To Taste Temptation (Paperback)

Each one of Elizabeth Hoyt's books has been named a "top pick" by the editors of Romantic Times magazine. Known for her steamy historical novels, she has also made appearances on the New York Times and USA Today bestseller lists. Hoyt, the daughter of a biologist, was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, but spent much of her childhood in St. Paul, Minnesota. The family traveled extensively, and she visited Scotland, England, France, and Belgium, among other locales. With that sense of adventure firmly instilled, she later spent a semester as an exchange student in Japan. After earning a bachelor's degree in anthropology from the University of Wisconsin, Hoyt worked for a time on an archeological dig. There she met her future husband, who was then a graduate student. They married, and she subsequently busied herself helping him with his dissertation and raising their two children. When the youngest entered school, Hoyt decided to try launching a writing career; she reasoned that if she failed, she could always find what she jokingly termed a "real job." Her first historical romance, THE RAVEN PRINCE, was published to great acclaim in 2006. Hoyt conducts extensive research for her books, which are generally set in 18th-century England and feature protagonists of differing social classes. "I think of what it would be like to live in a time period where birth meant everything," she has said. "You might be very bright, but receive no education because your family couldn't afford it. You might be a very talented artist, but too bad if you were born into a family of tenant farmers." Hoyt occasionally writes contemporary romances under the pen name Julia Harper.