Author Lola Ray who was born and raised in Toledo, Ohio began writing in late 2015 on Facebook as Author Dempsey James. Not knowing where this would lead, she sent invites to join her live interactive book club and quickly gained popularity. After an overwhelming response from her followers, they began to spread the word turning their family and friends into new Lola Ray fans. From that point, with the encouragement from her readers, she decided to start publishing her work. Along the way, she had to deal with many hardships such as the loss of her first book written, and books being stolen and published by a fraudulent author, but her fans kept her encouraged the whole time. While writing her books, she also home schooled her six children and traveled the country twice. She added a piece of her journey in each book, even though she often used her hometown to set the scenes, teaching us all to never forget where we come from. Lola Ray also made sure to keep her characters realistic and relatable. In her books, she captures the gritty heart of Toledo while showing the human essence of each character which often gives readers a chance to hear the side of her antagonists. Lola Ray talks about difficult social issues that her fans find relatable so that each story can reveal a lesson and solution to some of the challenges we all face in life. She continues to write after permanently relocating back to her hometown in 2019