Meet Anna

Why do you write romances?

I love happy endings. Even as a child, whether it was Laura Ingalls and Alamanzo Wilder or Anne Shirley and Gilbert Blythe, I wanted to see the stories end happily. And if they didn’t, you could bet that I’d rewrite the endings to suit myself - even if only in my head. That didn’t change as I grew up - books, TV programmes, films - don’t like the ending, rewrite it.

I also read a lot. A bit of everything. But, when I discovered romances, I was sold. Denise Robins was the first romance author I discovered. Then Robyn Donald (Bride at Whangatapu), Betty Neels and the rest of the Mills and Boon stable. When Silhouette launched the Sensation (Intimate Moments) and Special Edition lines I knew that one day I would be a romance writer.

Where are you from?

I’m English. Born in the beautiful cathedral city of Exeter, in the south-western county of Devon.

My mother is Persian and my father is a mix of Russian, Polish and Yorkshire.

Until 2002, we lived in the lovely market town of Beverley, in East Yorkshire.

Then, my husband’s job brought us to America and New Jersey, where we now live. Living twelve miles from Manhattan is pretty good!

Is Anna or Anahita your real name?

Anahita is my given name. It is pronounced An-ah-hee-tah. I was named after a really cool Persian goddess. Check her out!

Of course, I think it is cool now. When I was a lot younger, I hated having such a different and unusual name. Especially as I was teased a lot by other children. I used to wish my name was Elizabeth - I also used to wish I had blonde hair and blue eyes, but that’s another story.

My fab younger sister is called Mandana.

Tell us about your family

I’m married to my very own romantic hero, Keith. Here he is with his two daughters, Laura and Julia.

Until recently, Keith and I shared a house with two very spoiled black cats, R2 (no, not after R2D2! It’s short for Ratty-Twoey, because he is the nephew of my first cat Ratty) and Kooka (short for Kookaburra = yes, the Australian bird). Sadly we lost both our boys this year. R2 was 20 and Kooka was 15. We were blessed to have them.

To honour Kooka’s life, we have adopted another rescue cat.  Meet Jersey Girl, Jersey for short.

To honour R2’s life we’ve adopted C.C. - another rescue cat. Her name stands for Charleston, (South) Carolina - one of our favourite places in the US.

Here is my sister, Mandana, with her hubby Steve and the best nephew and niece in the world, Matthew and Hannah.

Do you have any hobbies or interests?

I’m a collector. Penguins of all shapes and sizes - I have over 300! I also collect autographs and memorabilia. My collection ranges from movie stars to TV celebrities, and also a few sports heroes from my favourite teams. Then, there are all the romance novel keepers on my bookshelf. And we won’t mention the shoes!

I enjoy watching sports - though I prefer being at the game to watching it on the television. My favourite teams are Manchester United and Exeter City (Football), the Washington Redskins (American football) and the New Jersey Devils (Ice hockey). A great moment for me was seeing the Devils win Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals in 2003. Here I am with Lord Stanley’s Cup!

What did you do before you took up writing romance?

After graduating from Exeter University with an honours degree in Psychology, I went to work for a major British multinational in Marketing. One former Sales colleague said, writing marketing plans was the best practice I could have had for writing romantic fiction!

Then, I decided to take my life in a different direction. I left my job and took a post-graduate teaching course at Hull University. Having qualified, I worked for the next five years at Carr Lane Junior School in Willerby, East Yorkshire, teaching Year 5 (9-10 year olds) and Year 3 (7-8 year olds).

Following our move to the USA, and the usual immigration snafus, I had the opportunity to give that writing dream a go.

And I’m still at it!

If you have any other questions you’d like me to answer, please email me at

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