I'm so delighted to welcome the wonderful Hope Tarr to The Romance Dish today. Hope is much more than an award-winning author of more than twenty-five published novels. She holds a Master's degree in psychology, a Ph.D in Education and spent several years as a research consultant for the federal government. Many of you have probably heard of Lady Jane's Salon®, a monthly reading series devoted to romance fiction. What you may not know is that Hope Tarr co-created the original Lady Jane's Salon® in New York City and the concept of using the salons to "give back" to organizations that benefit women. Each Lady Jane's Salon® (there are now six satellite salons across the U.S.) donates its proceeds to a 501(c)3 charity with the hope of bringing about more happily ever afters in their communities.
For more information about Hope, visit her website. Find out more about the anthology at:
www.Scribbling-Women.com
www.Facebook.com/ScribblingWomen
www.Twitter.com/ScribblingWomen
Please give Hope a warm welcome!
Scribbling Women & the
Real-Life Romance Heroes Who Love Them:
Romance Authors Celebrate
Valentine’s by Sharing the Hope of Happily Ever with
Homeless Women and Children
The romance fiction
community includes some of the most generous and socially
conscious people I’ve ever had the privilege to meet—and that’s just a fact. Brenda
Novak’s annual auction on behalf of The Diabetes Research Institute, Lori
Foster’s Animal Attraction on behalf
of shelter pets, and The Nora Roberts Foundation in support of literacy are but
a sprinkling of the many instances of writers sharing the hope of Happily Ever
After not only between the covers of their wonderful novels but also in real
life.
Styled along the lines of
the bestselling “Chocolate for a Woman’s Soul” anthology series, SCRIBBLING
WOMEN & THE REAL-LIFE ROMANCE HEROES WHO LOVE THEM is a collection
of twenty-eight nonfiction essays by popular romance authors, one for each day
of February 2014, on how they met, wed, and love their real-life spouses and
significant others. Contributors include Lisa Renee Jones, Deanna Raybourn, Jacquie D’Alessandro, Julie Kenner, and Nikoo and Jim McGoldrick
(w/a May McGoldrick and Jan Coffey)
as well as fresh voices such as Suzan Colón,
Kat Simons, and Cindy Nord.
As the anthology’s editor, by now I’ve read the collection
straight through—and line by line—easily a half dozen times, and yet each of the twenty-eight true love stories never fails to make me smile, laugh out loud—and sometimes tear up—every time. Some authors’ journeys to True Love involved overseas travel and sometimes relocation (
Mary B. Rodgers,
Sonali Dev,
Kat Simons) or military service (
Carlene Love Flores,
Carole Bellacera); others such as
Jen McLaughlin’s took
place in writers’ own backyards. Some couples met as college sweethearts (
Katana Collins,
Delilah Marvelle), others as seasoned
second-chance lovers (
Leslie Carroll,
Suzan Colón). Some of the essays are
tongue in cheek, even laugh-out-loud funny (
Patience Bloom), while
others are poignant, even bittersweet (
Katharine
Ashe,
Elf Ahearn). All affirm that
Happily Ever After isn’t only the stuff of fairy tales and romance novels.
It is every woman’s birthright.
In that spirit, a
ll twenty-eight authors contributed their essays pro bono, waiving any
royalties or advance so that we could raise the maximum monies for charity.
Because of their generosity, we are able to donate ALL net
proceeds from
sales of the anthology to Win (formerly Women in
Need).
Since its February 14, 1983 launch—yes, Valentine’s Day!—Win
has worked tirelessly to bring the hope of Happily Ever After to disadvantaged
women and their children in New York City. Win has been the official charity of
NYC’s
Lady Jane’s Salon® since
our 2009 founding for good reason—the work they do empowering families to build
positive, independent lives and forge forward into brighter futures is beyond
“good.” It’s
transformative.
In celebration of Valentine’s Day, now through 12
midnight EST we are dropping our digital anthology price to just 99 cents. That’s less than one dollar to give
a homeless woman and her child access to clean, safe housing, critical
services—and a serious shot at Happily Ever After.
Happy Valentine’s Day—and Happily Ever After.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thank you for visiting with us today, Hope and for bringing this wonderful anthology and organization to our attention.
Readers, we have some giveaways today! Tell us about the heroes in your life (spouse, boyfriend, relative, friend, someone in your town, etc.). What makes them special? Or tell us how you make a difference in someone's life. Do you volunteer? Support a cause? Help a friend? Let's dish!
Hope is offering one randomly chosen person who leaves a comment on today's blog a digital copy of her Kindle Top 100 Victorian-set historical romance, TEMPTING.
The Dishes are adding their support to this initiative by offering three randomly chosen people who leave a comment a digital copy (Kindle or Nook) of Scribbling Women & the Real-Life Romance Heroes Who Love Them.
