Rochelle Alers is the author of over eighty books and winner of the Romantic Times Career Achievement Award and Zora Neale Hurston Literary Award, among others. She is one of the most prolific and popular African American authors of romance and women's fiction, making regular appearances on the Essence bestseller lists. Her books include the Hideaway series and the Blackstones of Virginia series. Alers lives in Long Island, New York.