Displaying 1 - 10 of 40 entries

July Salon Recap and August at Lady Jane’s

  • Posted on July 16, 2010 at 1:39 pm

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 great guest authors, Dianna Love and Colby Hodge, and our very special guest, PW book blogger Barbara Vey, I got to be a guest myself! Please check out my videotaped reading from The Tutor.

The August Salon welcomes three great guest authors: Anna DePalo, Erica Ridley, and Alaya Dawn Johnson.

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.

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THE TUTOR and More July 5th Salon Goodness

  • Posted on June 30, 2010 at 8:33 am

Salon Co-Founder, Hope Tarr. Photo by BizUrban.com.

I’m so excited to be reading The Tutor, my latest Harlequin Blaze release at the July 5th Lady Jane’s Salon.

Set in Victorian Scotland–corsets and kilts, oh my!–The Tutor picks up where Untamed, the finale to my Men of Roxbury House trilogy, left off. Lady Bea Lindsey, Kate’s “bratty” baby sister, is all grown up, a “modern” young woman who knows her own mind. Alas, Bea has gotten herself engaged to a very nice but very dull gentleman. A dry run of the wedding night has shown that if she wants any pleasure in her marriage bed, she’s going to have to take the reins. But first she needs a tutor, someone sufficiently trustworthy, knowledgeable, and yes, sensual to instruct her in the loving arts.

Enter Ralph Sylvester, a former East London street rogue turned semi-respectable private secretary. Ralph and Bea have been friends for nine months but so far the sexual tension simmering between them has remained buried beneath the surface. Bea is an earl’s daughter as well as Ralph’s best friend’s sister-in-law. But when she shows up at his bedchamber door post-midnight wearing a red velvet cape and nothing beneath, Ralph knows that, lady or not, she means business. If he had any doubts, her bold request cinches it.

“I wish for you to tutor me in…sex.”

Having lusted after Bea for nine long months, no way is Ralph going to turn her down. Repeat: no way. Only instead of agreeing to tutor her for one paltry night, he insists on a full week of very private lessons. For seven sexy days and nights, no pleasure will be forbidden, no desire too shocking.

It’s every man’s fantasy…until the student surpasses the teacher.

The July 5th Lady Jane’s promises to be a jam-packed evening of fun. Along with Yours Truly, we have three great guest authors: Toni McGee Causey, Dianna Love (returning to the Salon), 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.

As always, we’ll have the authors books available for purchase and signing on site, including Maya Rodale’s late June release, A Groom of One’s Own.

Happy Independence Day,

Hope

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June Salon Recap

  • Posted on June 10, 2010 at 12:49 pm

The June Salon was the usual mix of  relaxation and fun with guest authors Cara Elliott, Maya Rodale (Salon Co-Founder), and Elizabeth Kerri Mahon (“Scandalous Women” blogger and upcoming non-fiction author) stepping in to read for Amanda McCabe.

Image Courtesy of LisaDaleBooks.com

In a fun break with Za Rules, this month’s recap post is by a guest author who hasn’t read at the Salon–yet! Click on the link and hear what the wonderful Lisa Dale has to say about her Lady Jane’s experience.

And please do mark your calenders to join us on July 5th. We have a jam-packed evening with four guest authors reading from their latest releases: Toni McGee Causey, Dianna Love (returning to the Salon), Colby Hodge AKA Cindy Holby, and yes, me,  Salon Co-Founder, Hope Tarr reading from The Tutor, my July Victorian-set romance.

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.

As always, we’ll have author books available for purchase and signing on site, including Maya’s late June release, A Groom of One’s Own.

Cheers,

Hope

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What to read at Lady Jane’s?

  • Posted on June 1, 2010 at 2:54 am

Lady Jane’s Salon and I go way back—as a co-founder, I go right back to the beginning,  in fact. I know a lot of the friendly faces in the crowd, the bartender Alex, and all that red. Each monthly salon is another fun get together—until it’s my turn to read. Then I am terribly vexed by two questions: what to wear and which scene to read.

