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The romance community lost a prolific author, generous colleague, and shining star when Cara Summers (Carolyn Hanlon) passed away earlier this month on September 10th. Please take two ticks to join us in honoring Cara’s amazing career–and life–on the Blaze Authors Blog.
Hope
8.2.13: Congratulations to my two winners: Trudy Miner and Jess Mueller. Many thanks to all who entered. Contest is now closed. Please check back here for other giveaway goodness as well as my breaking good news. –Hope
As I sit here procrastinating on finishing edits for the final book in my Suddenly Cinderella Series, it strikes me that mid-summer can feel a little sleepy, even a little…dull.
To spice things up, I’m giving away *two* paperback copies (one copy per winner) of my back list Harlequin Blaze title, EVERY BREATH YOU TAKE. Set in steamy Belize, it’s a perfect addition to your beach read pile. You can read a description and excerpt here.
To be entered to win, do any one of the following:
1. Like my author Facebook page
2. Like my Suddenly Cinderella Series Facebook page
3. Follow me on Twitter @HopeTarr
4. Provide the order confirmation for purchase of any one of my books, e-book or print, that you’ve bought within the last six months.
NOTE: To be entered, you must POST your proof of the above HERE, my website blog.
Two winners will be selected via random number generator. Giveaway ends 12 midnight ET on August 1st.
Happy Summer!
Hope
So I’m back from Italy–Venice, the Veneto (Venetian countryside, specifically the foothills below The Dolomites) and Florence. In the course of my two weeks away, I went on some incredible hikes, saw lovely Palladian architecture actually designed by Palladio, and ate and drank my way through many a long, lazy lunch and even longer, lazier dinner. (Did I mention the white asparagus was in season)?
In case you can’t tell, I had a bellissima time. 🙂
Gradually I’m getting back into the proverbial swing of things, diving into the vortex of the crazy eclectic hodgepodge of energy that is New York City. As much as I miss my afternoon glass of prosecco–so civilized–and my post dinner “digestivo” of grappa (Northern Italy) or limoncello (Southern Italy), regular reality has a good deal going for it, too.
For one thing, I get to announce my April contest winner. Susan B of Marion, Iowa, come on down! Your signed copy of Strokes of Midnight is making its way to you “as we speak.”
For those who didn’t win, no worries. I’ll be announcing May’s winner on Wednesday, June 1st, so there’s plenty of time to enter. Visit my contest page for the deets.
Last but never least, the June 27th Lady Jane’s Salon will welcome out-of-town and local authors attending the Romance Writers of America’s annual national conference here in NYC with seven super returning and new guest readers, including first-time Salon guest, the incomparable Eloisa James. See the complete list of guest authors at the Salon blog site and please note the change in date (June 27th, which is the 3rd Monday of the month) and time (7-10PM, an extra hour of romance goodness!) for this month only. We’ll skip the July Salon and resume our regular first Monday of the month, 7-9 PM schedule starting August 1st.
Until next time…
Ciao & Happy Trails,
Hope
Okay, 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!
The July 6th Lady Jane’s Salon saw a fabulous turn out despite the steamy temperatures and holiday weekend. In addition to co-hosting two fabulous guest authors, Dianna Love and Colby Hodge, I got to guest myself! Please check out my videotaped reading from The Tutor.
The August 2nd Lady Jane’s Salon aims to send off summer with a bang. Our guests will be Anna DePalo, Erica Ridley, and Alaya Dawn Johnson. As always guest authors books will be available for purchase on site.
Lady Jane’s meets at Madame X (94 West Houston) on the first Monday of every month, 7-9 PM. Cash bar. Admission is $5 or one gently-used paperback romance novel with net proceeds supporting local women’s charities.
Many thanks to all of you who took time out of busy lives to comment on my Wednesday blog on My Lord Jack at Carina Press. What fun we had! The winner of that special contest is Lise Horton. Yay, Lise!
Next stop on my Blog Tour will be Wednesday, July 21st at Fresh Fiction. Visit me and be entered to win a copy of one of my back list books.
And of course my regular contest continues here, so if you haven’t yet, please take two ticks and enter by answering a super quick question about my Harlequin Blaze Historical print release, The Tutor.
TGIF…
Hope
I’m a sucker for second chance at love stories. Always have been, always will be. Sometimes those love stories themselves get a second chance, too.
My Lord Jack, my Scottish-set historical first published in 2002 with Berkley, releases today with Carina Press, Harlequin Enterprise’s exclusively digital imprint.
Jack is indeed back and he’s better than ever before. Working with Angela James and the talented editorial team at Carina Press, I’ve reedited the book–and yes, I’m hopeful that I’ve learned a thing or two in the past eight years of honing my craft.
I hope you’ll take two ticks to read an excerpt. Or take more than two ticks and visit me on one of my blog tour stops for the book. Most of my guest blogging gigs, including today’s at Romance Writers of America, New York City involve a prize giveaway: one or more of my back list print releases. Prezzies, we all love those.
And if you’re in New York City, you might just catch me up close and personal at one of my upcoming readings for my other July release, The Tutor.
Hope
My July Victorian-set historical release, The Tutor is shipping from online retailers as well as showing up in selected brick-and-mortar stores–squee! I’ll be signing stock in New York City stores over the coming week and posting a list here on my blog for readers living in or visiting The Big Apple, so please check back. In the meantime, check out the excerpt and, if you haven’t already, take a few moments and enter my contest.
I’ll also be reading The Tutor and signing copies at the July 5th Lady Jane’s Salon, so if your Fourth of July holiday plans bring you into the New York City area, please consider joining us. We have a jam-packed evening with three other great guest authors: Toni McGee Causey, Dianna Love, and Colby Hodge AKA Cindy Holby.
Otherwise, same time, same place: 7-9 PM at Madame X. Admission is $5 or one gently-used paperback romance novel with net proceeds supporting an end-of-year donation to a New York City women’s charity.
Hope
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 hope@hopetarr.com 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.