Julie was born in 1946 in Kansas City, Missouri to a large Irish family. At the age of six, Julie had her tonsils removed and complications from the surgery resulted in a long period of recuperation. She fell hopelessly behind in school and never caught up. "I was a slow, slow reader," Julie says. "I hated it." At the age of 11, her mother discovered her daughter's secret and promptly enrolled her in a summer remedial reading class. "When I got there the nuns immediately realized I wasn't even remedial, and Sister Mary Elizabeth was drafted to tutor me." Julie came to know Sister Elizabeth as a friend and mentor. "She taught me to love the written word. Of course, some of the vocabulary was beyond me so I had to look up a lot of words. I sat on a large dictionary -- got up, looked up a word, sat back down." Julie jumped up and down like a jack-in-the-box all summer.

Julie married young and had three children. She began her writing career when the youngest of her three children entered school. After the publication of two young adult books, she turned her talents to historical romance fiction. Her first romance novel, Gentle Warrior, was published by Pocket Books in 1985 -- there have been over 20 novels since then. Her name appears regularly on bestseller lists of The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and Publishers Weekly, and her books are enjoyed in many languages around the world. Her reputation as a masterful storyteller is based on stories with appealing characters, powerful emotions, and surprising plot twists. Readers claim that it's the humor as well as the poignancy of her novels that keep them laughing, crying and thoroughly entertained.

Julie lives with her family in Leawood, Kansas. When her schedule allows time away from family and career, she devotes her efforts to promoting literacy, and especially enjoys sharing her love of reading with student groups.