KURLAND, Lynn

PERSONAL: Married; children: two.

ADDRESSES: Agent—c/o Author Mail, Berkley Books, Penguin Group Publicity, 375 Hudson St., New York, NY 10014. E-mail—[email protected].

AWARDS, HONORS: RITA awards for best first novel and best paranormal, for both Stardust of Yesterday; Pearl award for best time-travel romance, 1999, for The More I See You; eight Romantic Times awards.

WRITINGS:

ROMANCE FICTION

Stardust of Yesterday, Jove (New York, NY), 1996.

A Dance through Time, Jove (New York, NY), 1996.

This Is All I Ask, Jove (New York, NY), 1997.

The Very Thought of You, Jove (New York, NY), 1998.

Another Chance to Dream, Berkley (New York, NY), 1998.

The More I See You, Berkley (New York, NY), 1999.

If I Had You, Berkley (New York, NY), 2000.

Love Came Just in Time (contains novellas The Gift of Christmas Past, The Three Wise Ghosts, And the Groom Wore Tulle, and The Icing on the Cake), Berkley (New York, NY), 2001.

My Heart Stood Still, Berkley (New York, NY), 2001.

From This Moment On, Berkley (New York, NY), 2002.

A Garden in the Rain, Berkley (New York, NY), 2003.

Dreams of Stardust, Jove (New York, NY), 2005.

Work represented in anthologies, including The Christmas Cat, Berkley (New York, NY), 1996; Christmas Spirits, Jove (New York, NY), 1997; Veils of Time, Jove, 1999; Opposites Attract, Jove, 2000; A Knight's Vow, Jove, 2001; Tapestry, Jove, 2002; and To Weave a Web of Magic, Berkley (New York, NY), 2004.

SIDELIGHTS: Beginning with her first historical romance novels, Lynn Kurland has incorporated themes that include magic, time travel, and fantasy. In her first book, Stardust of Yesterday, Genevieve Buchanan has inherited the family castle that is haunted by a ghost named Kendrick. Kendrick is bound to roam within its walls for eternity unless a curse is lifted, a feat Genevieve may be able to accomplish. The two become friends in spite of his frequent attempts to frighten her into leaving. They share the castle, watch television together, and he introduces her to his fellow ghosts. As they fall in love, the question is whether Kendrick can be returned to human form and Genevieve can accept intimacy. Sheila Bragg wrote in Best Reviews Online that "the humor is incredible. The love story is wonderful and the ending is fantastic." The more recent novel My Heart Stood Still proves to be a variation of Stardust of Yesterday. It features another ghost, this time a woman named Iolanthe MacLeod, who is unwilling to give up her castle to Thomas McKinnon, the wealthy new American owner. But as he restores his crumbling castle, man and ghost fall in love.

In A Dance through Time contemporary protagonist Elizabeth Smith, a romance writer who is researching a Scottish clan, falls asleep in Central Park and wakes up to meet clansman James MacLeod in MacLeod's own time and place. RomanticTimes.com reviewer Jill M. Smith wrote that "Kurland's star continues to rise with this, her second charming, wacky and exciting tale." Kathe Robin, reviewing for RomanticTimes.com, called another Kurland book, This Is All I Ask, "a stunning love story." The novel features Gillian of Ware-wick and Christopher, the Dragon of Blackmour, who met when Gillian was a child. Now their marriage has been arranged, and she is resigned to her fate. On the other hand, he is fearful that she will learn the truth that he is blind. When they do marry, however, a great love story begins.

Alex Smith, the brother of Elisabeth in A Dance through Time, is the time traveler in The Very Thought of You. Here, Smith comes to the aid of Margaret of Falconberg, a woman who has kept secret the fact that her father has died and she has been running her Scottish estate alone. Robin, reviewing Another Chance to Dream and The More I See You, concluded in her review of the latter that "Kurland is a literary magician, able to transport her characters into a new time and bringing that era to life for us."

Musician and composer Jessica Blakely is visiting her aunt in contemporary England in The More I See You. Pursued by a man she would rather avoid at a party for which everyone has donned medieval costume, she wishes for a gallant knight to save her and gets her wish. She is transported to 1260, where she meets Richard de Galtres, who is unfamiliar with the term "chauvinist" that Jessica uses to describe him and shocked when she demonstrates architectural skills she learned from her father when helping Richard plan a new home. Kurland portrays the despair of the modern Jessica, who misses indoor plumbing, aspirin, shopping malls, and chocolate. Romance Reader online contributor Judith Flavell observed that "Kurland obviously had a good time writing The More I See You. Funny lines and situations abound in this time-travel romance."

