Karen Young is a
bestselling
A bestseller is a book or other media noted for its top selling status, with bestseller lists published by newspapers, magazines, and book store chains. Some lists are broken down into classifications and specialties (novel, nonfiction book, cookb ...
American author of over thirty
contemporary romance
Contemporary romance is a subgenre of romance novels, generally set contemporaneously with the time of its writing. The largest of the romance novel subgenres, contemporary romance novels usually reflect the mores of their time. Heroines in the co ...
novels.
Biography
Karen Young did not always intend to be a writer.
Her husband Paul became an executive in a corporation and frequently relocated to different areas of the world. For the family's fifteenth move, Young was forced to give up an interesting job in politics in the
area.
To stifle her boredom, Young decided to find a more flexible career. Within four months she had finished her first story, and within six weeks of submitting the romance novel to Silhouette, the book sold.
Young describes her novels as concerning "the concept of the evolved woman—one who's able to look her personal demons in the eye and solve her problems...regardless."
Her novels have dealt with difficult situations such as teen pregnancy, infidelity, and alcoholism.
To keep her ideas fresh, Young often switches genres, writing novels that are considered traditional romance, category romance, women's fiction, and suspense novels. She has been nominated three times for the
Romance Writers of America
Romance Writers of America (RWA) is an American non-profit writers' association founded in 1980. Its mission is to "advance the professional and common business interests of career-focused romance writers through networking and advocacy and by incr ...
RITA Award, winning in 1994.
Young has also received the Romantic Times Career Achievement Award and several Romantic Times Reviewers' Choice Awards.
Her novels have also appeared on the ''
USAToday
''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgini ...
'' bestseller list.
Young has three daughters. She lives in
Houston
Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...
,
Texas
Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...
.
Bibliography
O'Connor Trilogy
*''Roses and Rain'' (1994)
*''Shadows in the Mist'' (1994)
*''The Promise'' (1994)
Novels
*''Yesterday's Promise'' (1983)
*''Irresistible Intruder'' (1984)
*''A Wilder Passion'' (1985)
*''Darling Detective'' (1986)
*''The Forever Kind'' (1987)
*''Maggie Mine'' (1987)
*''Sarah's Choice'' (1988)
*''All My Tomorrows'' (1988)
*''Compelling Connection'' (1989)
*''Debt of Love'' (1991)
*''Beyond Summer'' (1991)
*''The Silence of Midnight'' (1992)
*''Puzzle me out'' (1993)
*''Touch the Dawn'' (1993
*''Sugar Baby'' (1996)
*''Having His Baby'' (1996)
*''Good Girls'' (1998)
*''A Father's Heart'' (1998)
*''What Child Is This?'' (1999)
*''Full Circle'' (1999)
*''Kiss and Kill'' (2000)
*''Someone Knows'' (2002)
*''Private Lives'' (2003)
*''In Confidence'' (2004)
*''Never Tell'' (2005)
*''Belle Pointe'' (2006)
Omnibus
*''My Valentine February 1994'' (1994) (with
Marisa Carroll Marisa may refer to:
* Marisa (town), an Indonesian town
* Marisa, Hellenised name of Maresha, town in Idumea (today in Israel)
* Marisa (given name), a feminine personal name
* ''Marisa'' (gastropod), a genus of apple snails
* MV ''Marisa'' (193 ...
,
Margot Dalton,
Muriel Jensen)
*''Making Babies'' (1995) (with
Pamela Browning
Pamela may refer to:
*''Pamela; or, Virtue Rewarded'', a novel written by Samuel Richardson in 1740
*Pamela (name), a given name and, rarely, a surname
* Pamela Spence, a Turkish pop-rock singer. Known as her stage name "Pamela"
* MSC ''Pamela'', ...
,
Sandra James
Sandra James is a Zimbabwean former athlete, who won eleven medals across four different sports at the Paralympic Games.
1972: representing Rhodesia
James initially represented Rhodesia at the 1972 Summer Paralympics, competing in athletics and ...
)
*''Heat of the Night'' (2000)
*''Marriage for Keeps'' (2004) (with Margot Dalton,
Gina Wilkins
Gina Ferris Wilkins, née Vaughan (born December 20, 1954, in Little Rock, Arkansas, United States) is a best-seller, best-selling American author of over 85 romance novels. She writes novels as Gina Ferris, Gina Wilkins and Gina Ferris Wilkins.
...
)
See also
*
List of romantic novelists
Notable novelists who specialise or specialised in writing romance novels include:
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
V
W
X-Z
See also
* Lists of writers
The following are lists of writers: ...
References
External links
Karen Young Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Young, Karen
Living people
20th-century American novelists
21st-century American novelists
American romantic fiction writers
RITA Award winners
Place of birth missing (living people)
Year of birth missing (living people)
American women novelists
Women romantic fiction writers
20th-century American women writers
21st-century American women writers