About Judith Kohnen — Contemporary Romance Author

I spent thirty years with a story I couldn't let go — and couldn't quite bring myself to release. I began writing what would become One Chance, One Moment in 1986, inspired by the sweeping romantic novels of Danielle Steel, Johanna Lindsey, and Catherine Coulter. I revised it, rethought it, joined Virginia Romance Writers, edited their newsletter for four years, earned a nursing degree, and kept coming back to the manuscript — until I finally did what I'd always said I would, and published it. The book went on to earn fourteen honors, including a Bronze Medal from Readers' Favorite and selection among ten books worldwide chosen by Wind Dancer Films for film and television evaluation.

I never gave up. That's the whole story, really.

I write contemporary romance with humor, suspense, and emotional depth — stories that treat love not as a feeling that happens to people, but as a choice they make, often at great cost. The Mandy Story series drew unexpected inspiration from Barry Manilow's 1976 hit of the same name: a song about longing, loss, and the one who got away. It's a more complicated muse than most, and I wouldn't trade it.

With a background in nursing, hypnotherapy, and the natural healing arts, I bring an uncommon sensitivity to my characters' inner lives — the places where emotion, instinct, and transformation intersect. I was an active member of Romance Writers of America and Virginia Romance Writers for nearly thirty years.

My newest novel, Whispering Hope, follows a young boy from the earlier books — now a NASA engineer in a wheelchair — into a love story of his own, set against a crisis written in the sky. It is expected in early 2027.

I live on five acres in rural Virginia with my husband.