Ashley Herring Blake

Ashley Herring Blake is an American author of romance and young adult fiction whose joyful, emotionally authentic LGBTQ+ love stories have made her one of the most celebrated queer voices in contemporary fiction. She writes across age groups — adult romance, young adult, and middle grade — and brings warmth, humour, and genuine emotional depth to every story. Born in 1980, Blake holds a Master's degree in teaching and lives in Nashville, Tennessee with her family. She is openly bisexual and is a passionate advocate for LGBTQ+ representation in fiction. The Bright Falls series — beginning with Delilah Green Doesn't Care (2022), followed by Astrid Parker Doesn't Fail and Iris Kelly Doesn't Date — marked her entry into adult sapphic romance. The series, set in the fictional small town of Bright Falls, combines romantic comedy with explicit and emotionally complex love stories between women. Delilah Green Doesn't Care was a sensation, praised for its wit, its warmth, and its unabashedly queer joy. Her young adult novels include Suffer Love, How to Make a Wish, and Girl Made of Stars, a Lambda Literary Award finalist. Her middle grade novels — Ivy Aberdeen's Letter to the World (a Stonewall Honor Book), The Mighty Heart of Sunny St. James, and Hazel Bly and the Deep Blue Sea — bring LGBTQ+ stories to younger readers with sensitivity and hope. Blake writes with infectious warmth, sharp dialogue, and a commitment to showing queer people living full, messy, joyful lives. The audiobook editions of Blake's novels are delightful, with narrators capturing the humour and heart of her storytelling. Her books and audiobooks are essential for anyone who loves romance that is inclusive, emotionally rich, and full of joy.