During the week she works as executive director of Family Connections, a group home in Weirton, W.Va. On weekends, she goes undercover as Jo Goodman, award-winning romance author. And, like a double agent, Dobrzanski keeps her dual identity under wraps. It's not something I bring up in conversation. On Saturday and Sunday mornings, while others are still lost in slumber, the Queen of Hearts settles in front of her computer and draws up characters and plots that captivate readers throughout the world.
Total sales exceed two million copies.
Dobrzanski has drawn plaudits as well as royalties for her work. She won the 1994 National Readers' Choice Award with Forever in My Heart , was nominated in the Best Historical Romance category in 1996 for Only in My Arms , and was honored by Romantic Times magazine in 1999 as Historical Storyteller of the Year. Dobrzanski also won a Romantic Times award for her debut novel, Passion's Bride , since reissued as The Captain's Lady . If she appears bemused by all the accolades, understand that Dobrzanski Polish for good man, hence her nom de plume never envisioned such acclaim. Fact is, she never even envisioned a writing career.