Rochelle Alers (born August 7, 1943) is an American writer of

romance novel A romance novel or romantic novel generally refers to a type of genre fiction novel which places its primary focus on the relationship and romantic love between two people, and usually has an "emotionally satisfying and optimistic ending." Pre ...

s. She has also written under the pen names Susan James and Rena McLeary.

Biography

Rochelle Alers was born on August 7, 1943 in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

, New York, where she was also raised. After earning degrees in sociology and psychology, she taught pre-school for a time before entering the business world. Alers began writing her first novel in 1984, after a decade of reading romance novels. She finished her first manuscript, the novel ''Hideway'', in 1985. After several rejections because her work did not fit the formula of a category romance novel, Alers perfected her style and was first published by

Doubleday Books Doubleday is an American publishing company. It was founded as the Doubleday & McClure Company in 1897 and was the largest in the United States by 1947. It published the work of mostly U.S. authors under a number of imprints and distributed th ...

in 1988. Almost two million copies of her novels are now in print, and they have regularly appeared on the Waldenbooks, Borders, and ''Essence'' bestseller lists. She has been awarded the Gold Pen Award, the Emma Award, the Vivian Stephens Award for Excellence in Romance Writing, the Romantic Times Career Achievement Award, and the Zora Neale Hurston Literary Award. She writes full-time currently after retiring from her job as a Community Liaison Specialist for a state funded abuse program in Long Island.

Bibliography

As Rochelle Alers

Single novels

*''Careless Whispers'', (1988) *''My Love's Keeper'', (1991) *''Happily Ever After'', (1994) *''Home Sweet Home'', (1996) *''Reckless Surrender'', (1997) *''Gentle Yearning'', (1998) *''Summer Magic'', (1999) *''A Younger Man'', (2002) *''Secrets Never Told'', (2003) *''Lessons of a Lowcountry Summer'', (2004) *''All My Tomorrows'', (2005) *''A Time to Keep'', (2006) *''Pleasure Seekers'', (2007) *''After Hours'', (2008) *''Naughty'', (2009) *''Butterfly'', (2010)

The Hideaway Series

The Hideaway Series has started to be reissued on the Harlequin brand.

=Prequels

= #''Best-Kept Secrets'' (2010) Reissue 2010

=First Generation

= #''Hideaway'' (1995) Reissue 2009 #''Hidden Agenda'' (1997) Reissue 2009 #''Vows'' (1997) Reissue 2010 #''Heaven Sent'' (1998) Reissue 2010

=Daughters and Sisters Trilogy

= #''Harvest Moon'' (1999) Reissue 2011 #''Just Before Dawn'' (2000) #''Private Passions'' (2001) #''Stranger in My Arms'' (2007) #''Breakaway''(2010)

=Sons and Brothers Trilogy

= #''No Compromise'' (2002) Reissue 2009 #''Homecoming'' (2002) #''Renegade'' (2003) #''Secret Agenda'' (2009)

The Whitfields of New York

#''Long Time Coming'' (2008) #''The Sweetest Temptation''(2008) #''Taken By Storm''(2008)

The Best Men Trilogy

#''Man of Fate'' (2009) #''Man of Fortune'' (2009) #''Man of Fantasy'' (2009)

The Blackstones of Virginia

#''The Long Hot Summer'' (2004) #''Very Private Duty'' (2004) #''Beyond Business'' (2005)

The Eatons

#''Bittersweet Love'', (2009) #''Sweet Deception'', (2009) #''Sweet Dreams'', (2010) #''Twice The Temptation'', (2010) #''Sweet Persuasions'', (2011) #''Sweet Destiny'', (2011)

Wainwright Legacy

#''Because of You'', (2010) #''Here I Am'', (2011)

Collections

#''More Than Just Words, Vol. 6'', (2010)