On June 7th, I’ll be reading from A Groom Of One’s Own.  It’s new, brand new. It’s so hot off  the presses it’s not even off the presses—I need to hold onto one of my ARCs to have something to read from. The book comes out at the end of June but I wanted to give a sneak peek to my salon pals.

So, which scene to read? The one where the heroine, Miss Sophie Harlow, is jilted at the alter? The one where she finds the duke’s list of Desirable Qualities in A Wife? Or the carriage ride scene my critique partner said was perfect?

One thing I do know: I will be reading with a rogue of my own. He’s read at Lady Jane’s before and he’s damn funny. Here’s the proof.

As for what to wear? Definitely something that matches all that red at Madame X.

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Lady Jane's Salon at RT by Guest Author, Sabrina Jeffries

  • Posted on May 6, 2010 at 10:44 pm

We at Lady Jane’s took our show–or rather Salon–on the road to the RT BOOK Lovers Convention held this year in Columbus, OH. The Special Salon was held on Saturday, May 1st, 7-9 PM at the Hyatt Regency. Thanks to the magic of conference director, Jo Carol Jones, a rather bland event room was festooned with red scarves, votive candles–and the va va voom that is the Lady Jane vibe. Though the venue changed, we had our usual fabulous lineup of great guest authors, in this case Sabrina Jeffries, Linnea Sinclair, and Delilah Marvelle. And bonus: thanks to the generosity of the Salon attendees, including Delilah who donated 10 signed copies of her latest release as giveaways, we collected more than $150 for Linnea’s pet (literally) charity, Persian Purebred Purrbaby Rescue, a Columbus, Ohio group that rescues and re-homes Persian and mixed-breed shelter cats. What fun we had! But don’t take our word for it. See what guest author, Sabrina Jeffries (A Hellion in Her Bed) has to say.–LJ

Ever since I visited Lady Jane’s Salon in New York as an observer last fall, I’ve been dying to go back.  Romance readings! A venue that looks like a cross between a brothel and an Italian granny’s bedroom! Free-flowing liquor!  Romance fans!  What’s not to like?

Unfortunately, I don’t live in New York City, so my first chance to attend the salon as an author giving a reading was at the RT Booklovers Convention in Columbus, Ohio, this past weekend.  The lovely ladies of the salon (waving to Maya Rodale, Leanna Renee Hieber, and Hope Tarr) and their debonair master of ceremonies (Ron Hogan) made do with swashes of red net and champagne to transform a hotel meeting room into the usual sultry setting.

I felt right at home.

The night started out well.  I’d showed up with reading in hand, had talked to Hope about the length of the reading (no more than 15 minutes), told her that it was really only about 10 minutes, pulled out my pages, and discovered that I’d lied.  Somehow I’d miscounted the length.  My reading was long.  Really long.  Twenty minutes at least, if not more. That’s when panic set in.

I didn’t want my performance to be too long, because nothing is as unnerving as watching people snooze while you read.  On the other hand, the scene I’d chosen from my upcoming October 2010 release—A Hellion in Her Bed—was the one I thought most interesting when read aloud.  Frantically I started cutting.  I had two people ahead of me, right?  Plenty of time to trim if I ignored the other readings.

But I didn’t want to ignore the other readings.  That would be just plain rude—and ultimately impossible for a romance lover like myself!  Ack!

In the end, I started cutting, got sucked into Delilah Marvelle’s reading, then Linnea Sinclair’s (both books promptly added to my massive TBB list), and then it was my turn.  I prayed my excerpt wouldn’t put people to sleep and headed to the stage to read.

Fortunately, the people who frequent Lady Jane’s Salon (even on the road) are incredibly wonderful and forgiving people who actually like and read romance (there wasn’t a snooty litfic critic in the bunch).  And apparently there is no such thing as too long with them.  People listened, laughed (at the appropriate points, thank God), and applauded.

It was wonderful.  (And the champagne was good, too.)

