Niki Burnham
Nicole Burnham is the author of several romance novels and books for teens. She writes romances under the name Nicole Burnham and young adult novels under the name Niki Burnham.
Biography
Nicole Burnham is originally from Colorado, but was born in Key West, Florida, while her father was briefly stationed there with the military. She graduated from Mannheim American High School in 1988, then obtained her B.A. in political science magna cum laude in 1991 from Colorado State University, where she was Phi Beta Kappa. She went on to earn both an M.A. in political science from the University of Michigan and a J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School in 1994. She clerked for a federal magistrate in Colorado and practiced law in St. Louis, Missouri before turning to writing full-time. While at Michigan Law School Burnham was in the same section as Cynthia Leitich Smith, Eric Lefkofsky, and Pat DeWine.[1]
Burnham was a double finalist for the Romance Writers of America's Golden Heart in 2000. One of those two finalist manuscripts was Going to the Castle, which went on to become her first published novel the following year. She won the 2004 RITA in the Best Short Contemporary Series category for The Knight's Kiss, her third published novel. She was a RITA finalist again in 2005 for The Bowen Bride and in 2015 for Slow Tango With a Prince.
Burnham is a member of the Romance Writers of America and served on the Board of Directors for four years, first as Region One Director, then as the PAN Liaison.
An Army brat, Burnham has lived in eight U.S. states as well as in Germany. She currently resides in Boston, Massachusetts. She is an avid baseball fan and maintains a blog called The Go-Ahead in which she frequently discusses her two favorite teams, the Boston Red Sox and the Colorado Rockies. She appeared on Jeopardy! in July 2000, losing to eventual Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions runner-up Tad Carithers.
List of works
Romance novels - Nicole Burnham
The Royal Scandals series
- Christmas With a Prince (Royal Scandals, Book 0.5 {prequel novella}) - November 2013
- Scandal With a Prince (Royal Scandals, Book 1) - November 2013
- Honeymoon With a Prince (Royal Scandals, Book 2) - December 2013
- Christmas on the Royal Yacht (Royal Scandals, Book 2.5 {novella}) - October 2014
- Slow Tango With a Prince (Royal Scandals, Book 3) - June 2014
- The Royal Bastard (Royal Scandals, Book 4) - June 2015
These romances follow the Barrali royal family of the fictional island nation of Sarcaccia. The books are set in various locations around the world.
The San Rimini series
- Going to the Castle (Silhouette Romance) - December 2001
- The Prince's Tutor (Silhouette Romance) - January 2003
- The Knight's Kiss (Silhouette Romance) - May 2003
- Falling for Prince Federico (Silhouette Romance) - August 2004
These romances follow four royal siblings in the fictional Italian-speaking country of San Rimini.
Other romance fiction
- One Bachelor to Go (Silhouette Romance) - February 2004
- The Bowen Bride (Silhouette Romance) - November 2004
Young adult novels - Niki Burnham
The Valerie Winslow series
- 2004 — Royally Jacked — Simon Pulse (UK title: Royally Crushed )
- 2005 — Spin Control — Simon Pulse
- 2006 — Do-Over — Simon Pulse
This series of romantic comedies centers on high school sophomore Valerie Winslow, whose parents are getting a divorce because her mother has fallen in love with another woman. Valerie's father works as the chief of protocol in a very conservative White House. Since his divorce is taking place during an election year, he is offered a temporary job with the royal family of fictional Schwerinborg, a German-speaking nation in western Europe, to keep any tinge of scandal from the President, who is up for re-election. Valerie must choose whether to live with her mother and her mother's new girlfriend across town (which means attending a new high school), or move to Europe with her father. Valerie opts to go to Europe, where she ends up falling for the royal family's teenage son, Prince Georg.
Anthologies
- "Night Swimming" in Fireworks: Four Summer Stories with Erin Haft, Sarah Mlynowski, and Lauren Myracle (Scholastic Point) - April 2007
- "Last Stand" in Breaking Up (Is Hard To Do) with Terri Clark, Ellen Hopkins, and Lynda Sandoval (Houghton Mifflin Graphia) - May 2008
Other young adult fiction
- 2005 — Sticky Fingers — Simon Pulse
- 2006 — Scary Beautiful — Simon Pulse
- 2007 — Goddess Games — Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Honors and awards
- 2004 RITA Award Winner - Best Short Contemporary Series romance for The Knight's Kiss [2]
- 2005 RITA Award Finalist- Best Traditional Series romance for The Bowen Bride
- 2015 RITA Award Finalist - Best Contemporary: Long romance for Slow Tango With a Prince [3]
- American Library Association Quick Pick for Reluctant Young Readers for Royally Jacked [4]
- New York Public Library's 2005 Books for the Teen Age for Royally Jacked [5]
- Teen People Pick for Royally Jacked
References
- ↑ Children's and YA Author Cynthia Leitich Smith
- ↑ http://www.rwanational.org/cs/contests_and_awards/rita_awards/past_winners RWA RITA Award Winners
- ↑ https://www.rwa.org/p/cm/ld/fid=1546#RITAContempLong 2015 RWA RITA Award Finalists
- ↑ http://www.ala.org/ala/yalsa/booklistsawards/quickpicks/05quickpicks.cfm 2005 Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Readers List
- ↑ http://teenlink.nypl.org/booksfortheteenage.pdf NYPL's 2005 Books for the Teen Age (PDF File)
See also
- official Nicole Burnham website
- official Niki Burnham website
- A Home Run First Time at Bat? - All About Romance Interview