Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the BookChor database with this name.

Brenda Jackson was born and raised in Jacksonville, Florida. She got married to Gerald, her high school sweetheart, in 1972 after graduating from high school. She went on to earn a degree in business administration from Jacksonville University, and to expand their family by having two sons, Gerald Jr. and Brandon.

To relieve job-related stress in the early 1990s, Jackson began reading romance novels. Although she enjoyed the novels, she was dissatisfied with the lack of cultural and ethnic diversity in the characters. After complaining to her husband that she could do better, he registered her for a romance writers conference and encouraged her to try her hand at writing. At the conference, Jackson met then-unpublished authors Francis Ray and Rochelle Alers and became inspired to write.[1]

Jackson was determined to write novels that are multicultural romances, featuring African-American characters, that convey the belief that love is every[where].[2] Her first novel, Tonight and Forever was published in 1995.[2] This and the next few books followed the fictional Madaris brothers, giving Jackson an opportunity to portray professional African-American men who were both appreciative and respectful of women.[1] Her heroes are in many ways inspired by her husband, whom she considers to be a very strong African-American male [who] is supportive and centers his life around his family.[1]

In 2001, Jackson released her first mainstream womens fiction novel, A Family Reunion. As with her previous romance novels, this book contains a sexy spark,as well as Jacksons familiar polished and confident writing style, which allows her characters [to] burst with color right off the page. The following year, in 2002, she became the first African-American author to have a novel published as part of the Silhouette Desire line.

Despite publishing 11 books in t