Thanks for a lovely time Lady Jane’s Salon.  I can’t wait to read again in New York in October.  And this time I promise not to panic . . . and to keep it to 15 minutes.

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Tonight, May 3, join us for release party central!

  • Posted on May 3, 2010 at 8:34 am

As a Lady Jane’s co-founder, I always look forward to the first Monday of every month to celebrate the awesome talents we’ve brought to our Salon stage. But I confess, it is extra special to me when it gets to be my turn. And I’m so thrilled to present the next in my Strangely Beautiful series of Gothic Victorian Fantasy novels; The Darkly Luminous Fight for Persephone Parker (Strangely Beautiful #2). It’s been quite a marvelous whirlwind since my Lady Jane’s release party for The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker last September, and I look forward to sharing the night with friends and familiar faces as the whirlwind continues onto this next release. I promise you this book raises the stakes, the passion, the danger, the ghosts, and the mythology. And it’s red.

I hear there may be a special cocktail in the mix… something to do with pomegranate… *s* Also, because I cannot help myself, I have bought a Victorian mourning hat for the occasion and shall be fully decked in my 19th century best.

I shall be joined May 3rd by some fabulous talent. I am excited to take the stage with my fellow RWA NYC chapter mate, Christina Britton Conroy and hear from her One Man’s Music.

As I’m a big fan of award winning author Jeri Smith-Ready (she and I were Prism Award winners together last year!) – I can’t wait to see how she blazes onto the YA scene as she’s done so brilliantly in Paranormal Romance and Urban Fantasy. She’ll be reading from her brand new release Shade and so this is a fellow release celebration here in NYC for her as well!

Thusly it shall be a night not to be missed.

You know the routine, doors open no earlier than 7pm at Madame X (www.madamex.com) please, admission is $5 or a gently used romance novel, books and admission support women in need.

Cheers!

Leanna Renee Hieber

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Lady Jane… On Tour…

  • Posted on April 24, 2010 at 9:15 pm

That’s right folks, we are taking the Salon on the road!

To the Romantic Times Booklovers Convention in Columbus Ohio! (My home state! Yes, this is Leanna posting this) Here is our fabulous lineup. If you’re going to be at the awesome RT Con, we hope you will join us Saturday, May 1st, from 7-9pm, for greatness!

Featuring:

DELILAH MARVELLE

An RT Nominee for Best First Historical Romance (Mistress of Pleasure) and Bookseller’s Best Award Delilah Marvelle has a flare for researching all the beautifully naughty things in history.  Her upcoming three book Scandal series with HQN in 2011 will be highlighting history in the hopes of making every reader blush.  For more about Delilah’s naughty research, you can visit her blog www.DelilahMarvelle.blogspot.com or visit her website at www.DelilahMarvelle.com

LINNEA SINCLAIR

Rita, Prism, Pearl and RT Gold Medal winner Linnea Sinclair leads the Sci-Fi Romance world with her Dock Five Universe series. A former news reporter and retired private detective who yearns for more adventure than ‘Hold the presses!’ and stacks of case files can provide. The role of starship captain was her dream long before James T ever uttered “Beam me up!” Writing stories is her way of living that dream. When she’s not tinkering with a recalcitrant sublight drive, you can find her in southwest Florida (winters) or central Ohio (summers) living with her very patient husband and thoroughly spoiled cats.  Visit her at www.linneasinclair.com Upcoming release: Working Title Songs of Love and Death: Tales of Star-Crossed Love, Anthology Release Date: November 16, 2010

