Favorite Author Her Books

 Born in Ohio, Jennifer Smith attended Bowling Green State University during the early 1970’s, majoring in Art Education. Smith married another Smith, no relation of course, in 1971. After a short time in Texas, Smith and her husband moved back to southern Ohio, where she raised her daughter Mollie and taught art to elementary and junior high school students. During her teaching days, Smith took classes from local Wright State University, earning a master’s degree in Professional Writing and Women’s Literature. The romance industry lucked out after she completed her Ph.D. at The Ohio State University and discovered “the power of romance novels” while writing and researching her dissertation.

Jennifer Smith became Jennifer Crusie to romance fans worldwide in 1992, with the sale of her first novella, “Sizzle”. Harlequin published her first six novels under their Temptation and Love & Laughter lines from 1993 to 1996. Crusie left Harlequin in 1995 to join with Bantam Books, writing under their Loveswept line, and St. Martin’s Press, writing full-length novels. While fans might be disappointed with no more series romances in the future, they’ll be ecstatic to see that Crusie has a new hard-cover romance coming out this month, “Welcome to Temptation”.

What draws me to Crusie’s writing is both the characters and the dialog, but the setting and secondary characters make the stories come alive for me. Most of her books are set in Ohio, my home state, and animals are frequently secondary characters with their own voice and personality. And while I’ve always been a “cat person” her books make me want to run out and find my own Fred (“Anyone But You”), Jupiter (“The Cinderella Deal”) or Phoebe (“Tell Me Lies”)!

Update: Her Web Site

Julie Shininger
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