Maria Murnane left a successful career as a public-relations executive to pursue a more fulfilling life as a novelist and speaker. Her own “story behind the story” is an entertaining tale of the courage, passion, and perseverance required to get the first Waverly novel, Perfect on Paper, published. (Chocolate for Two is the fourth in the series, following It's a Waverly Life and Honey on Your Mind.) Maria graduated with high honors in English and Spanish from the University of California–Berkeley, where she was a Regents’ and Chancellor’s Scholar. She also holds a master’s degree in integrated marketing communications from Northwestern University. She currently lives in New York City.