Tag: New York City

In Convo with Finola Austin + IRISH EYES Book Giveaway!

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Before we all scattered for the Thanksgiving holiday, I chatted with historical fiction author Finola Austin AKA The Secret Victorianist about my inspo for Irish Eyes, what I’m working on now (hint: it’s the sequel!), and killing my darlings, namely, two prologues, neither of which made it into the final book.

Pop on over to The Secret Victorianist to read the interview, then sign up for Finola’s monthly newsletter to win a copy of Irish Eyes *and* a copy of Finola’s brilliant historical novel, Bronte’s Mistress. One lucky winner will receive both books. Giveaway closes December 7th — the Irish Eyes Release Day!

🥁IRISH EYES & Sequel Sell to Lume Books

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As we ford into another new year, I’m thrilled to announce that IRISH EYES, my historical fiction debut, sold to London-based publisher, Lume Books in a two-book deal! IRISH EYES will release worldwide in November 2023, in print, digital and audiobook. Here’s a taste.

It is 1898. In the aftermath of America’s war with Spain over Cuba and the Philippines, eighteen year-old Rose leaves her beloved Inishmore and boards a steamer for New York City in search of the Yank soldier who swore to marry her. Herded through the emigrant landing depot at The Battery, abandoned and alone, she discovers the New York streets are no more paved in gold than those of Galway. To survive, she must ford through Lower East Side tenements and sweatshops, Fifth Avenue mansions and tony hotels, tangling with Tammany Hall for the soul of the husband with whom her fate is inextricably linked while fighting her feelings for the first love who still holds her heart. Just as she begins to make peace with the past, the Great War erupts in Europe, threatening to topple the dynasty for which she has sacrificed everything.

A second book, STARDUST will follow Rose’s children and grandchildren into the Second World War and will release in 2024.

Cover reveal and pre-order details coming later this year, so do check back!

Wishing everyone a 2023 brimming with blessings.

xo Hope

My Hard Cover Debut: SUGAR with Jenna Jameson!

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JJ_Pub Shot

I’m thrilled to announce my latest—and until now Super Secret—project, SUGAR (Skyhorse Publishing, October 2013), a contemporary erotic romance with the incomparable Jenna Jameson!

SUGAR will be Jenna’s fiction debut, and I’m over-the-moon honored to partner with her in bringing her sexy and soulful story to readers.

SUGAR is a first for me as well: my hard cover debut!

The project is also my first teaming with another author, and I’ll admit I wasn’t quite certain what to expect. Writing is, by its very nature, a solitary profession. What would it be like to invite another writer into my Writing Cave? What would it be like to be a guest in hers? I’m happy to report the experience has been A+++ on all levels, an uncanny meeting of complementary minds, talents, and life experiences.

But then it’s no surprise that Jenna can bring the sexy and then some! Her 2010 memoir, HOW TO MAKE LOVE LIKE A PORN STAR, sold a quarter of a million copies and hit the New York Times bestseller list.

So what’s SUGAR about?

As my longtime readers will attest, second chances are a recurring theme in all my books, contemporary and historical, yet another reason I am so jazzed about SUGAR.

Like Jenna, the heroine of SUGAR is a former porn star, a smart, savvy, strong woman who’s taken total charge of her career and has now decided to refocus her priorities on her personal life. Fleeing the bright lights and big city of Los Angeles, she moves to Manhattan to reinvent herself. In doing so, she gets more than she bargained for—a lot more.

Cover reveal—trust me, it’s g-o-r-g-e-o-u-s and smokin’ hot—and additional details about the book coming soon!

* Jenna Jameson, Photo courtesy of IMDb.

Operation Cinderella HEA Release Week!

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October has been a good month for me, a very good month.

Off the bat, October 2nd was my birthday!

October 2nd was also the Blu-ray DVD release of Walt Disney’s “Cinderella,” my foremost favorite among the animated fairy tale film classics!!

And October 15th was the release for OPERATION CINDERELLA, the launch of my new “Suddenly Cinderella” contemporary series for Entangled Publishing!!!

Currently the book is available for download, $2.99, on Amazon & Barnes & Noble with additional e-tailer links coming soon…

Reviews will be rolling in over the coming weeks and months but for now please join me in celebrating this scrumptious cover quote I received from #1 New York Times Bestseller and Lady Jane Salonâ„¢ guest author, Susan Wiggs:

“This is not your mother’s Cinderella story. Hope Tarr’s rendition is funny, sassy and sexy, a fast-paced treat that strikes all the right notes. I loved it!” –Susan Wiggs

Many thanks, Susan, and thanks to all of you, my readers, who’ve patiently waited for my next contemporary romances to be born.

Happily Ever After–it’s about time, don’t you think!?!

