Mona Karel became convinced at an early age that her life would not really begin until she was about thirty five. She has no idea what precipitated that thought, but she claims she was a strange child. Until reaching that age, she led a peripatetic existence for many years, criss-crossing the country, working with horses and dogs—and waiting tables to support her other jobs. At thirty five, when many people are well into raising their families, Karel settled down to “real” work as a buyer and expediter. She married a high school teacher, which led to over twenty years in Southern California.

Karel can’t remember a time she wasn’t reading, though she doesn’t remember much fun with Dick and Jane. Her preferred stories involved dogs and horses, and once she had gone through every horse book in the high school library, she started in on Civil War stories. They rode horses, didn’t they? At that time Romance was swashbucklers and Gothic, and many preferred the stronger heroines of Mary Stewart and Victoria Holt. Then Karel discovered Romance in the form of Silhouette, Candlelight, and RWA, and her life was complete. Karel has since retired to New Mexico, where she lives in the wind at 6,500 feet with her Salukis. When not writing or going to dog shows, Karel works at a solar related firm.