Literary Lovers 01 | Page 68

Penelope Ward

★ Penelope is a New York Times, USA Today and #1 Wall Street Journal Bestselling Author.

★ With over a million books sold, she’s a sixteen-time New York Times Bestseller (hitting at the #2 spot on three separate occasions).

★ Her fourth novel, Stepbrother Dearest, was also the #1 independently published kindle e-book on Amazon’s 2014 bestseller list.

★ Her birthday is 7/10

★ Penelope spent most of her twenties as a television news anchor before switching to a more family-friendly career.

★ She grew up in Boston with five older brothers.

★ She lives for reading books in the new adult genre, coffee, messaging with her buddy and sometimes co-author Vi Keeland, as well as hanging out with her friends and family on weekends.

★ Fifty Shades of Grey started her obsession with romance as a reader.

★ When writing, she outlines the story first, spends a lot of time thinking about it and daydreaming before starting. She writes in chronological order.

★ She self-published her first book in May of 2013

★ She’s not a big fan of flying.

★ Penelope loves coffee, sushi, the color royal blue, and big band music.

★ If she wasn’t a writer, she may have wanted to be a florist.

★ Ward is her actual maiden last name. Penelope is a pen name. She doesn’t have any other pen names.

★ She is the proud mother of a 13-year-old beautiful girl with autism (the inspiration for the character Callie in Gemini) and an 11-year-old boy, both of whom are the lights of her life.

★ Penelope, her husband, and kids reside in Rhode Island.

My Q & A with Penelope:

1. Where is the strangest place you’ve ever gotten a great story idea?

✧ Driving home from the post office, the entire plot of Sins of Sevin unfolded before my eyes. I had to pull over into a parking lot to dictate the ideas into my phone.

2. Bucket list vacation spot?

✧ Los Angeles. I know there are probably a lot more obvious/tropical places…but I’ve always wanted to visit Hollywood.

3. Who is your favorite book boyfriend from another author?

✧ Kellan Kyle from Thoughtless by S.C. Stephens

4. What is your all-time favorite song?

✧ Down Under by Men At Work

5. What’s your favorite gift ever received from a fan?

✧ Mini bottles of vodka

6. Who is your unicorn author?

✧ This is tough. Colleen Hoover or EL James

7. What is your favorite brand of mascara?

✧ Loreal Voluminous Lash Paradise

8. What’s your favorite name out of all your characters?

✧ Elec