anyone had told me I would become a writer, let alone love it, I would have laughed and dismissed the notion as absolutely absurd and preposterous. "Having said that, I did write letters to my parents while I was away at boarding school when I was 17. My mother kept them and one day, after I had become a mother for the second time, she sent me all my old letters and asked me to write my memories from them for posterity. At the time I thought she was insane, but because I adore my mother I did as she asked. "By the time I’d finished sorting through all those teenage thoughts, observations and opinions, the seeds of a story had begun to form in my mind. The seed eventually became a novel and was published in 1979. It was called The Loving Season, published under the name Rebecca Burton. Naturally, it takes place in Switzerland and France. "As soon as I finished that novel, I found myself wanting to start another novel entitled By Love Divided, a World War II romance. A few years later, Harlequin bought a novel, Blind to Love, a story that takes place in Kenya. It’s been a love affair ever since. "I guess the moral of the story is, never underestimate a mother’s intuition!" As Rebecca has kept writing, her talents have not gone unrecognized. She has won the National Readers' Choice Award, the Romantic Times Reviewers’ Choice Award, and has been named Utah Writer of the Year. Right now, Rebecca is working her way toward her 50th novel for Harlequin.

Aka Helen Conrad and Jena Hunt Helen Conrad was born on April 11, 1945 in Pasadena, California, U.S.A. and grew up between Holland, Guam, and California, and spent a few years in Washington, D.C. as well. She obtained a B.A. in English Literature. Helen was working toward a Master's in Library Science when she dropped out to have her first son. "One look into those baby blue eyes and I knew it was going to be a long time before I went back to school. But with young ones, you do have time to read, and the more I read, the more I learned about writing". She started writing because she felt guilty about spending so much time reading. "Through writing I figured I could still immerse myself in the stories I love, but I could actually claim I was working! The amazing thing was when I sold my first book and the excuse was justified. Dreams really do come true!" After years of writing romantic suspense in the style of Mary Stewart and children's books in a lot of styles, she finally sold a romance to Jove's Second Chance at Love and there was celebration all around-at least in her ever-patient family of husband and four boys. She published four more romances for Jove under the name Jena Hunt, then began writing Silhouette Desires. A few sales to Bantam Loveswept and Harlequin Romance, Temptationand SuperRomance under the name Helen Conrad followed, as well as to Harpers, Dell Ecstasy, Mills & Boon, and even an historical with Zebra. Today, she is concentrating on Silhouette Romance, completely captivated by the breezy fun and touching poignancy of their compact, to-the-point form. She feels the perfect "quick read" should make the reader smile, sigh and put the book down feeling better about the state of love in the world. Now, she lives in the Los Angeles area now with Nick, her geologist-computers cientist husband and the two of her four sons who still live at home."Having the boys around helps keep me up on the current trends," she says with a laugh. "But writing helps keep me in touch with the romance that weaves through the everyday lives we all live.

Originally born and raised in Muncie, Indiana, Patricia Thayer was the second of eight children. She attended Ball State University, and soon afterward she headed West. Over the years, she’s made frequent visits back to the Midwest, trying to keep up with her family’s numerous weddings and births. Patricia has called Orange County, California home for many years. She not only enjoys the warm climate, but also the company and support of other published authors in the local writer’s organization. For the past eighteen years, she had the unwavering support and encouragement of her critique group. It’s a sisterhood like no other. When not working on a story, you might find her traveling the United States and Europe, taking in the scenery and doing story research while thoroughly enjoying herself accompanied by, Steve, her husband for over 35 years. Together, they have three grown sons and four grandsons. As she calls them, her own true life heroes. On rare days off from writing, you might catch her at Disneyland, spoiling those grandkids rotten! She also volunteers for the Grandparent Autism Network. Patricia has written for over 20 years and has authored over 35 books for Silhouette and Harlequin. She has been nominated for both the National Reader’s Choice Award and the prestigious RITA. Her book, Nothing Short of a Miracle won a Romantic Times Reviewer’s Choice award. She has been a guest reader at elementary schools and lectured aspiring authors. A long time member of Romance Writers of America, she has served as President and held many other board positions for her local chapter in Orange County. She’s a firm believer in giving back.