I fell in love with Malory-Anderson and Reid Families too. Kelsey and Derek made me like a historical romance genre,' another reader recalled. I’m so grateful that she shared her talent w/ us, and for all the characters, worlds and words she inspired. Her stories are the reason I first fell in love with romance and dreamed of becoming an author. One Twitter user wrote, 'Johanna Lindsey’s work changed my life. The heroines of her stories were adventurous in both their plotlines and their sex lives, offering readers escapism from everyday life in more ways that one.įans of Lindsey's work have been on Twitter sharing their memories of her books with one another. Her stories spanned numerous genres within the basic paradigm of romance stories: she set them on Viking ships, in the desert, in the future, and in medieval castles. Fabio was often the model for her heroes and her books helped promote him to iconic status as well. The cover art for her novels featured iconic images of beautiful women in period clothes swooning in the arms of handsome muscular men. Over the next 40 years, Lindsey wrote dozens of more books and frequently topped best-seller lists. Once she sent it, she said it was accepted for publication with only one change. She submitted the first chapter to the publishing house Avon, and a few weeks later they asked for a full manuscript. I amazed myself - I couldn’t stop writing.” “I just sat down one day and wrote the middle scene, the love scene in the tent.

'Desert sheikh, romance, kidnapping - that’s about all I started with,” she said. She told reporters she didn't have a full plot or outline for the novel when she began writing it.

Derek malory johanna lindsey