Category: Writing Life

Vanquished & The Men of Roxbury House

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The VANQUISHED e-book giveaway ended as of midnight, and whew what a thrilling ride these two weeks have been!

While we’re still waiting on the final numbers, so far across e-reader platforms–B&N, Apple, Amazon, and Sony–VANQUISHED landed in the hands of nearly 40,000 new readers. Nearly 40,000 new readers, some new to the book and the Men of Roxbury House Victorian-set series it launched, others new to me as a writer overall.

I couldn’t be more pleased.

For those of you  who downloaded VANQUISHED or who read it prior to the giveaway, in print or digital format, thank you and I hope you enjoyed. If so, more Victorian goodness awaits via the other two books in the trilogy: ENSLAVED and UNTAMED.

In both books, Callie and Hadrian reappear as secondary characters helping their two Roxbury House friends to their own steamy Happily Ever Afters.

When it comes to Happily Ever After, more is…well, more.

Happy Reading!

Hope

 

 

 

 

 

Living History or My New Old Venture

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Chilling out on the veranda of the Hotel Villa Cipriani in Asolo. May 2011. Treviso, Italy.

One upon a faraway time, the 1990’s, there was a freelance writer named Hope Tarr. While Hope enjoyed writing articles, her Big Dream was to write books.

In 1999, Hope sold A Rogue’s Pleasure, a sexy Regency-set romp and her first book. From then on, she got busy writing books. Really busy.

The rest, as they say, is history.

Fortunately for all of us, living history can shift and change, twist and turn. On a dime.

While I’m happy to report that I’m still really busy writing books, I’ve also found time to return to a former love: travel writing.

And we’re having us quite a honeymoon. 😉

Please check out my two (and counting) articles on Italy for the fabulous travel site and blog, Europe Up Close. My Eat Pray Love…Florence series will be followed shortly with Eating in Venice and another trio of articles on Day Tripping in The Veneto.

Grazie Mille!

Hope

Happy Bastille Day

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July 14th is Bastille Day, the day set aside for celebrating French independence, or the day Parisians stormed The Bastille, that bastion of l’Ancien Regime. No more Lettres de Cachet, no more near feudal era serfdom, no more aristocrats hoarding all the good food and wine.

I’ll be lifting a glass of champers to my happy place of Paris later today as well as to J’ai lu, my Paris-based publisher of La Rose de Mayfair.

Wherever you are, enjoy!

A la prochaine,

Hope

 

 

 

Super Special Lady Jane’s Salon 6/27 (aka Tonight!)

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We’re dubbing tonight’s Lady Jane’s Salon as “Super Special” and those are not words that we at Lady Jane’s use lightly.

This month we’re departing from our otherwise sacrosanct first Monday of the month time slot to welcome attendees of The Romance Writers of America (RWA) Conference to the Big Apple.

To kick off the conference in high style, we’re also adding an hour to the event (7-10PM) to accommodate our extended program of six great guest readers: Sarah MacLean, Leanna Renee Hieber (Salon Co-Founder), Karen Rose, Carrie Lofty, Diana Love Snell, and Eloisa James!

Read all about it on the Lady Jane Salon website.

Other deets remain the same: Madame X (Top Bar), $5 or one gently used romance novel as admission to benefit a NYC women’s charity, and cash bar (with $5 specialty cocktails).

So, if you’re in town for RWA, or just in town, join us!

Hope

Lirez-vous la langue d’amour?

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Vanquished, the first book in my Men of Roxbury House trilogy, released in France today! Retitled La Rose de Mayfair (literally: The Rose of Mayfair), the book has a fresh new cover to go with the re-imagined name.

And yes, mes amies, the book is in French!

Arguable French isn’t the only romance language that all but screams Le Sexe. Italian is pretty damned sexy, too. Speaking of which…

Vanquished and its other trilogy partner, Untamed, are slated to release in Italy later this year. I can’t wait to see what the bellas do with the cover art and yes, the titles.

For now, check out my interview with Les Romantiques, France’s hot new romance fic magazine similar to our beloved RT BookReviews. My interview appears on pages 20-21. If you don’t read French, you can at least enjoy the pretty, pretty pictures.

A la prochaine,

Hope

A ROGUE’S PLEASURE Wins LASR Best Book Award!

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Sometimes life is filled with delightful, seemingly random surprises. Coming into our second week of a new year, I’m happy to report that so far 2011 does not disappoint. This weekend I learned that A Rogue’s Pleasure, my Regency set historical romance debut reissued this summer with Carina Press, was up for a Best Book Award at Long and Short Reviews along with several other books, including those by some pretty powerhouse authors. How lovely!

