West Virginia Women Writers: Jo Goodman

State Library Services
1900 Kanawha Blvd. E.
Culture Center, Building 9
Charleston, WV 25305

Phone: (304) 558-2045
Email: wvlcref@wv.gov

Jo Goodman, the historical romance author, is really Joanna Dobrzanski, the executive director of a mental health facility in West Virginia’s northern panhandle.  Since most people call her Jo, and her last name, Dobrzanski, roughly translates to “good man,” she selected this moniker for publication. Goodman feels her jobs as writer and social worker complement each other.  “One grounds me in reality and the other offers me a break from it,” she says on her Historical Romance Writers page.

As executive director of Family Connections in West Virginia’s northern panhandle, Goodman says she is “inspired by the resiliency and courage of the children she meets and feels privileged to be trusted with their stories, the ones they alone have the right to tell.” She began writing early in her counseling career because the only life scripts she could control were the ones she wrote.

Goodman loves history and likes to fit her characters and plot together, so that historical facts, attitudes, etc. are part of the romance. Goodman has written over 30 historical romances along with short stories and novellas. Her first book Passion’s Bride was published in 1984 and won first place for best pirate romance from Romantic Times. 

The Devil You Know

This Gun for Hire

In Want Of a Wife (Bitter Springs Series #4)

Boots under Her Bed (Bitter Springs Series #3)

His Heart's Revenge 10/2013 Reprint of Passion's Sweet Revenge (Marshall Brothers #2)

Her Defiant Heart 10/2013 Revised and reprint of Midnight Princess (Marshall Brothers #1)

True To the Law (Bitter Springs Series #2)

The Last Renegade (Bitter Springs Series #1)

A Place Called Home

Kissing Comfort

Marry Me

Never Love a Lawman

The Price of Desire

If His Kiss Is Wicked

One Forbidden Evening

A Season to be Sinful

Beyond a Wicked Kiss (Compass Club #4)

All I Ever Needed (Compass Club #3)

Everything I Ever Wanted (Compass Club #2)

A Basket of Magic in anthology Magically Delicious Kisses

Let Me Be the One (Compass Club #1)

Tempting Torment (McClellan Family #3)

Tidewater Promise in anthology Christmas Rendezvous (McClellan Family #4) Reprinted with Tempting Torment

More Than You Wished (Hamilton Family #2)

Seaswept Abandon (McClellan Family #2)

More Than You Know (Hamilton Family #1)

Crystal Passion (McClellan Family #1)

With All My Heart (Thorne Brothers #3)

The Captain's Lady (originally Passion's Bride)

My Reckless Heart (Thorne Brothers #2)

My Steadfast Heart (Thorne Brothers #1

Only in My Arms (Dennehy Sisters #5)

The Baby Dream in anthology Baby Dreams

Always in My Dreams (Dennehy Sisters #4)

Forever in My Heart (Dennehy Sisters #3)

Liberty Christmas in anthology A Christmas Caress

My Heart's Desire Reprint of Rogue's Mistress (Dennehy Sisters #2)

Only My Love Reprint of Wild Sweet Ecstasy (Dennehy Sisters #1)

Sweet Fire

Passion's Sweet Revenge (Marshall Brothers #2)

Midnight Princess (Marshall Brothers #1)

Scarlet Lies

Violet Fire

Velvet Night

Passion's Bride

2003  --  Romance Readers Anonymous Best Historical Single Title Romance, Everything I Ever Wanted

1998  --  Historical Storyteller of the Year Career Achievement Award from Romantic Times Magazine

1994  --  Reader's Choice Award for Best Historical Romance, Forever in my Heart 

1984  --  Best Pirate Romance from Romantic Times, Passion’s Bride