J.R. Ward is a No. 1 New York Times and USA Today best-selling author of erotic paranormal romance, and she also writes contempary romance as Jessica Bird. She lives in the south with her incredibly supportive husband and her beloved golden retriever. After graduating from law school, she began working in healthcare in Boston and spent many years as chief of staff of one of the premier academic medical centers in the nation. Writing has always been her passion, and her idea of heaven is a whole day of nothing but her computer, her dog and her coffee pot.

In 2002, her first novel, a contemporary romance called "Leaping Hearts," was published. Several years later, Bird invented a world populated by vampires and began writing single-title paranormal romance novels under the pen name J.R. Ward. These novels are a series, known as the Black Dagger Brotherhood.

The Romance Writers of America awarded her the RITA Award for Best Short Contemporary Romance in 2007 for her novel "From the First." She has also been nominated six times for Romantic Times Reviewer's Choice Awards, winning once for "Lover Awakened."

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