Mary Castillo (born 1974) writes chick lit romances with Latina heroines. A graduate of the University of Southern California, Castillo once considered medicine as a career thinking it would allow her to one day retire and write novels. She now considers herself fortunate to have had the good sense to follow an impossible dream and tell stories with courageous and smart heroines. Her novel, Hot Tamara was Cosmopolitan Magazine's Red Hot Read in April 2005.