Tag: Christmas

‘Tis the Season: OPERATION CINDERELLA for FREE

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Operation_Cinderella_cvr_RV_July 2013The winter holidays are the perfect time to press pause on busy lives and say thank you to the people (and pets!) who make our lives brighter every day of the year, not only December 25th. To show our appreciation to YOU, my Dear Readers, we’re offering OPERATION CINDERELLA, the first book in my Suddenly Cinderella series, FREE across platforms now through January 11.  Below are the links to download the title.

Kindle edition from Amazon.com
Nook edition from Barnes&Noble
Kobo edition
 iTunes edition

Wishing you a holiday season and New Year brimming with fairytale dreams come true,

Hope

 

Rounding Out the Holidays, Ringing in a New Year

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A Suddenly Cinderella Christmas Carol_cvr_FinalAs I write this, we’re just about a day and a half away from 2013. That feels hard to fathom. I’m not much for making resolutions, but at the advent of every New Year I try to find a few quiet minutes to reflect on the prior twelve months. What were my triumphs? What were my challenges–and most importantly, what lessons have I learned to carry into the coming year and hopefully make it that much kinder and gentler?

I also use this time take stock of my blessings. Leading the list for 2012: we survived Sandy with our health and home intact. Many of my New York and New Jersey neighbors were far less fortunate. My heart goes out to those who are still without homes at the holidays.

For those who feel you can afford to give, The Red Cross continues to accept donations for Hurricane Sandy survivors here.

On the career front, I embarked on an exciting new contemporary fairytale-themed Suddenly Cinderella series with Entangled Publishing. Just over one year old, Entangled has taken the romance industry by storm, challenging often outdated conventions and even rattling a few cages, all in the very best of ways. I am blessed to be writing not one book but four for this forward-thinking and creative team.

Suddenly Cinderella Book #1, OPERATION CINDERELLA released in mid-October and the feedback from reviewers and readers has been overwhelmingly positive. For the most part, people seem to really like my opposites’ attract love story with elements of Cinderella and “Revenge” interleaved against a “Sex and the City” backdrop. Two more full-length novels, PROJECT CINDERELLA and THE CINDERELLA CAPER will release in 2013.

With so many people hurting financially and struggling to afford a nice holiday for their families, price point is more important to me now than ever before. When I agreed to add a winter holiday novella to the series, I asked the publisher to please consider pricing it at under a dollar. The fine folks at Entangled agreed and A CINDERELLA CHRISTMAS CAROL, a fun flirt holiday read, is available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble for just 99 cents.

Many of the stops on my holiday blog tour offer either A CINDERELLA CHRISTMAS CAROL or OPERATION CINDERELLA as giveaways. I hope readers will take advantage of these chances to win free copies of my books as well as chime in and chat about everybody’s favorite topic: romance. Below are a few places to find me:

More stops coming through January 9th!

Lastly but far from least-ly, now that the holidays are (almost) over I hope you’ll take two ticks and give a listen to my interview with Romance Radio Network. A few weeks ago, I had the honor of being host Desmond Haas’ 100th interview, quite an honor indeed! Please take a moment to stop by and congratulate Desmond on his achievement.

SD_Coronodo Beach_Sand Sculpture_Nov_30_2012With warm wishes for a New Year brimming with bright new beginnings and fairy tale dreams come true,

Hope

 

 

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

Contest Winner!

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christmas_350Okay, I’ll admit it. Sometimes life…make that Life gets away from me, if not a lot than certainly more often than I’d like. September was one of those months. What with promoting my Beer Gardens NYC iPhone app, Lady Jane’s Salon (October’s Salon was awesome!) and prepping for the release of Tomorrow’s Destiny in A HARLEQUIN CHRISTMAS CAROL a mere 30 days wasn’t nearly enough.

Consider the above as the preamble to a confession. I forgot to pick a contest winner for September. My bad–literally!

