AlTonya Washington is a South Carolina native and 1994 graduate of Winston Salem State University in North Carolina. Her first contemporary novel, "Remember Love" BET/Arabesque 2003, was nominated by Romantic Times as Best 1st Multicultural Romance. Her novel "Finding Love Again" won the Romantic Times Reviewer’s Choice Award for Best Multicultural Romance 2004. Her fourth novel "Love Scheme" was nominated as Favorite Steamy Novel for the prestigious EMMA Award of Romance Slam Jam. She presently resides in North Carolina where she works as a Senior Library Assistant.