About Us

We are the Karens, Karen Stivali (L) and Karen Booth (R). We met on the forums for former literary agent Nathan Bransford’s blog. It started with a question about writing and sex–posted by Karen B and quite eloquently answered by Karen S. One direct message and that was the start of our writing journey.

We have an astonishing amount of things in common. The first time we traded manuscripts for our novels, we were suitably floored after discovering we were both writing about British guys with messy brown hair and green eyes. To celebrate our never-ending fascination with British men, our co-authored short novel, Long-Distance Lovers, features a smoking hot Brit named Tim.

Below are our individual bios:

Karen Stivali

Karen Stivali is a prolific writer, compulsive baker and chocoholic with a penchant for books, movies and fictional British men. When she’s not writing, she can be found cooking extravagant meals and serving them to family and friends, who never seem to mind the excessive quantities she tends to prepare. She attributes her ability to multitask to the fact that she rarely sleeps, which gives her more hours every day. Prior to deciding to write full time Karen worked as a hand drawn animator, a clinical therapist, and held various food-related jobs ranging from waitress to specialty cake maker. Planning elaborate parties and fundraisers takes up what’s left of her time and sanity.

Karen has always been fascinated by the way people relate to one another so she favors books and movies that feature richly detailed characters and their relationships. In her own writing she likes to explore the dynamics between characters and has a tendency to craft romantic love stories filled with sarcasm and sexy details.

Her erotic romance novella, Always You, is available from Ellora’s Cave, as well as Long-Distance Lovers, co-written with Karen Booth. Her third EC release will be Marry Me, available Spring 2012.

Her novel, Meant To Be, will be published by Turquoise Morning Press  August 26, 2012. The sequel, Holding On, will be published November 26, 2012.

To learn more about Karen you can visit her website www.karenstivali.com where she blogs original recipes, sassy commentary on The Bachelor, and tidbits about her journey in the writing world. Karen can also be found attempting witty banter on Twitter twitter.com/karenstivali

Karen Booth

Karen Booth is a Midwestern girl transplanted in the South, raised on 80s music, Judy Blume, and the films of John Hughes. Her lifelong preoccupation with Rock ‘n’ Roll led her to spend her twenties working her way from intern to executive in the music industry. Much of her writing revolves around the world of backstage passes and band dynamics.

Karen’s first full-length novel is Bring Me Back, a story she had in her head for nearly eight years before her fingers hit the keyboard. Sleeping and eating quickly became a luxury, a plan she now refers to as the Writer’s Diet. Karen channeled teenage memories of plastering her walls with posters to weave the tale of music journalist, Claire Abby, and the dreamy British rock-star crush of her youth, Christopher Penman. Bring Me Back will be published by Turquoise Morning Press, January 20, 2013.

Long-Distance Lovers, an erotic romance co-authored with Karen Stivali, is out now from Ellora’s Cave. Love My Way was published June, 2012. Her third release for Ellora’s Cave, For Keeps, will be released fall 2012.

When she isn’t dreaming up fictional musicians, Karen is listening to everything from old-school Cheap Trick to Duran Duran to Superchunk with her kids, honing her skills for Southern cooking, or sweet-talking her astoundingly supportive husband into whipping up a batch of cocktails.

You can learn more about Karen by visiting her website at karenbooth.net, where she blogs about music, including her recurring Rock ‘n’ Roll High School series. You can also find her on twitter at twitter.com/karenbbooth.