In the spirit of “better late than never,” belated but sincere congratulations to Marie E of Lathrop, CA, the winner of my September contest prize: a signed copy of my previous Christmas Scottish historical romance, Twelve Nights. As did many of you who entered, Marie correctly answered that in Tomorrow’s Destiny/A Harlequin Christmas Carol, my heroine Fiona’s eyes are green and blue.

For those who didn’t win, I hope you’ll take two two ticks to read the Sneak Peek of Tomorrow’s Destiny/A HARLEQUIN CHRISTMAS CAROL (due out November 10th) and enter my current contest. But lest we rush the holidays, for now…

Happy Halloween Weekend!

Holiday Goodness Challenge Wrap-Up

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On behalf of Marian’s Dream and the statewide and regional spay/neuter programs it supports, a heartfelt thank you to my 2009 Holiday Goodness Challengers aka Heroes (in no particular order):

Valerie Mann

Sandy Coleman

Judy Roney

Laurie Nichols

Dan McGirt, Author

Kim Swiderski

Lori Alpert

Because of you, 2010 will look that much brighter for homeless cats and the people who work so tirelessly in the proverbial trenches to ease the suffering and make Marian’s Dream of no more homeless cats that much closer to becoming a reality. 

Happy 2010!

Hope

Lady Jane’s Winter Holiday Open House

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Happy holidays and happy birthday, Harlequin!

The December 7th Lady Jane’s Salon heralds the winter holiday season and celebrates the final month of Harlequin Enterprises 60th anniversary year with a very special salon event.

I’ll be reading from Twelve Nights, my Christmas Scottish Medieval for Harlequin Blaze as well as my twelfth published book. Twelve Nights is the sequel to Bound to Please, the novel that launched the super popular Historical Blaze Miniseries. To win a signed copy of Bound to Please, check out my current Contest.

Copies of Twelve Nights will be available for purchase on-site at the Salon, and I’ll be signing copies at the break and immediately thereafter.
Guest author, Stacey Agdern.

Joining me will be romance fiction reviewer, bookseller, and author, Stacey Agdern reading from her Hanukkah novella, Rededication, and Senior Editor for Harlequin Blaze, Brenda Chin recapping highlights from Harlequin’s 60th Anniversary year.

The Salon meets on Monday, December 7th from 7-9 PM at Madame X (94 West Houston) in Manhattan’s Soho district. (Subsequent salon nights are the first Monday of each month). Admission is $5 or one gently used paperback romance novel to benefit Share-the-Love.

I hope to see you there.

Congratulations November Contest Winners

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So, last night I attended a performance of Over the Rhine, my new favorite indie band based out of Ohio at Manhattan’s Highline Ballroom along with my Strangely Beautiful author friend, the lovely Leanna Renee Hieber.

Today I blind-picked my two November contest winners and wouldn’t you know it, both are from Ohio!

Congratulations to Rosemary K of Willoughby, OH and Katherine F of Springfield, OH. Both Rosemary and Katherine knew that “Cat” is the name of the feline character in my out-now release, Twelve Nights.

Each winner will receive two copies of Bound to Please, the prequel to Twelve Nights, which launched the super successful Historical Miniseries for Harlequin’s Blaze line.

More copies of Bound to Please will be given away to three winners in my December Contest, so if you didn’t win this time, please head over and enter.

Finally, my Holiday Goodness Challenge is one-third of the way to our $200 goal with Hope’s Heroes to be announced here…anon. In the meantime, please put Marian’s Dream and the homeless cats it helps on your personal holiday goodness lists. Santa thanks you and so do I.

Hope

Holiday Goodness Challenge 2009

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Times are tough, times are hard, nobody’s denying it. And though purse strings may be tight, I’m convinced hearts are bigger and more generous than ever before.

Hope for the Holidays

In keeping with the holiday spirit of counting my many blessings, including the release of Twelve Nights, my Christmas Harlequin Historical Blaze, I’ll be giving away twenty copies of  Vanquished, the first of my “Men of Roxbury House” trilogy to the first twenty readers who donate a minimum of $10 to this year’s Holiday Goodness charitable recipient, Marian’s Dream: Philanthropy for Animal Advocates.

