Occupation Novelist Period 1990 - present | Nationality America | |
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Pen name Barbara Samuel, Lark O'Neal, Ruth Wind Genre women's fiction, new adult romance, contemporary romance, historical romance Awards RITA Award for Best Novel with Strong Romantic Elements Books The Lost Recipe for Happiness, How to Bake a Perfect Lif, Lady Luck's Map of Vegas, The Secret of Everythin, The Garden of Happy En Similar Kathleen Eagle, Susan Wiggs, RaeAnne Thayne, Kim Lawrence, Roberta Gellis | ||
Barbara O'Neal is an American romance novelist who has written over forty books. Her books include The Lost Recipe for Happiness and How to Bake a Perfect Life as well as The Goddesses of Kitchen Avenue and Lady Luck's Map of Vegas. She has written women’s fiction under the names Barbara O’Neal and Barbara Samuel, contemporary and historical romance novels under the names Barbara Samuel and Ruth Wind, and new adult romances under the name Lark O’Neal.
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Career
O'Neal began her writing career as an author for Harlequin Silhouette. Writing as Ruth Wind, she has published over twenty contemporary romances, winning two RITA awards in this genre. She has written seven historical romances under the name Barbara Samuel, winning a RITA in 1998 for her book, Heart of a Knight.
In 2000, O'Neal began writing women’s fiction under the name Barbara Samuel, publishing five books under this name until moving her women’s fiction titles under the name Barbara O’Neal. These books are set mostly in her home state of Colorado or New Mexico, with themes of food, second chances, and multi-generational stories about women. She has won three RITA awards for her women’s fiction work, making her eligible for the Romance Writers of America Hall of Fame, into which she was inducted in 2012.
O'Neal has won Romance Writers of America’s prestigious RITA award seven times, and been nominated for seven others. Her books have also won two Colorado Book Awards, and been named Favorite Book of the Year from Romance Writers of America, a Target Book Club pick, and a top book from Library Journal.
When New Adult Romance emerged as a new genre 2013, O'Neal began writing as Lark O’Neal, launching her first New Adult series, Going the Distance, later that year.
Personal life
O'Neal lives in her hometown of Colorado Springs with her partner, an endurance athlete.