Handeland has wanted to be a writer since she was 10 years old. As an adult, she wrote her first book in a two-year span. It was chosen for publication.

Handeland has written over 30 novels. For St. Martin's Press, Handeland writes single-title paranormal suspense romance novels, some of which are written in first person narrative. She has also had several contemporary romance novels published in the Harlequin SuperRomance category line.

Handeland is a two-time winner of the Romance Writers of America's prestigious RITA Award, in 2005 for Best Paranormal Romance for Blue Moon and in 2007 for Best Long Contemporary Romance for The Mommy Quest. She has also been nominated seven times for Romantic Times Reviewers' Choice Awards, winning in 2005 for A Soldier's Quest.

Handeland is married and has two sons.

Novels

• Charlie and the Angel (1995)
• Shadow Lover (1995)
• Full Moon Dreams (1996)
• By Any Other Name (1998)
• Dreams of an Eagle (1998)
• Just After Midnight (1999)
• Mother of the Year (2000)
• Loving a Legend (2000)
• When You Wish (2000)
• Leave It to Max (2001)
• Doctor, Doctor (2001)
• An Outlaw for Christmas (2001)
• A Sheriff in Tennessee (2002)
• The Farmer's Wife (2002)

Series

Love Spell

• Second Chance (1994)
• D.J.'s Angel (1995)

Rock Creek Six

• Reese (2001)
• Rico (2001)
• Nate (2002)

Luchetti Brothers

• The Daddy Quest (2003)
• The Brother Quest (2004)
• The Husband Quest (2004)
• A Soldier's Quest (2005)
• The Mommy Quest (2006)

Night Creature

• Blue Moon (2004)
• Dark Moon (2005)
• Hunter's Moon (2005)
• Crescent Moon (2006)
• Midnight Moon (2006)
• Hidden Moon (2007)
• Rising Moon (2007)
• Thunder Moon (2008)

The Phoenix Chronicles

• Any Given Doomsday (2008)
• Doomsday Can Wait (2009)
• Apocalypse Happens (2009)
• Chaos Bites (May 2010)

Omnibus

• Trick or Treat (1997) (with Lark Eden, Stobie Piel and Lynda Trent)
• The Farmer's Wife / Dreamless (2002)
• Then He Kissed Her (2003) (with Kate Donovan and Julie Moffett)
• Stroke of Midnight (2004) (with Amanda Ashley, L A Banks and Sherrilyn Kenyon)
• Wrong Man / Daddy Quest (2004) (with Laura Abbot)
• Family of Her Own / Brother Quest (2004) (with Brenda Novak)
• Husband Quest / Operation - Texas (2004) (with Roxanne Rustand)
• Dates from Hell (2006) (with Kelley Armstrong, Kim Harrison and Lynsay Sands)
• Moon Fever (2007) (with Caridad Piñeiro, Maggie Shayne and Susan Sizemore)
• No Rest for the Witches (2007) (with MaryJanice Davidson, Cheyenne McCray and Christine Warren)

Collections

• My Big Fat Supernatural Wedding (2006) (with L A Banks, Jim Butcher, Rachel Caine, P N Elrod, Esther Friesner, Charlaine Harris, Sherrilyn Kenyon and Susan Krinard)