Featuring characters from earlier novels, From This Moment On features Alienore, a young woman who disguises herself as a young knight to avoid marrying the fierce warrior Colin. She then takes a position with Lady Sybil, only to discover that Sybil's new fiancée is the very same Colin. In Dreams of Stardust jewelry designer Jake Kilchurn is mugged in 2005 and wakes to find himself in the year 1227. Although he has fallen in love with Amanda dePiaget, Jake still must find a way to return to his own time and recover his assets so that he has something to offer his medieval lover. Harriet Klausner reviewed Dreams of Stardust in MBR Bookwatch, writing that "Kurland provides a fine tale that proves she is a skilled timekeeper."

Jean Marie Ward interviewed Kurland for Crescent Blues online, asking the writer how she comes up with her situations and heroines. Kurland answered that her "theory on heroines is—take a normal girl and put her in extraordinary circumstances and see what happens. I try to avoid perfect women—probably because I'm not one and I want to read about someone I can relate to."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, November 1, 1998, Patty Engelmann, review of Another Chance to Dream, p. 477; August, 1999, Patty Engelmann, review of The More I See You, p. 2038; September 15, 2000, Patty Engelmann, review of If I Had You, p. 226; September 15, 2001, John Charles, review of My Heart Stood Still, p. 208; September 15, 2002, John Charles, review of From This Moment On, p. 214; September 1, 2003, John Charles, review of A Garden in the Rain, p. 73.

Library Journal, November 15, 1997, Kristin Ramsdell, review of Christmas Spirits, p. 48; May 15, 1998, Kristin Ramsdell, review of The Very Thought of You, p. 75; August, 2001, Kristin Ramsdell, review of A Knight's Vow, p. 89.

MBR Bookwatch, May, 2005, Harriet Klausner, review of Dreams of Stardust.

Publishers Weekly, July 7, 1997, review of This Is All I Ask, p. 65; January 26, 1998, review of The Very Thought of You, p. 89; November 30, 1998, review of Another Chance to Dream, p. 69; June 11, 2001, review of Love Came Just in Time, p. 63; September 24, 2001, review of My Heart Stood Still, p. 75; September 2, 2002, review of From This Moment On, p. 61.

ONLINE

All about Romance Web site, http://likesbooks.com/ (July 5, 2005), Claudia Terrones and Marianne Stillings, reviews of The More I See You; Heidi Haglin, review of Love Came Just in Time; Jennifer Keirans, review of My Heart Stood Still; Blythe Barnhill, review of A Knight's Vow; Kelly Parker, review of Tapestry.

Best Reviews Online, http://thebestreviews.com/ (July 2, 2001), Harriet Klausner, review of Love Came Just in Time; (September 3, 2001) Harriet Klausner, review of A Knight's Vow; (September 20, 2001) Harriet Klausner, review of My Heart Stood Still; (January 16, 2002) Sheila Bragg, reviews of The More I See You and Stardust of Yesterday; (August 7, 2002) Cynthia Meidinger, review of Tapestry; (September 1, 2002) Cynthia Meidinger, review of From This Moment On; (July 5, 2005) interview with Kurland.

BookLoons.com, http://www.bookloons.com/ (July 5, 2005), Martina Bexte, review of My Heart Stood Still.

Crescent Blues Online, http://www.crescentblues.com/ (July 5, 2005), Jen Foote, review of My Heart Stood Still; Jean Marie Ward, "Lynn Kurland: Magic from the Mundane" (interview).

11th Hour Web site, http://www.the11thhour.com/ (December 20, 2005), Sara E. Paige, review of Stardust of Yesterday.

Lynn Kurland Home Page, http://www.lynnkurland.com (July 5, 2005).

Romance Reader Web site, http://www.theromancereader.com/ (July 5, 2005), Lesley Dunlap, review of The Very Thought of You; Cathy Sova, review of Another Chance to Dream; Judith Flavell, review of The More I See You; Susan Scribner, review of Opposites Attract; Deann Carpenter, review of From This Moment On.

Romance Reader's Connection Online, http://www.theromancereadersconnection.com/ (July 5, 2005), Tracy Farnsworth, review of Love Came Just in Time.

RomanticTimes.com, http://www.romantictimes.com/ (July 5, 2005), Jill M. Smith, reviews of Stardust of Yesterday, A Dance through Time, The Very Thought of You, and My Heart Stood Still; Kathe Robin, reviews of This Is All I Ask, Another Chance to Dream, The More I See You, If I Had You, and From This Moment On.