As always, with warmest wishes for fairy tale dreams come true,

Hope

 

 

 

 

June 7th Lady Jane’s Salon

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The June Lady Jane’s Salon proudly presents historical romance authors Cara Elliott, Amanda McCabe, and Salon Co-Founder, Maya Rodale reading from and signing their latest Regency-set releases.

LADY-jane-logoBooks will be available for purchase on site.

Details: Monday, June 7th, 7-9 PM at Madame X (94  W Houston St). Subsequent Salons on the first Monday of the month. Admission is $5 or one gently-used romance novel. Cash bar. Net proceeds support city charities serving women in need.

Back from RT!

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I’m just back from the RT BOOK Lovers Convention in Columbus, OH, exhausted but still beaming with conference goodness. Personal highlights include Heather Graham’s Vampire Ball where costume peeps from Victorian widows to dagger-stabbed ghouls strutted their stuff; the Saturday afternoon book fair where I got to meet fabulous readers as well as literally hundreds of other authors; and of course our Special Lady Jane’s Salon Event with guest authors Sabrina Jeffries, Linnea Sinclair and Delilah Marvelle. Bonus: an impromptu shout-out for donations for local no-kill cat rescue group, Purr Babies, brought in more than $150 for this labor of love and all-around good cause.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: the romance community rocks!

Thanks to our guest author, Delilah Marvelle, who got the giving rolling by donating ten copies of her fabulous release, Lord of Pleasure to the first ten givers. Ditto to the RT staff, especially web wizard, Morgan Doremus, for scaring up not one but two more bags of books so that every attendee who donated to Purr Babies could receive a book as our thank you. Also, thanks to former Lady Jane guest author, Louisa Edwards, for the donation of the lovely take away champagne flutes in celebration of her latest release, On The Steamy Side.

Special sloppy cyber hugs and yes, kisses go out to conference coordinator, Jo Carol Jones, who personally supervised the putting out of shimmery red table clothes, the lighting of candles, and yes the pouring of champagne, all of which transformed the Hyatt’s Peppercorn Lounge from hotel event room to a very Lady Jane-like boudoir.

Putting on the Ritz...Leanna Renee Hieber and Hope at the RT BOOK Lovers Convention, Columbus, OH.
Putting on the Ritz...Leanna Renee Hieber and Hope at the RT BOOK Lovers Convention, Columbus, OH.

I could go on (and on) but I’ll stop there with a reminder that the goodness didn’t end with my plane trip home to Big Apple Landia. Tonight, Monday, May 3rd is our regular monthly Lady Jane’s Salon here in Manhattan at Madame X, 7-9 PM. As always, admission is $5 or one gently used paperback romance novel to be donated to New York City groups serving women in need. We have the usual great lineup of guest authors: YA urban fantasy author, Jeri Smith-Ready (Shade); Christina Britton Conroy (One Man’s Music); and Lady Jane Salon Co-Founder, Victorian paranormal author, Leanna Renee Hieber (The Darkly Luminous Fight for Persephone Parker, Book #2 in “The Strangely Beautiful” Series).

Giving back–it’s a good thing!

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.

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.

Lady Jane’s Salon, Oh What a Night!

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Last night’s Lady Jane’s Salon celebrating co-founder Leanna Renee Hieber’s debut novel, The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker was quite possibly our biggest crush yet.

The upper room of Madame X was crammed with attendees. Even before the program began, seating was once again standing room only–and barely that.

Leanna Renee Hieber. Photo by Morgan Doremus.
Leanna Renee Hieber. Photo by Morgan Doremus.

PRISM award winner, special guest Isabo Kelly kicked off the program by telling the story of how she and Leanna Renee first met in a New York law office followed by a wonderful reading of her work.

PRISM Award winner, Isabo Kelly. Photo by Morgan Doremus.
PRISM Award winner, Isabo Kelly. Photo by Morgan Doremus.

Leanna Renee was pretty as the proverbial picture in an authentic Victorian gown and bonnet done up in what we’re fast coming to think of as “Strangely Beautiful” blue.

The Salon and signing ended at 9:00 PM but guests lingered afterward including we four founders who took time out to mug for the camera–and yes, congratulate ourselves on yet another successful salon night.

Lady Jane’s Salon meets on the first Monday of each month from 7-9 PM at Madame X. Proceeds ($5 at the door or one gently used paperback romance novel) support Share the Love.

Founders Syndrome...From left to right, Maya Rodale, Leanna Renee Hieber, Ron Hogan & Hope.
Founders Syndrome...From left to right, Maya Rodale, Leanna Renee Hieber, Ron Hogan & Hope. Photo by Morgan Doremus.

Guest authors for October are USA Today Bestseller, Kathryn Smith and award-winning young adult author, Marianne Mancusi. As they say, stay tuned…

Hope