I live in California with my husband and children. I'm from the East Coast, originally. I was working in California and teetering on moving back to the East Coast when my husband came into my life. He is a California boy, through and through. He's lived in different parts of the state, and the concept of living anywhere else (except maybe Tahiti) is difficult for him to fathom. I am completely sympathetic, though, as I love California, too.
I had a career in the fields of technology and book publishing (although not fiction publishing) before having kids. I hadn't picked up a romance novel since my twenties. Then along came Fifty Shades.
Loved the emotion in that series! What an amazing job E.L. James did. Even more so when you consider it was her first time writing. Reading it brought me back to the romance genre. And since then I've discovered equally amazing series, including Laura Griffin's Tracers series and Leslie Tentler's Chasing Evil series. I love finding a connection with characters and then following them throughout the course of several books.