Orange Blossom Authors
We are so lucky to have some of the most talented authors, illustrators, and other creatives sharing their work with us. Be sure to check out their websites and connect with them on social media.
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Carissa Turpin was born and raised in Eastern Kentucky, though she lived briefly in Phoenix, Arizona. She currently resides in Louisville, Kentucky, where she teaches seventh grade Language Arts and Social Studies. She's a dog mom, book hoarder, and proud Y2K survivor. Doomsday Dani, a middle grade novel where the protagonist is convinced the world will end from Y2K, is her first novel.
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Brynn Barineau is the author of Jaguars and Other Game (November 2022), an adult
historical fiction that started with the idea “The Three Musketeers would be more awesome if it were less sexist. And set in Brazil.” With a background in cross-cultural communication, Brynn moved to her husband’s native Rio de Janeiro with too many sweaters and not enough Portuguese. She began writing as a way to process life in a new country and stop crying in front of dubbed Grey’s Anatomy reruns. After fourteen years in Brazil, her fiction is rooted in the power and possibilities of relationships across cultures. She’s now in Atlanta rediscovering her hometown with her Brazilian-American family. Visit her website or follow her on Instagram. Represented by Kaitlyn Johnson at Belcastro Agency. |
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Lindsay Fryc is the author of Emma and the Queen of Featherstone, a middle grade science fiction novel centered around an anxious STEM loving girl thrown into a technocratic world of unknowns. Lindsay is a nerd wife and mother of two girls, one prima ballerina and one pure hurricane. She has been writing ever since she could hold a pencil, but now instead of only writing for herself, she writes for her two girls, and maybe her rescue dog too (when he will listen). When she isn’t writing, you can find her gardening or planning a far off adventure for her family to explore together. But no matter where the adventuring takes her, her heart is rooted home to those Michigan trees.
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Carol L. Paur stayed home to homeschool her four daughters before writing books. She's the author of Isasnora Snores, her first middle-grade book. Paur lives in Wisconsin with her family and two dogs. When she's not writing, she's gardening, traveling, and talking to herself. You can find her online at clpaurauthor.com and on Twitter at @ArmorCate. Carol's YA novel Early Summer will release November 2022.
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Hillary Vaillancourt is the author of Millie and the Kitchen Witch (October 2022) a middle grade, magical realism novel inspired by her food allergies and hometown in Southwest Virginia.
In addition to writing, Hillary is a practicing attorney and candidate for an LL.M degree in food law and policy. She is the founder of The Foodie Lawyer, a blog sharing legal analysis of food policy, and advocates for local food systems. Hillary is a mother of two and a stepmother of one. She enjoys spending time with her family, picking her own vegetables, and baking a French baguette almost every day. |
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Dawn Bourdeau Milstrey is the author and illustrator of The Stone Angel Society, an illustrated middle grade ghost novel (Orange Blossom Publishing, September 2022). First in a series, the book is a collection of spooky short stories with just the right amount of ghosts for young readers. Dawn has been illustrating picture books since 2008 and loves helping other authors bring their words to life with her art.
When she isn’t writing and illustrating, Dawn enjoys painting large scale landscapes and teaching art and illustration at the local college. Dawn lives in a small town in rural New Jersey where she and her husband raised their three amazing daughters. The family shares their home with two cocker spaniels, several fish...and a few ghosts! To see more of Dawn’s work, visit her website dawnmilstrey.com, follow her on Instagram @dawnmilstrey or connect with her on LinkedIn! |
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Tamatha Cain writes about ordinary people in extraordinary situations. She believes that before she gave up a thriving business to pursue writing full-time, her most compelling lines of prose were probably found in the pages-long love notes she wrote to bewildered boys back in middle school. Her writing has appeared in The Experience Art and Literary Magazine, The Florida Writer, American Cake Decorating, and others. She won the 2020 Royal Palm Literary Award for Unpublished Literary Mystery and The Experience Poetry Competition. She writes reviews for Southern Literary Review and serves as a judge in the RPLA Awards. She is a member of WFWA and FWA. (She did eventually hone the love notes enough to impress her high school sweetheart, and now they have three grown kids). Learn more about her on her website or follow her on Twitter or Instagram.
