USA Today best-selling author Hailey North describes herself as a “free spirit and a believer in happy endings.” She’s been penning stories set in her adopted hometown of New Orleans and the fictional town of Doolittle, Arkansas, since the mid 90’s. Bedroom Eyes, her first release, was hailed by the Detroit Free Press as “one of 1998’s top ten romances” and Love: Undercover, her June 2004 romantic comedy, is “just the book to give your spirits a lift,” according to Romantic Times.

A former “game-show lawyer”, Hailey loves to write stories that make people smile. If you’ve had a hard day and want to settle down with a book guaranteed to put a grin on your face, look for any one of Hailey’s romantic comedies: Not the Marrying Kind, Love: Undercover, Opposites Attract, Tangled Up in Love, Dear Love Doctor, Perfect Match, Pillow Talk, and Bedroom Eyes.

 

Dear Readers,

A few years ago, I wrote an article for an authors' newsletter that I titled "Never Say Never." I drew on my personal experience of proclaiming loudly that I'd never write under a pseudonym and I'd certainly never write romance.

Most readers who visit this site know my Hailey North romance books, so you may be wondering what I'm talking about! But when I first set out to write to sell, I started with my own version of The Great American Novel. It was called Two Sisters and when Avon published it as a mainstream release, it was sold under my name, Nancy Wagner. See . . . no pen name and certainly not a romance.

Well, that was a long time ago! In the intervening years, I've published paranormal comedy/romance as Nikki Holiday (Heaven Comes Home, Heaven Knows Best, and Heaven Loves A Hero) and gone on to write eight Hailey North stories (see Book List). I love writing books that leave readers smiling. I also love writing books that explore some of the stormier aspects of human nature and life's challenges (Two Sisters and All Our Lives).

As of this writing, I remain at a crossroads in my writing journey. I am not working on another Hailey North book at the moment. Much of New York publishing has gone over to what I see as the dark side (okay, vampire and werewolf story fans, please don't diss me. This is my opinion.) My editor and I agreed that if my heart isn't in dark, erotic paranormal, that's not where I should put my pen or point my mouse.

So I've taken a break. Yes, I've taken a long time off from writing. I am working on a dark comedy set in New Orleans, but I'm not sure what the final version will be when the delightful and somewhat perturbed voices quit whispering their stories in my ears. It's a story I began as a screenplay in the late 90's. I abandoned it to write furiously as Hailey North (while working my full time "day job"). Sad to say, the computer and print versions of the screenplay were drowned the day the levees broke in New Orleans. But the funny thing is, when characters continue to live in one's mind, well, they demand to be brought to life!

For those of you who have written so kindly to ask when my next Hailey North book will be out, and to those of you who've written to say you've just discovered me, I say, "Thank you!" And please don't hesitate to scour your local library or used bookstores for my out of print books. I am a Georgette Heyer fan and have been replenishing my out of print copies since that nasty Katrina took these away from me. I realize that many authors have problems with used bookstores, as authors receive no royalties for books purchased in a used bookstore. However, if that's where you can find me and that's the best price, I understand.

For anyone who has ventured into the world of e-books, you can find several of my Hailey North titles in a variety of e-book formats. Not the Marrying Kind, Love: Undercover, and Opposites Attract are available via e-book. If you are a fan of New Orleans and would like to enjoy a whimsical tale of love lost and found, please take a look at Opposites Attract, set in the Garden District. And if you enjoy my tales of small town life in Doolittle, Arkansas, don't miss Not the Marrying Kind and Love: Undercover.

Be true to thyself. And read, always!

Hailey North
aka Nancy Wagner, aka Nikki Holiday