Jenna Petersen started writing full-time in 1999 when her husband said, “You’re only happy when you’re writing, why don’t you do that?” In 2004, her dream came true when her literary agent called to say she’d just sold two books to Avon, a division of HarperCollins Publishing.

She also writes erotic historical romance as Jess Michaels and helped launch a line called Avon Red. Between the two names she has published 11 books, with even more scheduled through 2010 and 2011. 

Her books have received high praise from critics and readers alike. She has been a Bookscan and Waldenbooks Mass Market bestseller. She has won the Bookbuyers Best Award for Best Historical of 2007 (Desire Never Dies). Her 2007 Jess Michaels release, Everything Forbidden won the Lories Award for Best Sensual Romance and was named Best Sensual Historical Novel of 2007 by Lifetime Television. Her work has been translated into Portuguese, Russian, Arabic, Norwegian, French, Spanish, Dutch, Japanese and Thai.

In addition, she has run The Passionate Pen since 1999. This popular site for aspiring authors gets nearly 200,000 hits per month and contains information on literary agents, publishing houses, articles about writing and the industry, links and Jenna’s Diary toward and beyond publication. You can find her at http://www.passionatepen.com and at http://www.jennapetersen.com.