More Cover Reveal Goodness: Enslaved Published in France!

Well, folks, this has been QUITE the Fabulous Friday (#FF) for me as well as an altogether unforgettable #BEA13.

Mere minutes ago, I found out that ENSLAVED, Book #2 of my beloved Men of Roxbury House Victorian-set trilogy, is officially out in France as ESCLAVE DE SES CHARMES.

Once again, my wonderful French publisher, J’ai Lu (a division of Flammarion) has outdone itself with a cover that is beyond beautiful–exquisite! But don’t take my word for it, see below. 🙂

Lastly, the original English version of ENSLAVED is still available in print and e-book. Check out the book excerpt and ordering info here.

9782290038246_cbenslaved_350

 

 

 

 

The Three Faces of VANQUISHED, Vote for Your Favorite

Vencida_PNGA few years ago Medallion Media Group, the wonderful publisher of my Victorian-set Men of Roxbury House trilogy–VANQUISHED, ENSLAVED & UNTAMED–sold the books to publishers in France and Italy. And now there is a third foreign sale to report, this time to Spain!

Libros de Seda, my Spanish publisher, kindly forwarded me the book cover for VENCIDA (VANQUISHED) and well, I couldn’t be more pleased! The photograph was taken in 1920 in Trieste, Italy. As my hero, Hadrian St. Clare, is a portrait photographer hired to take a risque photograph of my suffragette spokeswoman heroine, Caledonia–Callie–Rivers to ruin her personally and discredit her publicly, having a photograph grace the cover of this latest foreign language edition feels especially fitting.

Still, all three covers are gorgeous, all unique and vastly different visual takes on the book. Which is your favorite?

Post your vote as a comment to this blog post between now and 12 midnight EST, February 1st . One randomly selected commenter will win a free copy of VANQUISHED–digital or print, your pick.

 

 

vanquished_350mayfair_175

Amazon, IPG & My Men of Roxbury House

Earlier in the week, Amazon and the Independent Publishers Group (IPG), a Chicago-based book distributor that provides print and electronic books to retailers such as Amazon, broke off contract negotiations. The sticking point has to do with the terms impacting profit margins for e-books. Those who care to can read more about the situation as reported by the New York Times blog.

Amazon has removed all its Kindle order links for e-books distributed by IPG, including those for my Men of Roxbury House trilogy: Vanquished, Enslaved and Untamed.  Note: the print versions of all three books remain available for purchase on the site.

But as in any good romance novel, all is not lost, not unless we let it be. You can still purchase  my trilogy e-books through Barnes & Noble’s Nook Store, Apple’s iTunes, Google Books, Sony’s Reader Store, and other online retailers. And Kindle Fire users can download the titles by using almost any e-reader app and purchasing the EPUB and PDF editions from the aforementioned retailers. Below are the direct order links:

Vanquished for Nook

Vanquished for iTunes

Vanquished for Google Books

Vanquished for Sony

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Enslaved for Nook

Enslaved for iTunes

Enslaved for Google Books

Enslaved for Sony

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Untamed for Nook

Untamed for iTunes

Untamed for Google Books

Untamed for Sony

And of course, Tempting, republished this month as a digital-first book, remains available everywhere. 🙂

Some days we have to work a little harder for our Happily Ever After but the rainbow at the end remains just as bright.

Hope

Vanquished & The Men of Roxbury House

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

 

 

 

 

 

Hope “Live” at BlogTalk Radio with Heather Graham

Join me live this Saturday, August 1st, 8-10 PM EST with Medallion Press on BlogTalk Radio. Note: I go on at 8:45 PM. Fellow guests: Heather Graham and Vicki Hinze and the illustrative team of Fortin & Sanders.

We’ll be dishing on the publishing industry and our latest books. Bonus: there’ll be prezzies! Call in at 347-327-9389 and win my “Men of Roxbury House” books: Vanquished, Enslaved and Untamed.

Hope

Live From London…

Just a petit mot (oops, that’s Paris talk) from the proverbial “road” to say what a super fab time I’ve been having these past two weeks and counting. The week in Paris with Liz Maverick was nothing short of magical, and I’ll be posting the highlights, with photos, once I get back home.

This week in London with Liz and Scandalous Woman, Elizabeth Kerri Mahon, has been equally fun albeit with a different vibe–more Manhattan fast-paced, less vino, less frommage, and yes, less secondhand smoking. Highlights so far: uber hottie James McAvoy in THREE DAYS OF RAIN, Dame Judi Dench in MADAME DE SADE, a behind-the-scenes tour of the Royal Theater at Drury Lane where my fictional heroine, Daisy, tread the boards in ENSLAVED, cream tea at The Wolsley, and drinks at The Ten Cups with Liz, EKM, and EKM’s delightful London-based friends. The pub, situated in Spitalfields, has the dubious distinction of looking out onto the street where The Ripper offed his last victim. Think Victorian grunge chic meets Gen X and Y. I could say more, and I will (oh, I will), but for the present I’m headed back out to savor.

Cheerio,

Hope

Shaken, Not Stirred

I’m deep “in the soup” as my writer buddy, Liz Maverick is fond of saying, so immersed in my work-in-progress that if it weren’t for the occasional vocal intervention of hungry cats, I’m not sure I’d register the time of day.

Still, you know what “they” say about all work and no play. In this case, it makes Hope a dull girl and well, when you’re a writer of romance fiction and a purveyor of Happily Ever Afters, you can’t have that.

I took time out this Friday to meet friends for the opening of the new James Bond flick, Quantum of Solace, and I am ever so glad I did. First off, though, I have to cop to the need to eat a little crow. Before seeing the film, I had doubts, vocally expressed doubts, about Daniel Craig pulling off the classic role of Fleming’s uber suave British secret agent. Even though I’m a fan of the film series, I missed out on seeing the 2006 prequel, Casino Royale, Craig’s debut in the role. Not to cast aspersions on Mr. Craig’s acting abilities and well, obvious attributes, but he’s no Remington Steele, and make fun of me if you will, but I really liked Pierce Brosnan in the role. And Craig is blond, which seemed like it might work against the character’s edgy, dark vibe.

After seeing the film, I have to concede that the critics are right on the money this time. Daniel Craig is the penultimate James Bond, at least since Sean Connery passed on the revolver. As for edgy and dark, well, his performance may give new meaning to those words. I think he may be the most tortured Bond yet–and anyone who’s read my Men of Roxbury House trilogy books: Vanquished, Enslaved or Untamed knows I go for tortured heroes in a big way.

Afterward, we decamped to an Irish pub around the corner where we tucked into a booth, ordered pints and pub grub, and settled in for a recap. Those shoulders, that chest, those burning blue eyes, those oh so chiseled if somewhat implacable features…Oh yeah, and the movie was really good, too.

Will Daniel Craig be the prototype for the hero of a future Hope Tarr novel? I’d say it’s a strong bet he will. An historical, I’m thinking, and yes, definitely British-set.

Okay, enough about me and my new Daniel Craig obsession. Anybody else do anything cool this weekend?

Hope

Red Shoes Diary…

Okay, so last night I had one of those quintessential Manhattan evenings that makes me proud to be a newly minted New Yorker tricked out in four inch red platform heels. Recently I reconnected with romance writer extraordinaire, Liz Maverick. Liz and I met “back in the day” at a Celebrate Romance Conference but beyond quick catch-ups at a conference here and there, we kind of lost touch. Like me, Liz is a recent transplant to the city, in her case from the West Coast, and a Saturday night out seemed as good a time as any to compare notes on our Single Girl in the Big City experiences so far.

Start point: Blue Ribbon Sushi in Soho where I met Liz and her buddy, Bonnie, for an early (for New York) dinner. After pounding down a truly amazing amount of excellent sushi, we headed Uptown to Terminal 5 where not one but three great bands were playing. The headliner, She & Him, was seriously amazing. The lead vocalist, Zooey Deschanel, who also happens to be a song writer and pianist, is so over-the-top talented it’s well…pretty insane.

This week my Manhattan adventuring will be put on the back burner as I head to San Francisco for the Romance Writers of America national conference. The conference kicks off on Wednesday night with a charity autographing to benefit literacy programs in the area. I’ll be signing copies of Bound to Please as well as Enslaved and later in the week giving a workshop on “Tracking Trends” in romance fiction with my friend, Terri Ridgell. In between taking care of “bizness,” there’s the Harlequin party at the fabulous Four Seasons Hotel and of course the conference finale, an awards ceremony and desert reception on Saturday night. Once I’m back in the city to catch my breath, I’ll be dishing on all of it–I promise!

In the meantime, have a great week…

Hope

Book Expo America 2008



Sometimes you don’t actually have to be in the limelight to um…be in the limelight.

This year’s Book Expo America took place in Los Angeles. BEA is the largest publishing trade fair in the country, comparable to the Frankfurt and London Book Fairs. BEA is a great way for an author to build buzz for her book by connecting with publishing professionals–distributors, reviewers from Publishers Weekly and the like, publisher sales reps, and the list goes on and on.

For several years, I’ve been a regular participant, signing my books in both the Expo’s in-booth and “ticketed” forums. For various reasons (hint: do you hear “deadline” bursting out of my thought bubble?) I wasn’t able to attend this year’s show.

Imagine my delight when folks who did go started emailing me notes and yes, photos of the large–and I mean huge–backlit poster for BOUND TO PLEASE fronting the entrance to the Harlequin booth alongside Linda Lael Miller’s latest. Who knew!

To add another shmeer of cream cheese to the bagel, my other wonderful publisher, Medallion Press, had complimentary copies of all three of my Men of Roxbury House books: Vanquished, Enslaved, and Untamed prominently displayed in its booth.

I may not have gotten to go to all the great parties or rub elbows with the publishing brass this year but in a way, I was there. My characters certainly were. Party animals all, I’m sure they had a fab time. 😉

Hope

Got…ENSLAVED? Countdown to contest closing.

Hi Folks,

We’re counting down to the finish on my end-of-summer Got…Enslaved contest. Just six more days before the contest closes on 9/1, so if you’ve seen Enslaved out and about, or elsewhere online, please email in.

“Alert readers” continue to email me their Enslaved sightings, including readers from other countries. Recently added to the list of early release sightings are Chapters book store in downtown Montreal and online at The Book Depository (www.bookdepository.co.uk).

🙂 Hope