Meet Our MARA Authors

Carla Cassidy is a NYTs bestselling author who has written more than 125 novels for Harlequin Books. She is listed on the Romance Writer’s of America Honor Roll and has won numerous awards. Carla believes the only thing better than curling up with a good book to read is sitting down at the computer with a good story to write.

Val Fassnight is a self-published author of two short stories, writing in historical romance and contemporary romance genres. She has many projects in the fire. Val writes in Ancient Greece and Egypt, Medieval/Tudor England, Regency/Victorian England and 1920s America. She loves past fashions and teaches writing classes on history and historical fashions for other writing organizations. She is also a cosplayer and can often be found haunting comic conventions. A Beatlemaniac as well, she invariably will be heard humming “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” under her breath at any given moment.

As a third-grader, DeAnna Talcott started writing her first book in a one-room schoolhouse. While she never finished or published that book, she did go on to graduate from the University of Nebraska and subsequently published across the board, in newspapers, magazines, and book-length fiction. As the author of romcoms, paranormal fantasy, and romance, she sold sixteen books to Kensington, Harlequin/Silhouette, and New Concepts. From those works, she was the recipient of the National Readers’ Choice Award, The Booksellers’ Best, The HOLT Medallion, and the Write Touch Readers’ award. In 2013 she co-wrote and sold her first original screenplay, HATS OFF TO CHRISTMAS, which aired on the Hallmark Channel.

Darlene Deluca writes contemporary romance and women’s fiction about people and their relationships – what brings them together or keeps them apart. Her books include a little bit of friendship, family, and romance. She currently has nine published novels. Reading has been Darlene’s favorite pastime since childhood. With a degree in Journalism, she started her career as a newspaper reporter. She writes day or night, whenever the words/mood/deadlines strike, and almost always has a cup of tea and a bit of dark chocolate nearby.

Michelle Grey’s love affair with romance began the summer before high school when she discovered her mom’s Harlequin collection. The feeling of joy from experiencing those happily-ever-afters has stayed with her ever since. Now she writes stories about strong women with strong passions, sexy swoon-worthy heroes, and the twists of fate that bring them together and try to tear them apart. She hopes to ignite the same spark of joy for her readers that caught fire in her that long ago summer. When she’s not writing, reading, or voicing a novel, Michelle spends most of her time hanging out with her favorite humans. With marriages and babies and puppies, the boisterous group seems to grow every year, and she wouldn’t have it any other way. Michelle loves to hear from her readers so drop her a note on Facebook or Instagram, or on her website www.authormichellegrey.com

Jade Looks-Twice is a writer from KC who writes urban fantasy and paranormal romance. Developing a love for mysteries and the unknown at a young age, Jade devoured books, reading through both the school and public library. Before long, Jade began writing and started creative writing groups at both the local high school and college.

Sara Dillinger has been pregnant for thirty years. After hard labor, she is about to give birth to a bouncing (or thudding) baby romance novel with a split timeline and/or time travel involved. She types with one hand because she always has a cat or two on her lap.

Sable Fox was a newspaper photojournalist for several years, writing routine and feature articles dealing with hard facts. However, creating richly imaginative worlds and characters is something they have been doing for as long as they can remember. In 2018, they started writing creative fiction for close friends, focusing on short stories and novellas. Now, they’re working on writing their first novel for publication.

They avoided fitting neatly into specific boxes from an early age and usually use the pronouns they/them, though any pronoun except “it” will do. They craft LGBTQIA+ speculative erotic romance with authentic neurodivergent protagonists finding their perfect matches and HEA on their terms, showing that finding love and being loved happens to everyone. The stories flow with heat and sweetness in equal measure and nerdy humor.

They live in the Midwest with their found family of friends, a partner, and a menagerie of canine and feline furkids.