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Dr. J. arrived at her writing career after being a condom packer, sex educator, sex therapist, and finally a college professor of human sexuality. Using her vast knowledge and experience of sexuality and the mind, she continues her education efforts integrating positive sexuality into her fiction and nonfiction works. Dr. J. is a consultant for Rosy Wellness and the host of #TheSexualitySpace on Twitter Spaces.
Living the island life on the Atlantic coast, Dr. J. knits and supports all the visual and performing arts of the area. When not doing authorly things, you can see her on the pétanque court perfecting her competition moves while sipping something cold. Find out more about her work on her website: https://drjauthor.com/ And for all the social media fun follow her on Twitter. https://twitter.com/DoctorJAuthor |
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Angel Russell, CSE (they/them) has more than 10 years’ experience as a sexuality educator. Their initiative, Professor Sex is pleasure-based, empirically backed, medically accurate, anti-racist sex education with an intended adult audience. They are the Director of Education for Tickle.Life, a member of the Community Sexual Health Education and Research Initiative, and Director of Sex and Gender Education (SAGE) for PFLAG of Jacksonville. Angel is also on the editorial board for Journal of Counseling Sexology & Sexual Wellness. Angel’s work is part of Teaching Safer Sex – Abridged Edition, curriculum developed by the Center for Sex Education. In 2019 their research on Individual Differences in Coming Out as LGBT+ received a professional paper award nomination from Southeastern Psychological Association (SEPA).
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Stephania Thompson is the author of Sweet Disaster, a heartwarming contemporary romance set in Baltimore (Orange Blossom Publishing, June 2022). A CPA turned novelist and poet, her work has been featured in a variety of Medium publications as well as several poetry anthologies. She and her husband are living the dream in a modern-day money pit outside Washington D.C. When not writing or wrangling their four offspring, she can be found running local trails, sneaking lattes, and obsessing over the family pet, a moody dragon named Bandito. Find out more at www.stephaniathompson.com and connect with her on Twitter and Instagram.
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Kristin Durfee is the author of MASS (Orange Blossom Publishing), The Four Corners Trilogy (Black Opal Books), and short stories appearing in several Thriller, Speculative, and Contemporary anthologies for adults.
She lives in Central Florida and when not enjoying the sun with her husband, son, and two quirky dogs, you can usually find her on a run, horseback ride, or wandering around a theme park. Visit her website here or follow her on Facebook. |
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Cindy Marie Jenkins writes, consults, parents, and travels--sometimes at the same time. She is the Deputy Managing Editor at Jingkids International (formerly Beijingkids), Beijing’s essential international family resource. Cindy is known for her workshops in arts marketing and personal branding as well as how to “Make it Work as a Work-at-Home-Parent.” She’s been sourced on the topic for the PAAL (Parent Artist Advocacy League) Readiness Series, Wired, Care.com, and more. Her work-at-home-parent book and planner will be available in May 2021 from Orange Blossom Publishing. Visit her website or follow her on Facebook.
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Cheryl Lynn West is an author, photographer, and shows Samoyed dogs at competitions. She is the author of Castle's Capers: The Adventures of a Naughty Puppy, Samoyed Tales Trilogy, and Remember Me When This You See. You can see her photography on her website. Cheryl will be penning a journal for those who are working through grief in the line of Focus Journals.
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Kerry Evelyn is the author of The Believer's Journal for Everyday Faith (October 2021). Kerry is an author and instructor in the Orlando literary community, mentoring student writers and teaching classes for Writer’s Atelier, libraries, and professional organizations. Her sweet romance novels feature small towns, a touch of the supernatural, and charming characters pursuing happily-every-afters. Find out more at KerryEvelyn.com or follow Kerry on Facebook.
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Angela Hosking MBA MSN RN NE-BC is a women’s empowerment and leadership speaker, author, workshop facilitator, coach and the owner of Her One Tribe, LLC. Angela combines her 12+ years of Nursing executive leadership experience with her expertise as a women’s empowerment writer to deliver impactful workshops and motivational keynote speeches.
