Vowing to marry no one but Christian Leigh, Jessamine Stone is informed by her scheming brother that he will agree to the match only if Christian will take her without a dowry and, at the same time, offers Christian a reward if he will dump her.
Born in Rota, Spain to a Spanish mother and American father, at 5, Tanya didn't know a single word of English. Her first English words, courtesy of Grandma V were, "Many, many lights!" The airport was ablaze with them and hands plastered to the car window, nose to the glass, she was hungry to learn more. Language, she quickly discovered, more than planes or even actual bridges, was the thing that connected us all - no matter what walk of life we hailed from.
Fast forward to age 12: Lying anxiously in a post-op bed in a little hospital in Ponce, Puerto Rico, sans tonsils, all she could think about was her dad's typewriter. When the doc advised her parents to reward her with anything she wanted, ice cream lagged a distant second to the one thing she coveted most - that beautiful machine with the little metal arms that, when fingers pressed down upon the pearlescent keys, would stamp bold black letters on crisp white paper. To Tanya, that image was beauty incarnate. And so she began writing at age 12 - anything she could get her hands on - even thank you notes, to her parents' delight.
Tanya grew up a military brat, and, although goodbyes were never easy, she says she's grateful for the disparity in cultures she's been privileged to experience. And she believes every person she's met, every spoken word, every tear and every bit of laughter have all contributed to the canvas that is her writing.
Tanya is a bestselling novelist and an award-winning journalist, who friends and family sometimes refer to as "Pollyanna." But the name-calling is usually done with a healthy dose of good will, so she's OK with it. Those who know her best, however, know that Pollyanna is just half her personality (she's a Gemini, after all)!
Her first romance novel "Angel of fire" was published in 1992 for Avon Books. A New York Times bestselling author, she is a five-time nominee for a Romantic Times Career Achievement Award and her novels have been translated into Spanish, German, Italian, French, Russian and Chinese.
