Dakota Willink

Biography

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Dakota Willink is an award-winning USA Today Bestselling Author from New York. She loves writing about damaged heroes who fall in love with sassy and independent females. Her books are character-driven, emotional, and sexy, yet written with a flare that keeps them real. With a wide range of published books, a magazine publication, and the Leave Me Breathless World under her belt, Dakota’s imagination is constantly spinning new ideas.

Dakota often says she survived her first publishing with coffee and wine. She’s an unabashed Star Wars fanatic and still dreams of getting her letter from Hogwarts one day. Her daily routines usually include rocking Lululemon yoga pants, putting on lipstick, and obsessing over Excel spreadsheets. Two spoiled Cavaliers are her furry writing companions who bring her regular smiles. She enjoys traveling with her husband and debating social and economic issues with her politically savvy Generation Z son and daughter.

Dakota’s favorite book genres include contemporary or dark romance, political & psychological thrillers, and autobiographies.

Awards, Accolades, and Other Projects

The Stone Series is Dakota's first published book series. It has been recognized for various awards and bestseller lists, including USA Today and the Readers' Favorite 2017 Gold Medal in Romance, and has since been translated into multiple languages internationally.

The Fade Into You series (formally known as the Cadence duet) was a finalist in the HEAR Now Festival Independent Audiobook Awards.

In addition, Dakota has written under the alternate pen name, Marie Christy. Under this name, she has written and published a children's book for charity titled, And I Smile.

Also writing as Marie Christy, she was a contributor to the Blunder Woman Productions project, Nevertheless We Persisted: Me Too, a 2019 Audie Award Finalist and Earphones Awards Winner. This project inspired Dakota to write The Sound of Silence, a dark romantic suspense novel that tackles the realities of domestic abuse.

Dakota Willink is the founder of Dragonfly Ink Publishing, whose mission is to promote a common passion for reading by partnering with like-minded authors and industry professionals. Through this company, Dakota created the Love & Lace Inkorporated Magazine and the Leave Me Breathless World, hosted ALLURE Audiobook Con, and sponsored various charity anthologies.