About Me...

I have always loved books, and wanted to be a writer from a young age. I began to read early, and got hooked on murder mysteries, beginning with Agatha Christie novels borrowed from my mother when I was about 12. While reading, I would be so immersed that I literally had my nose in the book, absorbing the plot, characterization and setting until it must have become second nature to me.

There was never a time I can remember that I didn't see the world from a fictional slant. In the beginning that meant, for some reason, science fiction. Whenever we got one of those precious creative writing assignments in school, I wrote weird science stories. I think that was just a phase I was going through, because although I got hooked on Robert Heinlein and Isaac Asimov in my teens, murder mysteries were always my true love. I read Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers and Ngaio Marsh almost to the exclusion of anything else at one point in my reading life. I did move on from those grande dames of the cozy mystery, and now read Sue Grafton, Sara Paretsky, and the inimitable Joan Hess.

But at a certain moment in time, I found Regency romances. I read my first one as a teenager, not realizing what it was, and then found the work of Jane Austen. I read and reread Pride and Prejudice more than a dozen times, as well as all of her other works, before coming back to Regency romances and finding the work of Carla Kelly and Mary Balogh, two of the best and brightest of Regency romance fiction. What I found to admire in their work was what I still to this day strive for... I think fiction is not just about plotting, but about people, and the writers whose work I enjoy create realistic people who touch the reader's soul in some way. Regency romance, in their short word count and compact structure, seem to me to be eminently suited to character romance because the focus is so tight, staying on the couple at the heart of the story, and their journey to love and understanding. Writing for Kensington's Zebra Books imprint was such a gift; I adored telling those stories and lament the end of the imprint.

But now, although I am still working on other things in the background, I have moved on to write paranormal historical romance for Berkley books, the Berkley Sensation line, beginning the series with AWAITING THE MOON (February 2006), followed by AWAITING THE NIGHT (November 2006), and now, AWAITING THE FIRE (coming in September 2007). I'm so excited about this move into the longer historical format, as it allows me to write a strong, sexy central romance, with other elements like a spooky gothic castle, fascinating secondary characters and that paranormal element... what fun! It is truly a joy to have so much freedom.

I hope you enjoy my books. Keep watching for more, as I've got lots more stories up my sleeve, and won't rest until I put them all down on paper!

Have a happy reading day!
Donna Lea Simpson