YARDLEY, Cathy

PERSONAL:

Female. Education: University of California, Berkeley, B.A. (art history, mass communications).

ADDRESSES:

Home—1271 Washington Ave., PMB 736, San Leandro, CA 94577. E-mail—cathy@cathyyardley.com.

CAREER:

Writer. Worked variously as an advertising assistant, project manager, marketing manager, and budget analyst.

MEMBER:

Romance Writers of America (Los Angeles chapter president).

AWARDS, HONORS:

Romantic suspense, Romance Writers of America, for The Cinderella Solution.

WRITINGS:

The Cinderella Solution, Harlequin Duets (New York, NY), 2000.

The Driven Snowe, Harlequin Blaze (New York, NY), 2001.

Guilty Pleasures, Harlequin Blaze (New York, NY), 2002.

L.A. Woman, Red Dress Ink (Buffalo, NY), 2002.

Romancing Rose (novella), in Playing with Matches, NAL/Signet (New York, NY), 2003.

Working It, Harlequin (New York, NY), 2003.

SIDELIGHTS:

Cathy Yardley worked at a number of jobs before selling her romance novel, The Cinderella Solution. She was in her early twenties at the time, and with that first success, she became a full-time writer, completing a book in each of the next several years.

The Driven Snowe features Angela Snowe, a librarian who is waiting for test results after her doctor finds a lump in her breast. Overwhelmed by the possibility of bad news, Angela decides to lose her virginity, which she does when Josh Montgomery accepts her unusual proposal. But Angela doesn't stop there. When the tests come back negative, she resolves to experience all that life has to offer. She takes yoga and Chinese cooking classes and learns the craft of stained glass. In the process, she becomes the vibrant, exciting young woman that Josh now finds impossible to resist.

Linda Mowery reviewed The Driven Snowe for Romance Reader, stating that "part of the draw for me of this well-crafted story is that I felt occasionally a bit of pity for these two.… Seeing their slips and slides caused me to experience an occasional emotional grimace. A well-written book such as this reminds me that love can be rocky, uncertain, and oh, so fulfilling."

Guilty Pleasures finds chef Marie Salazar struggling to keep the restaurant of the title afloat when four-star chef Nick Avery comes looking for work. Nick was framed for embezzlement and no one will hire him. Marie, who knows what it's like to have hard times, does hire him, and the two of them stir it up in the kitchen and in the bedroom. The new dishes they concoct are given erotic names. Yardley notes on her Web site that she got the idea for the story while sitting with her sister in a Japanese restaurant. Service was slow, and to kill time, they began to invent names for various dishes. "When I hit on 'Miso Horny Soup,' suddenly I was hit with a question: if you wanted to make a restaurant with a sexy theme, what would you have on the menu?"

Sarah Walker becomes an L.A. Woman when she goes south from her northern California home to await the arrival of Benjamin, her boyfriend of several years. Once there, she finds she can't make the rent on her entry-level wages, and when Benjamin puts off coming down, she rooms with Martika, a trendy party girl who is Sarah's total opposite. When, in a fit of anger, Sarah dumps Benjamin, quits her job, and chops off her hair, Martika takes her in hand and introduces her to an alternative lifestyle, giving Sarah the opportunity to find out if perhaps she is cut out to be a single girl. Booklist reviewer Kristine Huntley wrote that "with its engaging characters, snappy dialogue, and fast-paced story, Yardley's novel is a winning standout."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, June 1, 2002, Kristine Huntley, review of L.A. Woman, p. 1695.

Publishers Weekly, June 3, 2002, review of L.A. Woman, p. 64.

ONLINE

About Romance,http://www.likesbooks.com/ (January 8, 2003), Nora Armstrong, review of The Driven Snowe; (January 8, 2003), Leigh Thomas, review of Guilty Pleasures.

Cathy Yardley Home Page,http://www.cathyyardley.com/ (May 1, 2003).

Romance Reader,http://www.theromancereader.com/ (November 17, 2001), Linda Mowery, review of The Driven Snowe.*