B. A. Binns is a Chicago Area author who writes to attract and inspire reluctant readers with stories of "real boys growing into real men...and the people who love them." After graduating Hyde Park High School, she obtained degrees in Biochemistry from the University of Wisconsin and Michigan State University; and in Computer Science from Roosevelt University, and DePaul University. Her writing skills were honed at Chicago State University and Harper College. She does talks and classes on domestic violence and teens, attracting teen boy readers, and multicultural literature. She finds writing an exercise in self-discipline, and the perfect follow-up to her life as the eldest of five children, an adoptive parent, and a cancer survivor. She is a member of the Romance Writers of America, the Chicago Writers Association, the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators and YALSA (Young Adult Library Services Association). In 2009 her work won the Oklahoma Romance Writers Finally a Bride Contest and the Rose City Golden Rose Contest. In 2010 she was a finalist in the RWA Golden Heart(R) contest. Her favorite quote is from Nathaniel Hawthorne, "Easy reading is damned hard writing." Her website is babinns.com. She is the YA "genre-ista" on the Romancing the Genres group blog at romancingthegenres.blogspot.com.