Using her self-developed Personal Empowerment Framework as her cornerstone content, Angela educates and inspires national and international female audiences to unlock their confidence barriers and diminish their Imposter Syndrome thinking. Angela is the author of Woman on Top: Lead Like a Lady Boss, the creator of the Superwoman Detox Academy and hosts an online community at HerOneTribe.com to help all women find the empowerment and balance in their lives that they deserve. |
Orange Blossom Illustrators and Photographer
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Marina Veselinovic is the illustrator for Grumbler. Marina is an artist from Serbia, currently living and working in Belgrade. She specializes in magazine and book illustration. Her work can be found in a range of different publications all over the world. She has also participated in many international illustration festivals such as Zlatno pero Belgrade, COW Festival Ukraine, Kunstentropie Vienna...and many more. Marina also has numerous solo and group exhibitions in Serbia and abroad. Visit Marina on Art Station, Milan Illustration, Dribbble, and Behance, or follow her on LinkedIn, Facebook, or Instagram.
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Anastasiya Yanovskaya is a young illustrator from a small town in Russia. She's just beginning her professional work as an illustrator, but has already managed to publish several books and also presented some illustrations in Russia, Spain and China editions. She'd like her illustrations to evoke in people and especially in children only warm feelings and emotions. You can follow her on Instagram or Behance. Anastasiya will be illustrating the forthcoming title Sixth Sunday.
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Fay Becca is the illustrator of Joyride. She is a dynamic artist and an eclectic painter with a unique sense of style. Her work as been featured on the cover of The New Barker magazine and has won multiple awards. The dog featured in Joyride is her own dog names Daisy. She currently lives in Central Florida and visits her family in Costa Rica as much as she can. You can visit her website here or follow her on Facebook.
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Sharon Lane Holm is the illustrator of Pling's Party. She's a professional illustrator of over thirty-five children's books. She has illustrated everything from activity books to bath books. Her art is also featured on licensed greeting cards, puzzles and calendars. She often describes her style of art to be "wonderfully whimsical and sweet yet silly and quirky." She has a black belt in Tae Kwon Do and is an animal welfare advocate. You can visit her website here, follow her on Facebook, and follow her on Instagram.
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Stephana Ferrell is the CEO of The Inspired Storytellers documentary photography company and an accomplished photographer. Her mission is to create honest, artful imagery that goes beyond the who, what, where, and when that the usual prompted picture captures to answer the why and how of a person, family, or business. Her work has been featured on the covers of Desh Videsh and inside South Asian Bride and the Knot magazines. You can follow her on Facebook or Instagram.
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Orange Blossom Formatter
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Valerie Willis is a Dark Fantasy Paranormal Romance author based out of Central Florida. In In 2018, she received the Reader’s Favorite Bronze medal in ‘Fiction – Mythology’ and FAPA’s President’s Silver medal in ‘Fantasy/Sci-fi’ for her Cedric series. You can find her hosting workshops or a guest speaker at many events sharing her expertise in self-publishing, novel writing, research in fiction, worldbuilding, character development, book design, reader immersion and more. Valerie is also the Chief Operating Officer of 4 Horsemen Publications, as well as the author of a workbook series starting with Writer’s Bane: Research. Learn more about Valerie at her website or follow her on Facebook.
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Orange Blossom Copy Editor
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Lauren Stendel is a writer and editor out of Central Florida. Though born in Michigan, she has spent the majority of her life in a small town in sunny Florida. While her initial plan was to study biology and become a forensic pathologist, her eyes moved to her true passion, and where her greatest strengths could be found, English. So, she switched focus and graduated from the University of Central Florida with an English Creative Writing degree, and an Editing & Publishing focus.
She now spends most of her time reading, writing, helping in her mother’s garden, and trying out new arts and crafts (to varying degrees of success). You can read her reviews of books, shows, and more, and browse her many different services on her website. |
Orange Blossom Creative Assistant
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Tonya Spitler is a personal assistant who loves working with authors and publishers. An avid reader since the age of four, she loves to read all things that have a Happily Ever After. Currently, she is working on her own novel, encouraging authors on their road to success, and wrangling her three tweens. Tonya started A Novel Choice LLC in 2021 and is always looking to encourage and assist authors with big dreams. Visit www.anovelchoicellc.com to find out more.
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