I started writing chapter length books when I was nine years old, when I'd sneak stacks of colored paper from my grandparents' hall closet and staple them in half. My first masterpiece was titled Adventures: The Haunted Castle and featured the three stray cats my grandma fed scraps to: Stella, Shelby, and Taz. Because finding a haunted castle in the middle of a Nebraska cornfield was totally believable!

​

Once I started, I never stopped writing. I queried editors with hand-typed letters and SASEs when I was a teenager, back when you didn't need an agent to do that. I still have the stack of rejection letters sitting on my bookshelf!

​

I didn't get the book deal I wanted before I graduated high school, but I kept writing.

 

I served in the Army for five years, deployed to Iraq, and ended up staying in Alaska  (where I was stationed) for a few more years after I separated from the military.

​

I published my first book in 2015, titled Sweetly Scandalous by Jacqueline Winters.

​

Oh, fun fact: Caroline Stone is my third pen name.

​

Why so many pen names?

​

Because each pen name delivers a different reader experience.

 

Jacqueline Winters writes Hallmark-type sweet/just kisses romances. (Her most popular series is the Finding Love in Alaska series).

 

Kali Hart writes short & sweet with plenty of heat. These are romances short enough to squeeze into a lunch break, binge before bedtime, or breeze through in a long afternoon. (Her most popular series is the Mountain Men of Caribou Creek series.)

 

In 2020, those two pen names allowed me to walk away from a day job and write full time. I currently have 160+ published works between the two.

 

While I am still actively writing in both pen names, I yearned for something new.

 

I am a lover of romance, if that isn't obvious. But I wanted to write big floppy books filled with heart, heat, and hilarity. I wanted them to be a fun escape, but also authentic and relatable, and full of depth.

 

Caroline Stone entered the chat.

​

Fun fact: the dog on the paddle board is based on a dog I had in real life: Husker. I have been lucky enough to be a dog mom to three wonderful dogs in my adult life: Tango, Husker, & Kenai. (They are all pictured on this page.) Yes, I have a type! 

 

Will Bark for Pizza is the first of four planned novels in the Bluebell Springs series, debuting August 27, 2025. I hope you'll join me for this new chapter!

 

~Caroline