Kim ShawUSA Today bestselling author Maxine Sullivan credits her mother for her lifelong love of romance novels, so it was a natural progression for her to want to write romances.

This led to over 20 years of writing stories and submitting them to Harequin Mills and Boon, working hard at learning her craft with each manuscript and with each rejection. Maxine still has one of those very first rejections dated August 1986. She's had many rejections since then, but she has never given up her dream of being published, though at times it's been difficult to keep her optimism alive. But somehow there was always a new line opening up, a new contest to enter, a new story to write.

It was one of those contests that led to the acceptance of her first book in January 2006, after she entered three sentences about her manuscript in the Desire Pitch Challenge. The Senior Editor of Silhouette Desire liked her logline enough to allow Maxine to pitch her story in one of their chatrooms. The editor then asked to read the complete manuscript, and promptly bought it. How fitting that the day was January 26th - Australia Day.

Maxine also writes short stories and has had success selling them to national magazines worldwide. She currently lives in Melbourne but has traveled to New Zealand, the UK, and USA. In her own backyard, she has visited and lived in many places in Australia, including spending many years in Darwin in the tropical north, where some of her books are set.

She is married to Geoff, who has proven his hero-status many times over the years. They have two handsome sons and an assortment of much-loved, previously abandoned animals. Read More Read Less