Annie West spent her formative years on the east coast of Australia, and holds an honours degree in Classics. She has travelled extensively through Egypt, Greece, New Zealand, and other parts of Europe, and spent a year living in Germany. After university, West took a job in the public service drafting and proofing government documents, but started writing romance novels during a period of leave. She joined Romance Writers' of Australia and had short stories and a novel published in Australia, but didn't find success until 2005 when her manuscript was accepted by Harlequin Mills & Boon. West has lived at Lake Macquarie, north of Sydney.