Rachel Hawthorne was born as Lorraine Heath in Hertfordshire, in England. Her mother wasand her father was American. He served in the Royal Air Force, being stationed at Bovingdon in the UK, which was how her parents first met. Shortly after she was born, Lorraine’s family moved to Angleton, Texas and the family settled there.
Rachel lived in the city of Austin, in Texas for sixteen years. Plano, Texas was her next destinationin 1987. She earned her BA in psychology while attending the University of Texas and in 1998,Laura Bush, (at that time theFirst Lady of Texas,)invited her to sit on a panel which was to judge romancebooks for the Texas Book Festival.
Rachel currently lives in Plano, alongside her husband and two sons and is a renowned novelist, having the accolade of being both a New York Times and USA Today bestselling American author. She has penned a variety of genres, ranging from contemporary and historical romance, to paranormal romance as well as young adult novels. Her work has appeared under various pen names, such as Rachel Hawthorne, J.A. London, and Jade Parker. Rachel is probably best-known for herromances, which are beautiful and deeply emotional. In 1997, her novel Always to Remember’ gained her the Romance Writers of America RITA Award for Best Short Historical Romance. As at June 2015, a considerable fifteen of her titles were on the USA Today bestseller list. She’s renowned for creating deeply emotional romances with adept characterizations, with a huge amount of attention to getting the historical detailscorrect. She also shows a mastery of small moments.
Previous work experience
Before she began fiction writing, Rachelwas working for the IRS, where she was responsible for writing training manuals as well as computer code.She became hooked on the idea of becoming an author when she read LaVyrle Spencer’s Morning Glory’ which not only created a huge interest for her in Spencer’s work, but also convinced her that romance writing was the genre for her at the time. Before that time, she agreed that she probably had misconceptions as towhat romance actually was.
And so the writing career begins
It was in 1993that she was to sell her first novel, entitled Sweet Lullaby, under her own name, Lorraine Heath. Since then, she has written an incredible number of novels in that name, (over sixty at the last count,) with romance being at the forefront of her interests. Her chosen genres were aimed at adults who enjoy historical and contemporary romance, and also teen readers, into the historical romance genre.
Using the pen-names Rachel Hawthorne and Jade Parker, she also writes contemporary, paranormal and historical romance aimed at the teen reader. She enjoyswriting young adult, (YA,) fiction alongside her son Alex, usingthe name J. A. London.
When asked how she manages to keep her different personae separate, she told USA Today that because she writes her historical books in the third person and YA in the first person, it helps her to maintain a mental shift between genres. She went on to say that writing with her son proves to be a touch more challenging as he wanted for J.A. to show a unique and edgy voice which would match better with their dystopian style. She stated that it is almost akin to going on a small vacation when she shifts between genres and she feels that it allows her tokeep her writing fresh,due to being able to head off in different and diverse directions,exploring variousdifferent worlds as she proceeds.
Influential authors
Authors who were influential in her YA writing include: Richelle Mead, Sophie Jordan, Marissa Meyer and Catherine Clark. She said that when she first thought about writing in the Young Adult genre, Catherine Clark’s books allowed her to get the necessary flavor. She then read them simply for the pleasure.
Writing habits
She enjoys writing during the evenings, often going into the night, while listening to the sounds ofa thunderstormon a CD. She stated that it helps her to narrow her focus down and assists her concentration. She felt a huge elation when she learned that her novel A Matter of Temptation’ was in the New York Times bestseller list and said that it was something which all authorswould aspire to.
Inspiration
Inspiration can arise from the most unexpected sources and she had the idea for her RITA-winning novelAlways to Remember’ from seeing a TV Program on the Civil War. She heard a comment about men living in the same town often servedwithin the same unit, meaning that when a whole unit was killed, then there would be no men to return to it. She realized how difficult that would have been on the people left behind and began to develop the story from that idea.
Dark Guardian novel series
Dark Guardian is a series of four YA paranormal romance novels written using the Rachel Hawthorne persona. The intriguing books tell us a story of an amicable, calm group of werewolves, who are known as Shifters. The Shifters are being pursued by a determined and ruthless research organization. Trying to keep their calm amongst the angst, some of the teen Shifters find themselves in the position of needing to become protective of their own kind and end up forming close bonds amongst themselves.
The first novel in the series was Moonlight which was released in the US on March 3, 2009. This opening novel tells us the story of Kayla, who grew up away from the area of Wolford. She was completely unaware that she, herself, was in fact a Shifter. Kayla is an all-American beauty upon visiting the area, finds herself being drawn towards a cool, aloof,distantandbrooding Dark Guardian, known as Lucas, who is both dangerous,and gorgeous… and a werewolf – a heady mixture! As leader of the Dark Guardianshe has sworn to protect his pack. Lucas and Kayla struggle almost violently with their growing feelings for each other, until Kayla needs to choose between the life she is comfortable with, and knows, and the strength of a love which she feels must be her ultimate destiny.
Full Moon,the second instalment in the series was released in the USA on June 30, 2009 and this time tells us the story of a Shifter named Lindsey who is wild, reckless, and a natural-born rebel. Her parents are some of the most powerful members of the Dark Guardians, who have already decided her life – she has to endure an arranged romantic relationship with Connor. When the next full moon arrives, there will be no turning back and her commitment to Connor will be finalized for all time. She thought she was happy, but if that were true, she wouldn’t be constantly thinking about the gorgeous, brooding Rafe. Tensions between Connor and Rafe escalate and it looks as if a fight is imminent – will it be to the death?
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