Little Miss Independent by Julia Templeton

That book started a love of the genre that would spark a desire to write my own stories. That same year I also discovered historical romance in the form of Kathleen Woodiwiss’s SHANNA. Kip swept me off my feet and at the tender age of nineteen, I became pregnant with my first child. Being that he was almost four years older than me, not to mention my brother's best friend, he was off-limits. Green eyes, dark hair, 6'1', and built like a Greek god, Kip had quite the reputation as a bad boy.

When I was all of 14 years old, I met Kip Templeton, my brother's best friend, and the man I would one day marry. I have wonderful memories of my childhood-a mother who was always at home, a father who worked hard to give us a good life, and a sister and brother who always looked out for me. In the early seventies my family moved to Washington, a state with gorgeous mountains, beautiful forests, and lots of green, which meant lots of rain, but I love all the seasons. The main street included just the market, a tavern (appropriately called The Stump) and a church we attended each Sunday morning. My sister and I would take daily walks to the main street store-an old, tiny white building that included the town's post office. I have great memories of playing on stumps the size of small houses on my grandmother's acreage in a little town just north of Crescent City called Fort Dick.

I was born in Crescent City, California, a small logging town on the Pacific coast, home of enormous redwood trees and clear rivers.

Little Miss Independent by Julia Templeton