Anthologies in collaboration

*"''Fresh Fruits''" in ''Holiday Cheer'' (with Angela Benson and Shirley Hailstock) 1995/12 *"''Hearts of gold''" in ''Love Letters'' (with Donna Hill and Janice Sims) 1997/02 *Novella in ''Rosie's Curl and Weave'' (with Donna Hill, Felicia Mason and Francis Ray) 1999/02 *Novella in ''Island Magic'' (with Shirley Hailstock, Marcia King-Gamble and Felicia Mason) 2000/02 *"''Sweet Surrender''" in ''Della's House of Style'' (with Donna Hill, Felicia Mason and Francis Ray) 2000/07 *Novella in ''Welcome to Leo's'' (with Donna Hill,

Brenda Jackson Brenda Jackson (February 2, 1953) is an American novelist who writes contemporary multicultural romance novels. She was the first African-American author to have a novel published as part of the Silhouette Desire line, and has seen many of her n ...

and Francis Ray) 2000/12 *"''Stand-in bride''" in ''Going to the Chapel'' (with Gwynne Forster, Donna Hill and Francis Ray) 2001/06 *"''First Fruits''" in Tis the Season'' (with Donna Hill and Candice Poarch) 2001/10 *"''From the Heart''" in ''Island Bliss'' (with

Carmen Green ''Carmen'' () is an opera in four acts by the French composer Georges Bizet. The libretto was written by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the Carmen (novella), novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée. The opera was first perfo ...

, Marcia King-Gamble and Felicia Mason) 2002/02 *"''Anniversary''" in ''Twilight Moods'' 2002/09 *"''Reunion''" in ''Living Large'' (with Donna Hill,

and Francis Ray) 2003/01 *"''Summer Madness''" in ''Four Degrees of Heat'' (with ReShonda Tate Billingsley, Brenda L. Thomas and Crystal Lacey Winslow) 2004/07 *"''Love Lessons''" in ''Let's Get it On'' (with Donna Hill,

and Francis Ray) 2004/11 *''Lost in Sensation'' & ''Very Private Duty'' (with Maureen Child) 2005/01 *''The Long Hot Summer'' with ''Private Indiscretions'' by

Susan Crosby Susan is a feminine given name, from Persian "Susan" (lily flower), from Egyptian '' sšn'' and Coptic ''shoshen'' meaning "lotus flower", from Hebrew ''Shoshana'' meaning "lily" (in modern Hebrew this also means "rose" and a flower in general), ...

2005/02 *''Very Private Duty'' with ''Beyond Control'' by

Bronwyn Jameson Bronwyn is a Welsh feminine given name, a variant of the mostly feminine version Bronwen/Branwen, literally meaning "White Raven (or Crow)" or, abstractly, "White Breast" (from ''bran'', raven, and ''bron'' ("breast") and 'gwen'' ("white, fair, ...

) 2005/07 *''Rules of Attraction'' & ''Beyond Business'' (with

) 2005/07 *"''A Younger Man''" in ''When You Least Expect It'' (with

) 2005/09 *"''Shepherd Moon''" in ''A Season of Miracles'' (with

Adrianne Byrd Adrianne Janette Byrd (born November 23, 1970- October 30, 2020) was a best-selling African-American author of more than 50 romance novels. Her most widely held book, ''The Beautiful Ones'', is in more than 400 WorldCat libraries. Biography Byrd ...

, Kayla Perrin and Janice Sims) 2005/10 *''Beyond Business'' with ''Apache Nights'' by

Sheri Whitefeather Sheri is a female given name, from the French for ''beloved'', and may refer to: * Sheri Anderson, American TV writer * Sheri Everts, American academic * Sheri Forde, Canadian reporter * Sheri Graner Ray, video game specialist * Sheri L. Dew (bo ...

2006/09

Nonfiction

*''Getting Political: Stories of a Woman Mayor'' (2002) (with Alice Crozier and Joan Darrah)

As Susan James

Single novels

*''Reckless Surrender'' 1997/04

References

External links

Rochelle Alers Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Alers, Rochelle African-American novelists American romantic fiction writers African-American women writers Writers from Manhattan Living people 1943 births American women novelists 20th-century American novelists 21st-century American novelists Women romantic fiction writers 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American women writers Novelists from New York (state) 20th-century African-American women 20th-century African-American writers 21st-century African-American women 21st-century African-American writers