Caridad Ferrer is a first generation, bilingual Cuban-American, whose young adult debut, Adiós to My Old Life was Romance Writers of America's 2007 RITA® winner for Best Contemporary Single Title Romance as well as being named to the 2009 Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults list, awarded by the ALA and winning the Bronze medal in the Young Adult category of the Florida Book Awards.Her latest young adult novel, When the Stars Go Blue, a contemporary retelling of Bizet's Carmen, was released by Thomas Dunne Books with Booklist calling it, "Well written, with contemporary characters and an engaging story line." Recently, Stars was honored as the first place YA Novel: English Language at the 2011 International Latino Book Awards.A native Floridian, Ferrer now makes her home in the Pacific Northwest, thriving amidst the rain and cooler weather, finding it the perfect writing environment as she hangs out with her dogs, family, and good coffee, dreaming up new stories with which to entertain herself and her readers.Follow her on Twitter at @BarbFerrer or on Facebook at Barbara Caridad Ferrer.