Julie Elizabeth Leto
I don't have a stepmother, have never been blonde and wouldn't know how to clean a fireplace if ashes were stacked to the flue. But my road to publication didn't come overnight or without a lot of disappointment. Yes, I have my Prince Charming (and a little Princess to boot), but other than that, Cinderella and I have nothing in common. Of course, my becoming published did have a lot to do with finding the perfect fit, so who knows? Maybe I do have a fairy godmother somewhere out there.
Born and raised in Florida to a close-knit Italian-American family, I learned never to give up or give in -- especially when in pursuit of a lifelong dream. I worked over eight years before Harlequin Temptation bought my first book, SEDUCING SULLIVAN.
A romance reader from age 16, I knew these were the stories I wanted to write. I started my first romance in 1988 while in graduate school. Soon after, I joined the workforce as an English teacher. I wrote at night and on weekends. During breaks. I grabbed every free moment I could.
In 1996, I retired from teaching, joined my family's manufacturing business and gave myself more time to write. "The call" from Harlequin came in March of 1997 with an offer to publish SEDUCING SULLIVAN, my fourth completed novel.
I discovered my niche with Temptation's sensuous, sexy tone and character-driven stories. My desire to "push the envelope" fit perfectly in Temptation's Blaze series. All the rejection letters and years of working to improve and hone my style paid off. With the start of the new Blaze line, I have homes at both Temptation and Blaze that I truly treasure.
So to be honest, sometimes I do feel like a certain fairytale princess.
Julie Elizabeth also writes as:
