Karen Hawkins was born and raised in Tennessee. She has a Ph.D. in political science, and taught political science at a small college in Georgia before becoming a full-time romance author. She has written numerous books including A Belated Bride; Her Officer and Gentleman; Her Master and Commander; An Affair to Remember; Confessions of a Scoundrel; How to Treat a Lady; The Seduction of Sara; and The Abduction of Julia. In 2003 she won Romance Writers of America Favorite Book of the Year, for Confessions of a Scoundrel.