Sarah MacLean (born December 23, 1978) is a ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' bestselling American author of

young adult novel Young adult fiction (YA) is a category of fiction written for readers from 12 to 18 years of age. While the genre is primarily targeted at adolescents, approximately half of YA readers are adults. The subject matter and genres of YA correlate ...

s and

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. Her first adult romance novel, ''Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake'' debuted on the

New York Times Bestseller List ''The New York Times'' Best Seller list is widely considered the preeminent list of best-selling books in the United States. John Bear, ''The #1 New York Times Best Seller: intriguing facts about the 484 books that have been #1 New York Times ...

, where it stayed for four weeks. Since then, all of her adult romance novels have been on the New York Times and USA Today bestseller lists. From 2014 to 2018, MacLean wrote a monthly romance novel review column for

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

. She is a two-time winner of 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 for Best Historical Romance for ''A Rogue by Any Other Name'' in 2013 and ''No Good Duke Goes Unpunished'' in 2014. She's also the co-host of the weekly Fated Mates podcast, where she and her co-host, Jen Prokop, analyze and deconstruct the romance genre.

Biography

MacLean was born in

Lincoln Lincoln most commonly refers to: * Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the sixteenth president of the United States * Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England * Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S. * Lincoln ...

, Rhode Island to an

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

father and a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

mother. MacLean's website reports that her mother worked for

MI6 The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), commonly known as MI6 ( Military Intelligence, Section 6), is the foreign intelligence service of the United Kingdom, tasked mainly with the covert overseas collection and analysis of human intelligenc ...

. MacLean started reading romance because her older sister read the books, and she has wanted to be a romance novelist since she was a teenager. In 2000, MacLean received a BA in American Studies from

Smith College Smith College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts Women's colleges in the United States, women's college in Northampton, Massachusetts. It was chartered in 1871 by Sophia Smith (Smith College ...

Northampton Northampton () is a market town and civil parish in the East Midlands of England, on the River Nene, north-west of London and south-east of Birmingham. The county town of Northamptonshire, Northampton is one of the largest towns in England; ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

. While at Smith, MacLean and her friends read hundreds of romance novels. MacLean moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

in 2000, and worked as a literary publicist until she attended graduate school at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

, receiving a master's degree in education. Upon returning to New York City, she wrote her first book, a

, ''The Season'', after a friend suggested she try her hand at writing for teens. The book, set in

Regency A regent (from Latin : ruling, governing) is a person appointed to govern a state '' pro tempore'' (Latin: 'for the time being') because the monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge the powers and duties of the monarchy ...

England, received numerous awards, and was named to the 2010 Lone Star Reading List of the

Texas Library Association The Texas Library Association (TLA) is a charitable non-profit group that promotes libraries in Texas. It was founded in 1902. TLA is affiliated with the American Library Association (ALA) and has more than 6,000 members made up of librarians and ...

. After ''The Season'', MacLean wrote her first adult romance novel, ''Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake'', a

historical. The book debuted on the

USA Today ''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 and the

, where it stayed for four weeks, and was the first recipient of the Romantic Times Magazine Seal of Excellence. MacLean is a self-proclaimed feminist and speaks widely on the intersection of

feminism Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...

and the romance genre. She is a vocal defender of the literary merit of the romance novel and the skill it takes to write it well. In February 2014, MacLean began writing a monthly romance review column for

. In July 2019, she hosted the Romance Writers of America RITA Awards. In 2021, MacLean was also asked to guest appear on the popular podcast 99 Percent Invisible where she discussed the importance of the romance genre and its history (which co-aired on Fated Mates). She and her husband live in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, New York. She is extremely active in social media, and often discusses her daily life on Twitter and Instagram.

Bibliography

Romance novels

Love By Numbers Series

# # #

The Rules of Scoundrels

# ''

A Rogue By Any Other Name ''A Rogue By Any Other Name'' is a historical romance written by Sarah MacLean and published by Avon in 2012. It is the first book in her Rules of Scoundrels quartet. The novel won a RITA Award for Best Historical Romance in 2013. Background ...

'' # # #

Scandal and Scoundrel

# # #

Bareknuckle Bastards

# # #

Hell's Belles

# ''Bombshell.'' Avon. Aug 2021. ISBN 978-0063056152 # ''Heartbreaker''. Avon. Aug 2022.

Romance Novellas

# "A Duke Worth Falling For" appeared in the anthology ''Naughty Brits'' (September 2020). # "The Duke of Christmas Present" appeared in the anthology ''How the Dukes Stole Christmas'' (October 2018). # "She, Doomed Girl", co-written with Carrie Ryan, appeared in the anthology ''Dark Duets'' (March 2013).

Young adult novels

Podcast

In 2018, MacLean started th
Fated Mates
podcast with critic Jen Prokop. The weekly podcast releases Wednesdays and features "deep dive discussions" of classic texts and books that showcase the sociological work of the romance genre, as well as "interstitial episodes" which provide long form analysis of common tropes used in the genre. In its fourth season, Fated Mates is collecting the oral histories of romance trailblazers: authors, editors and others who built the modern genre.

Awards and reception

* 2010 -

Lone Star Reading List for ''The Season'' * 2010 (April) - '' Romantic Times Magazine'' Seal of Excellence for ''Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake'' * 2013 - Romance Writers of America, RITA Award for Best Historical Romance for ''A Rogue By Any Other Name'' * 2014 - Romance Writers of America, RITA Award for Best Historical Romance for ''No Good Duke Goes Unpunished'' MacLean has hit the

and USA Today Bestseller List with all of her romance novels. She has received starred reviews for several titles from Booklist, Kirkus, Publishers Weekly, and Library Journal.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Maclean, Sarah 21st-century American novelists American women novelists American writers of young adult literature American romantic fiction writers 1978 births Living people 21st-century American women writers Smith College alumni Harvard University alumni Women romantic fiction writers RITA Award winners Women writers of young adult literature