Meet Wendy

International bestselling author Wendy M. Barnhart (formerly Terrien) received her first library card at age two, and a few years later started writing her own stories.

Her debut novel, The Rampart Guards (February 2016), earned a Kirkus starred review and was named to Kirkus Reviews’ Best Books of 2016. Next in the series, and both award winners, are The League of Governors (August 2017), and The Clan Calling (August 2017), two distinct stories on the same timeline. The fourth book, The Forge of Bonds (February 2020), received the Colorado Authors League Award of Excellence. Wendy’s latest novel is the suspense thriller, Scaled Vengeance (November 2026).

  • Wendy graduated from the University of Utah (go Utes!) and relocated to Colorado where she completed her MBA at the University of Denver. She focused her marketing expertise on the financial and technology industries until a career coach stepped in and reminded Wendy of her passion for writing. Inspired, Wendy leaped and began attending writers’ conferences, workshops, and retreats, and the storytelling hasn’t stopped since.

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    She is on the board of Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers, and is a member of Pikes Peak Writers, the Colorado Authors League, and the Authors Guild.

    Wendy lives in the Denver area and is a proud dog mom. She’s team dark chocolate, a fan of technology, and believes every dose of nature nurtures the soul. Wendy is also committed to promoting pet adoption from rescues or shelters as the best way to bring home a furry family member. If you’re in Colorado, you may even spot her “Adopt a Shelter Pet” license plates.

Other Fun Facts

  • Wendy went skydiving once, and was enjoying the experience so much that she forgot to pull the rip cord. Thankfully, it was a tandem jump so her instructor did his thing and saved their lives.

  • She worked as a used car salesperson for one day. (And recommends you shy away from buying used rental cars…).

  • Wendy loves scuba diving and asked one dive master to help her find sharks. They soon swam past seven mellow white tipped reef sharks.

  • She also has near-zero fear of spiders or snakes, and has been known to catch them in her bare hands to put them outside (usually spiders; only one time did she catch a snake in the house, and it was just a garter snake. Adorable).

  • She has been fingerprinted (which had to do with selling the used cars; no criminal record as of the time of this posting). :)

  • She won her first writing contest in eighth grade when she wrote an essay for the prompt “Look Out Your Window, What Do You See?” She currently has the trophy for her big win sitting on a shelf in her office.

  • Wendy knows three people who have been on three different episodes of Dateline. Three! Thankfully, none were victims or perpetrators. But weird to know three, right? Right???

  • Wendy loves nature and animals, and especially her dogs, past and present. In August 2025, she adopted pittie-mix, Willow, from the Evergreen Animal Protective League, a wonderful rescue group. They brought Willow to Colorado after she was found as a stray 5-month-old puppy in Texas. Willow is a true love bug who hasn’t yet found an uncomfortable lap.