Irene Hannon is a bestselling, award-winning author who took the publishing world by storm at the tender age of ten with a sparkling piece of fiction that received national attention. Okay...maybe that's a slight exaggeration. But she was one of the honourees in a complete-the-story contest conducted by a national children's magazine. And she likes to think of that as her "official" fiction-writing debut! Since then, she has written more than thirty-five contemporary romance and romantic suspense novels. Irene has twice won the RITA award-the "Oscar" of romantic fiction-from Romance Writers of America and is a five-time finalist. Her books have also been honoured with a HOLT medallion, a Daphne du Maurier award, and two Reviewers' Choice awards from RT Book Reviews magazine. In 2011, Booklist named Deadly Pursuit one of the top ten inspirational fiction titles of the year. Irene, who holds a B.A. in psychology and an M.A. in journalism, juggled two careers for many years until she gave up her executive corporate communications position with a Fortune 500 company to write full-time. She is happy to say she has no regrets. As she points out, leaving behind the rush-hour commute, corporate politics and a relentless BlackBerry that never slept was no sacrifice. A trained vocalist, Irene has sung the leading role in numerous community theatre productions and is also a soloist at her church. When not otherwise occupied, she loves to cook, garden and take long walks. She and her husband also enjoy traveling, Saturday mornings at their favourite coffee shop and spending time with family. They make their home in Missouri. To learn more about Irene and her books, visit her website.
