Colleen Collins
Personal Information
Description
Colleen Collins was born on 26 November 1951. She graduated at the University of California Santa Barbara. At three years old, she did Jack Benny impressions (or so her father claims). It must have been prophetic because she eventually performed stand-up and improvisational comedy in Los Angeles and Denver. She worked as a film production assistant, improv comic, telecommunications manager at the RAND Corporation, technical writer/editor, speech writer, and private investigator. All these experiences play into her writing. Along the way, she cowrote a joke book, How to Exercise with Your Computer, which landed her on the cover of National Lampoon magazine. The writing bug had bitten. She joined the Romance Writers of America, the Colorado Romance Writers, and began learning the craft of romance-fiction writing. She entered a Harlequin Temptation contest and placed second. Several years later, she was thrilled to sell her first novel to Harlequin Love & Laughter. The book, titled Right Chest, Wrong Name, was nominated by Romantic Times Magazine for best Love & Laughter romance and was also a finalist in the prestigious Award of Excellence contest. Since then she has written several more books for Harlequin. She also published an indie-published mystery, The Zen Man (as Cassandra Collins) and two nonfiction books, How Do Private Eyes Do That? and How to Write a Dick: A Guide for Writing Fictional Sleuths from a Couple of Real-Life Sleuths (the latter co-authored with Shaun Kaufman). Her books have placed first in the Colorado Gold, Romancing the Rockies, and Top of the Peak contests, and placed in the finals for the Holt Medallion, Best Indie Books 2012, Coeur de Bois Readers Choice, Award of Excellence, More than Magic, and Romance Writers of America RITA contests. She’s a member of the Mystery Writers of America (MWA), Private Eye Writers of America (PWA), the Sisters in Crime. When not sleuthing or writing, she likes to spend time with her husband and their two Rottweilers and three cats.
Books
Too close for comfort
Men at Work
Shock Waves
It's time to indulge a few fantasies.Running into her teenage crush reignites all of Ellie Rockwell's youthful dreams. One look at the gorgeous, grown-up version of Bill Romero makes those images strictly adult entertainment. And his enthusiastic greeting turns her week of R&R into smokin'-hot fun. As sizzling as their nights are, she knows it can't last.She's temporarily disguised her real goth self and suspects Bill's not up for that revelation. But is she underestimating him? When confronted with the true Ellie, his seductive response suggests her steamy fantasies could last forever.
A Scent of Seduction
Kathryn Walters may once have been a career-obsessed book editor with a libido that fell asleep in the time-out corner, but no more. Ever since she and Coyote Sullivan—sports editor and Native American hottie—shared a sniff of a supposed lust potion, things have really heated up. So much so that she's abandoned her nightly fantasies in favor of a much steamier reality. But are the fireworks the real deal?Or is this fling the result of the potion? And if the stuff isn't fake, what do they do when the bottle runs dry?
Right Chest, Wrong Name
Russell Harrington used to be a mild-mannered English professor. He's always followed the rules--even his engagement to a proper, nice woman was considered appropriate. Until... THE BACHELOR PARTY! He ended up riding off into the night on the back of a motorcycle with the woman of his fantasies. Elizabeth Rose, with her blazing red hair, smoky voice and body that could stop a man in his tracks, quoted poetry, told him her dreams and... LEFT HIM A MARKED MAN. HER MAN. He could remove the heart tattoo from his chest. But could he ever remove Liz from his heart?
Bride On The Loose / Married After Breakfast
BRIDE ON THE LOOSE He was one gorgeous complication… In one impulsive act, Dana Vanover dumped her fiancé, jumped overboard and—for good measure—decided to lose her memory. If no one knew who she was, it would be easier to shake her past! Enter Sam Taylor, virile veterinarian and dangerous rescuer. Around him Dana was having trouble remembering to forget…. MARRIED AFTER BREAKFAST Three days can change everything… Were there ever two more different people than millionaire Dirk Harriman and showgirl Belle O'Leary? He was a communications tycoon, while she talked to her pets. He liked his champagne expensive, while she hoped her soda was cold. Belle was impulsive, flamboyant and the most interesting woman Dirk had met in his whole boring life. The sexual sparks sizzled and adventure just happened. Dirk was having the time of his life…but what about the morning after?
Joyride
The Night We Met
I wasn't supposed to love Nate Grady, let alone marry him. But we found a love that triumphed over all adversity—just like Jane Eyre, my very favorite heroine.I was young, bookish, naive—on the verge of entering the convent—and then I met him.... The day I abandoned my old life, the day I agreed to marry him, now seems an eternity ago. But despite everyone's objections, I fell for Nate. An older, previously married man. My first and only love. My husband.When I looked into Nate's eyes on our wedding day, the rest of the world vanished. If I was crazy for doing this, I prayed the craziness would last forever....