Even lovelier, I logged online this morning to find that I’d won!

In lieu of lapsing into a full Sally Field (i.e., “You like me. You really like me!”) I’ll sign off now with heartfelt thanks to LASR and to all of you who took the time this weekend to share the love and vote for me. Without further “ado,” below is the lovely book trailer video created as part of my contest prize.

Hope

Lady Jane’s Salon Recap & Video

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Many thanks to everyone who took time out from their busy holiday season to turn out for Monday’s Lady Jane’s Salon. Once again we were at standing room only–a fine welcome to the winter holidays, indeed!

Our guest readers were Lauren Willig, Jacquie D’Alessandro, and Me! Lauren read from The Mischief of the Mistletoe. As the title implies, hers is a Christmas book. It is also the latest in her popular Pink Carnation series. Can’t wait for more! Jacquie and I each read from our Christmas novellas in A Harlequin Christmas Carol. Though Jacquie swears this was her first time reading her work in public, we don’t believe her. She was a total pro!

As a Salon Co-Founder, it’s always a special thrill to be a guest at m/our own party and Monday’s Salon was no exception. Check out the video from my reading of Tomorrow’s Destiny in A Harlequin Christmas Carol.

Happy Holidays!

Cooking Up the Love

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Thanksgiving is mere calendar days away, perhaps not much of a revelation and yet amazing to me all the same. The day after, November 26th also known as Black Friday in the retail world, officially opens the winter holiday shopping season. The prospect of standing in long lines in overheated stores can bring out the “Bah! Humbug!” in even the most cheerful of hearts.

The_Heart_of_CookingEnter the antidote. The Snap4Kids “Celebrity” Cookbook, The Heart of Cooking, offers holiday shoppers more than 170 recipes from 130 authors including Yours Truly compiled into an attractive keepsake cookbook at $12.50/each ordered online. Proceeds support Snap4Kids, a 501c(3) assisting families of children with special needs, especially the physically challenged, in helping their child reach his/her maximum potential through information, referral, education, and modest grants for medical and therapeutic equipment, not covered by health insurance or in the case of no health insurance, throughout the United States, from birth to age 22.

Good eats for a good cause. And my recipe contribution, reduced fat artichoke dip, is heart-healthy, too!

Happy Thanksgiving,

Hope

Happy Release Day!

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christmas_350My Victorian Christmas novella, Tomorrow’s Destiny in A Harlequin Christmas Carol officially releases today, November 9th! Though copies have been showing up in selected online retail stores and brick-and-mortar bookstores for the past week, I’m so happy to be able to officially announce the anthology in plenty of time for the winter holidays. And I have plenty of celebrating planned, so please visit my Media & Events page for information on my winter holiday Blog Tour–first whistle stop is RT BOOK Reviews Blog on 11-12–and in-person appearances. The latter include my December 6th reading and signing at Lady Jane’s Salon.

Some readers got the  ball rolling even earlier by entering my monthly contest and reading the online excerpt from Tomorrow’s Destiny. Congratulations to Theresa D of Monticello, NY, my current contest winner. Like many of you who entered, Theresa knew that in Tomorrow’s Destiny, my heroine, Fiona’s birthday is December 25th. Poor Fiona! It’s hard to keep up the Scrooge act when you’re a Christmas baby. Here at HopeTarr.com, even a whisper of “Bah! Humbug!” is strictly forbidden. In keeping with the holiday celebration theme, Theresa’s prize is a signed copy of my Scottish Christmas historical, Twelve Nights.

Hope signing Twelve Nights & Vanquished at Lady Jane's Salon.
Hope signing at last December's Lady Jane's Salon.

My new contest opens today and the prize will once again be Twelve Nights, so if you haven’t yet read Alys and Callum’s sexy Christmas love story, take two ticks and enter.

Wishing you a holiday season brimming with mistletoe moments,

Hope

Tonight at Lady Jane’s Salon…

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Tonight, at the October 4th Lady Jane’s…

Salon co-founder Leanna Renee Hieber will read from the next installment in her Strangely Beautiful saga, A Christmas Carroll, featured in A MIDWINTER FANTASY anthology.

We also welcome fabulous guest authors Janet Mullany, Donna Hill, and Sabrina Jeffries, as well as special guest Salon Emcee, Publishers Weekly’s Barbara Vey.

7-9 PM chez Madame X (94 W Houston Street). Admission is $5 or one gently-used ppb romance novel, net proceeds to support NYC women’s charities. Guest authors books available for sale and signing on site.

Read the rest of the story at the Lady Jane’s Salon blog site.