Years after receiving her Criminal Justice degree from the University of Oklahoma , Laura renken aka Melody Thomas discovered the historical romance genre. True legends like M.M Kaye, Kathleen Woodiwiss, Judith McNaught, and Penelope Williamson, sparked her love for writing and convinced her she wanted only to do one thing in life and that was to create great stories alive with grit and passion.In the past. She's written westerns for Leisure under Lori Morgan and Pirate adventure books for Berkley under Laura Renken. Her books have been five times reviewer nominated by Romantic Times Bookclub for Best Adventure and Best Historical Suspense and Gothic categories. They have won the Holt Medallion twice, the WISRWA Writer's Choice Award, the Affaire de Couer reader's Choice award, Colorado Award of Excellence and WISRWA Reader's Choice Award for best historical. She is published in foreign languages worldwide. My Lord Pirate, was a 1999 Golden Heart Finalist, which launched her publishing career with Berkley. She lives in the Chicago area where she is also the former president for the Windy City RWA chapter.

Website

www.MelodyThomas.com