A Good Dream

Founded in 1981 as a memorial to Marian Rosenthal, Marian’s Dream is a 501(c)3 public charity with the mission of helping donors help companion animals through support of innovative programs and projects operating on the local, regional and statewide levels. Funding accessible, low-cost spay/neuter resources is a particular focus.

$200 will provide four feline spays or six feline neuters. If that sounds like a modest goal, consider that one female cat can birth two litters a year. That’s up to a dozen unwanted kittens, many of whom will have additional litters of their own.

Shelters and rescue groups are overwhelmed. The solution lies in prevention.

Goodness Spilleth Over

Hope holds Sweeney, once homeless, now very much homed.
Hope holds Sweeney, once homeless, now very much homed-and loved!

I’ll be running the Holiday Goodness Challenge now through January 1st. You can make your donation to Marian’s Dream online via PayPal or by check. For verification, I’ll need you to send: 1) a copy of your donation receipt, either photocopy or forwarded PayPal receipt, 2) the name of the person to whom you’d like the book inscribed if you’re giving it as a gift, and 3) your snail mail address to me at [email protected] or PO Box 1344, New York, NY 10276. If by email, please include “Holiday Goodness Challenge” in the subject header.

As we approach our $200 goal, I’ll be posting the glad tidyings here along with the first names, surname initial and home state of the first twenty generous souls to step up to the proverbial plate.

Thank you for keeping Marian’s beautiful dream of a world with no more homeless pets alive this holiday season.

Hope

PS: As always, please feel free to Re-Tweet or repost and pay the ‘goodness’ forward.

Christmas Comes Early…

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It’s not even Turkey Day yet, but early copies of Twelve Nights have already been sighted in selected bookstores. My…elves tell me Posman Books in Manhattan’s Grand Central Station (9 Grand Central Terminal, Vanderbilt & 42nd Streets) have five copies in stock and available for sale in the store’s Romance Section.

Even better, they’re signed and stickered!

I knew I loved Posman’s for a reason, and not just because my buddy, romance novel reviewer and author, Stacey Agdern works as a bookseller there. Definitely check out this great, romance-friendly bookstore, preferably in time to see the station’s winter holiday decorations.

Holiday Goodness Challenge: Yes, We Can! We…Did!

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To borrow President Elect Obama’s campaign slogan, “Yes, we can!” Even better, we did.

Many thanks to the following generous souls who participated in my Holiday Goodness Challenge to benefit the ASPCA by giving a gift of $10, in some cases, more to support formerly homeless companion animals.

A once homeless pet has something to purr about--because of you. Image courtesy of www.aspca.org.
A once homeless pet has something to purr about--because of you. Image courtesy of www.aspca.org.

Debbie J, Levittown, NY

Jessica D, Arlington, VA

Jennifer K, Ashburn, VA

Madelina R, Parlin, NJ

Jacquie D, Atlanta, GA

Heidi B, Kylertown, PA

Mary R, Brentwood, NY &

Kay A, Blaine, MN.

Because of you, we reached our goal of $100–and saved the life of one dog or cat this holiday season. I mailed your signed copies of Vanquished over the weekend, so hopefully you’ll receive the books sometime this week.

Romance fiction writers are some of the kindest, most generous folks on the planet, ever ready to lend a helping hand to a good cause, and my Holiday Goodness Challenge was no exception. My heartfelt thanks go out to the following publishers, online communities and authors: Romantic Times BOOKReviews Magazine, The Rebels of Romance (Liz Maverick and Marianne Mancusi), Romance Vagabonds, Medallion Press, Jacquie D’Alessandro, Leanna Renee Hieber, and Heidi Betts.

Finally, I have a new contest posted, with copies of Strokes of Midnight and cover flat keepsakes of Untamed as giveaway prizes. Please check back later in the week when I post last month’s contest winners. The latter might just include…You!

Happy Tales/Tails,

Hope