Patricia Beal writes contemporary women's fiction and romance. She is a Genesis semi-finalist and First Impressions finalist. Her debut novel, A Season to Dance, came out on May 9, 2017. Desert Willow released in February of 2020. Patricia is from Brazil and immigrated to the United States in 1992. She fell in love with the English language while washing dishes at McDonald's and learned enough to pass the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL). She put herself through college working at a BP gas station and graduated magna cum laude from the University of Cincinnati in 1998 with a B.A. in English Literature. She was the news editor of the university newspaper for two years. After an internship at the Pentagon, Patricia began working as a public affairs professional for the U.S. Army and served as a spokesperson for five general officers, providing statements for television, radio and print. She was in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, when the first Operation Enduring Freedom detainees arrived, and the stories she filed during the early days of the detention operation there gained national attention. Writing from Iraq in the first year of Operation Iraqi Freedom, she focused on feature stories for Army newspapers, and a feature on a day in the life of "Bad Luck Squad" won her a Keith L. Ware award in print journalism. Patricia loves the arts and travel and includes both in her stories often. She has danced ballet since her childhood and has performed with pre-professional companies in South America, Europe and the United States. Her dance experience brings great flavor and authenticity to her ballerina novels.