M. Jayne LaDow wrote the Marchfield Series?laugh-out-loud workplace romances set in a fictional middle school?and the Tides of Truth mystery series, set in 1990s Virginia Beach. With five books published and more on the way, she has made a career of turning classroom chaos into romantic comedy gold. Before she wrote romance, she survived thirty-three years as a middle school English teacher ? excellent training for writing characters who are dramatic, unpredictable, and occasionally covered in pie. She lives in Virginia Beach with her very patient husband, two brilliantly snarky adult children, three rescue cats, a toe-biting tortoise, and a bearded dragon who judges her life choices from his terrarium.