GEORGE, Melanie

PERSONAL: Female; children: Andrew.

ADDRESSES: Home—P.O. Box 29, Convent Station, NJ 07961-0029. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER: Writer. Worked as a recruiter.

MEMBER: Romance Writers of America.

AWARDS, HONORS: Dorothy Parker Award, Reviewers International Association.

WRITINGS:

Like No Other ("Splendor Historical Romance" series), Kensington Publishing (New York, NY), 2000.

Dangerous to Love ("Precious Gem Historical Ro mance" series), Kensington Publishing (New York, NY), 2000.

Lady of the Locket (novella), published with After theMusic, by Christine Feehan as A Very Gothic Christmas, Pocket Books (New York, NY), 2001.

The Mating Game ("Contemporary Romance" series), Kensington Publishing (New York, NY), 2002.

To Die For, Kensington Publishing (New York, NY), 2002.

"sinclair brothers/devil" trilogy

Devil May Care, Kensington Publishing (New York, NY), 2001.

Handsome Devil, Kensington Publishing (New York, NY), 2001

The Devil's Due, Kensington Publishing (New York, NY), 2001.

"pleasure seekers" series

The Art of Seduction, Pocket Books (New York, NY), 2002.

For a Lady's Pleasure, Pocket Books (New York, NY), 2003.

WORK IN PROGRESS: All through the Night (third novel in the "Pleasure Seekers" series).

SIDELIGHTS: Melanie George is a romance writer whose novels include the Sinclair Brothers historical trilogy, each book of which features one of the notorious sons of the emotionally abusive Lady Beatrice. In Devil May Care, the young and virginal Eden Spencer looks to the older and worldly Damien to teach her about the seamy side of life. In Handsome Devil, Nicholas loses his rakish heart to the innocent Irish lass Sheridan Delaney. The final book, The Devil's Due, finds Gray falling for Scottish Bonnie MacTavish against his will, which has been shaped since childhood by his mother. Booklist's Patty Engelmann called the third novel in the trilogy "a winner, with one of romance's feistiest heroines and most alluringly brooding heroes."

The Mating Game is a contemporary romance about two people, a sexually inexperienced British scientist who is conducting sex experiments, and the American writer of steamy novels he enlists to help him. Mallory Ginelli may write good sex, but she is just as inexperienced as he. However, she needs the money. Dexter Harrington really wants to learn about sex for a different reason, that being that he is about to marry Sarah, and when Mallory draws on her imagination to seduce the good doctor, he falls in love with her. A Publishers Weekly contributor called the novel "a pleasant, lighthearted read."

Booklist's Mary K. Chelton wrote that with To Die For, George "is off to a good start in her bid to specialize in dark, gritty romances." The twin sisters of the story have lived very different lives, with Abby staying with her mother in a small, rural town, and Michaela living a promiscuous life in the city while she runs the men's magazine left to them by their father. When she goes on vacation, Abby impersonates her and, with great difficulty, attempts to manage the magazine. The handsome editor, Stefan, hates Michaela and becomes confused when he begins falling for Abby, who is acting as her stand-in. There is a history of sexual abuse in both Abby's and Stefan's pasts, and this, "plus Abby's life-threatening illness," noted a Publishers Weekly contributor, "take the story over the edge for a groaningly melodramatic finish."

George began her "Pleasure Seekers" series with The Art of Seduction, in which Dominick Carlisle has sex at a costume ball with the virgin Parris. Because she leaves her sister's handkerchief behind, he offers to marry Annabelle, who he then catches in bed with his brother. The marriage is called off, and Dominick leaves to serve with the army, coming back eight years later to find that Parris has grown into a beautiful avenger of women seduced by prominent men. It is then that he finally discovers that she is the masked woman he had actually fallen in love with at the party. Chelton wrote that "the sex scenes are great, the secondary characters interesting, and the resolution satisfying."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

periodicals

Booklist, September 15, 2001, Patty Engelmann, review of The Devil's Due, p. 203; March 1, 2002, Mary K. Chelton, review of The Mating Game, p. 1097; August, 2002, Mary K. Chelton, review of The Art of Seduction, p. 1934; November 15, 2002, Mary K. Chelton, review of To Die For, p. 582.

Publishers Weekly, March 4, 2002, review of The Mating Game, p. 63; July 15, 2002, review of The Art of Seduction, p. 60; October 21, 2002, review of To Die For, p. 60.

online

BookBrowser,http://www.bookbrowser.com/ (July 17, 2002), Harriet Klausner, review of The Art of Seduction.

Melanie George Home page,http://www.melaniegeorge.com (December 26, 2002).

Historical Romance Writers,http://www.historicalromancewriters.com/ October 16, 2002), "Meet Melanie George."

Romance Reader,http://www.theromancereader.com/ (May 28, 2001), Cathy Sova, review of Devil May Care; (November 27, 2001) Lesley Dunlap, review of The Devil's Due.

Romantic Times,http://www.romantictimes.com/ (October 16, 2001), Lauren Spielberg, "All about Eden: The Many Faces of Melanie George."*