Biography
Stephanie Laurens was born on 14 August 1953 in Sri Lanka. When she was 5, her family moved to Melbourne, where she was raised. After continuing through school and earning a PhD in Biochemistry in Australia, Laurens and her husband moved to Great Britain, taking one of the last true overland journeys from Kathmandu to London.
Once in London, Laurens and her husband both began work as research scientists in Kent. They lived in an area surrounded by history. Their own cottage was built in the 16th century, while next door were the protected ruins of an early Roman villa, and nearby was a 14th-century castle.
After four years in England, Laurens and her husband returned to Australia, where she continued to work in cancer research, eventually heading her own research laboratory. One evening she realised that she did not have any more of her favourite romance novels to read. After years of thinking about writing her own novel, during nights and weekends for the next several months she began crafting her own story. That manuscript, Tangled Reins, was the first of her books to be published. After achieving a level of success with her novels, Laurens "retired" from scientific research and became a full-time novelist. Her novels are primarily historical romances set in the Regency time period.
Stephanie Laurens and her husband live in Melbourne with their two cats.
Julia Pottinger, better known by her pen name, Julia Quinn, is an American author of historical romance fiction. Her novels have been translated into 41 languages and have appeared on The New York Times Bestseller List 19 times. She has been inducted into the Romance Writers of America Hall of Fame. Her Bridgerton series of novels has been adapted for Netflix by Shondaland under the title Bridgerton.
Mary Balogh is a Welsh-Canadian novelist writing historical romance, born and raised in Swansea. In 1967, she moved to Canada to start a teaching career, married a local coroner and settled in Kipling, Saskatchewan, where she eventually became a school principal. Her debut novel appeared in 1985. Her historical fiction is set in the Regency era (1811–1820) or the wider Georgian era (1714–1830).
Regency romances are a subgenre of romance novels set during the period of the British Regency (1811–1820) or early 19th century. Rather than simply being versions of contemporary romance stories transported to a historical setting, Regency romances are a distinct genre with their own plot and stylistic conventions. These derive not so much from the 19th-century contemporary works of Jane Austen, but rather from Georgette Heyer, who wrote over two dozen novels set in the Regency starting in 1935 until her death in 1974, and from the fiction genre known as the novel of manners. In particular, the more traditional Regencies feature a great deal of intelligent, fast-paced dialogue between the protagonists and very little explicit sex or discussion of sex.
Mary Josephine Beverley was a prolific English-Canadian writer of historical and contemporary romance novels from 1988 to 2016.
The Regency era in the United Kingdom is the period between 1811 and 1820, when King George III was deemed unfit to rule and his son, later George IV, was instated to be his proxy as prince regent. It was a decade of particular manners and fashions and overlaps with the Napoleonic period in Europe.
Suzanne Enoch is an American author of best-selling contemporary and historical Regency romance novels.
Christina Dodd is the best-selling American author of suspense and regency historical romance. She is a recipient of the RITA Award.
Mary Jo Putney is a best-selling American author of over twenty-five historical and contemporary romance novels. She has also published romantic fantasy novels as M.J. Putney. Her books are known for their unusual subject matter, including alcoholism, death, and domestic abuse.
Loretta Chase, née Loretta Lynda Chekani is an American writer of romance novels since 1987.
Gaelen Foley is an American author best known for writing romance novels set in the Regency era. She has also been self-publishing middle grade fantasy books under the pen name E.G. Foley since 2012. Her books have been in the USA Today bestseller list regularly since 2000 and the New York Times bestseller list since 2008. Gaelen's novels have been translated into 20+ foreign languages and have sold millions of copies worldwide.
Brenda Hiatt is an American, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of romantic adventure novels, including traditional Regency romance, time travel romance, historical novels, contemporary humorous mystery, and most recently young adult science fiction romance. She has authored and published over 20 such novels in a writing career that started in 1988.
Karen Ranney was an American author of historical and paranormal romance novels.
The RITA Award, presented by the Romance Writers of America (RWA) from 1990 to 2019, was the most prominent award for English-language romance fiction. It was named for the RWA's first president, Rita Clay Estrada. After not being awarded in 2020, it was replaced by the Vivian Award, which was awarded once in 2021.
Celeste Bradley is an American romance novelist.
Sheila Frances Walsh was a British writer of romance novels from 1975 to 2001; she also wrote as Sophie Leyton.
Nicola Cornick is a British writer of historical romance novels and time slip mysteries that merge multiple genres, including historical fiction, romance, suspense, adventure, crime, science fiction/fantasy and the supernatural. Her books have been translated into over 40 languages and she has won a number of awards.
Tessa Dare is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling American historical romance novelist. She has authored fifteen novels and novellas and created five different series. In 2012, she won the Romance Writers of America RITA award for Best Regency Historical Romance for her book A Night to Surrender.
Linda Sole is an awarded and prolific British writer of romance and suspense novels since 1980, she also writes under the pseudonyms of Lynn Granville, Anne Herries, Emma Quincey, Cathy Sharp, Rosie Clarke and Juliana Linden. In 2004, her novel A Damnable Rogue won the Love Story of the Year Award by the Romantic Novelists' Association.
Louise Allen is the pseudonym used by Melanie Hilton a British writer of romance novels since 1993, she started writing in collaboration with a friend under the pen name of Francesca Shaw. Her novels The Piratical Miss Ravenhurst in 2011 and Scandal’s Virgin in 2014 won the Love Story of the Year by the Romantic Novelists' Association.
Lord of Scoundrels is a Regency romance novel by American author Loretta Chase. Published in 1995 by Avon Books, it is the third installment of her Débauchés series. Set in 1828, the story follows the Marquess of Dain, an aristocrat known as "Lord Beelzebub" and the "Lord of Scoundrels" for his unscrupulous, immoral behavior. The son of an English father and Italian mother, Dain is hardened due to a difficult childhood and meets his match in Jessica Trent, a 27-year-old bluestocking more than capable of trading wits with him.