SABRINA JEFFRIES 

In the past decade, New York Times bestselling author Sabrina Jeffries has penned 18 Regency romances and five novellas – becoming a regular on both the New York Times and USA Today bestseller lists in the process. New Orleans-born, Thailand-reared, the novelist attributes her success to listening to what peers, her publisher and her own common sense told her she should be writing.  “I write what I enjoy reading:  lighter, sexier historical romances,” Jeffries said, “with more dialogue and more sensuality.” Writing about 19th-century English life comes naturally.  Not only is Jeffries a lifelong Jane Austen fan, but she has a doctorate in English lit from Tulane (as well as a specialty in Early Modern British literature). Yet the impetus for her stories, Jeffries says, is always “what if” – not what if her hero likes this or that but what if this happened and this happened … what would it do to a person?  “I have stories in my head, and I have to get them out,” Jeffries explained. Her ultimate goal in life would be to have “everybody reading one of my books.” The Truth About Lord Stoneville, which was released in January, is the 29th book of her entire career.  Her next title will be A Hellion in Her Bed, Book 2 of the Hellions of Halstead Hall series, coming this Fall.  With it, the novelist will have more than 3 million Sabrina Jeffries books in print. Visit her at www.sabrinajeffries.com

And we’ll be back just in time for our May 3rd Salon back in NYC!

May 3rd at Madame X will feature Christina Britton Conroy, Jeri Smith-Ready and myself, Leanna Renee Hieber.

We will see you there!

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The Journey to Lady Jane’s by April Guest Author, Kate Noble

  • Posted on April 13, 2010 at 1:52 pm

Read what April guest author, Kate Noble has to say about her Lady Jane’s Salon experience–and yes, Kate, you and your delightful reading more than passed with flying colors!

There is no more awesome cacophony of sound than 75 romance lovers gathered in small upstairs room of a bordello-esque bar on Houston Street in New York City.  If we could but only harness the powers of this sound to fight for truth, justice and the romantic way, we could blow down the walls of Jericho.  No trumpets required.  It truly is a fantastic atmosphere, a place for romance lovers — but some may ask, how does one end up there, on that stage?

I found out about the no-longer-quite-so-underground Lady Jane’s Salon last summer at RWA — I was introduced to Maya Rodale and, as a fellow New Yorker, she suggested I come to a reading.  Unfortunately, when she told me about it, I was about to move across the country, so I missed my opportunity to go purely as an observer.   But, when the release of The Summer of You was approaching, I asked Maya if I could read… and then I hopped on a plane. 

That’s right.  I travelled 3000 miles for this.  That’s how cool it is. 

Now, I’m not gonna lie.  About two hours before the reading, I started getting nervous.  I don’t know why, I had been fine before!  I had chosen what I was going to read, I had done a run through, I knew what I was going to wear, I was ready to go.  But suddenly I’m in 10thgrade speech class all over again, freaking out because I can’t find my notecards.

All I can say is – thank God for wine.  (Er… now.  Not in 10th grade.  Because that would not have flown with my mother.)

First up, was new author N.K. Jemisin reading from her intriguing fantasy novel A Hundred Thousand Kingdoms.  She whetted everyone’s appetite for more.  Next up, Miranda Neville – another of my ‘N’ author brethren.  She has the decided advantage of a real British accent, making every word she read of her delicious historical The Wild Marquis sound like it was spoken by her characters.  Then, after a short break, wherein it is entirely possible more wine was consumed, it was my turn. 

Here’s the thing, and all future Salon readers take note: I wore a dress, hitting at about the knee.  But, the stage is raised and we authors sit on a bar-level chair… well, it took some maneuvering to keep the show PG-13.  But contorted myself appropriately, and then I started reading from my new book, The Summer of You.  And all my nervousness fell away two or three sentences in.  People laughed at the right moments, clapped at the end… I’m confident I got a passing grade.

The great thing about being done with reading was I got to relax and enjoy the final reader, Sarah MacLean, who’s Nine Rules to Break when Romancing a Rake not only wins for the night’s longest title, but has also just hit the NYT and USA Today Bestseller lists!  And those of us in the room could tell why.  I had already purchased Nine Rules, and it was my plane book on the way home to the west coast the next day.

It was a fabulous evening, where I got to meet old friends, electronic friends, and make some new ones.

And whether you travel 3000 miles or 3 blocks, Lady Jane’s Salon is not to be missed by any lover of romance.  Why?  Because everyone there is a lover of romance.  Here, I can promise you will find your people!

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Nine Things to Know About Lady Jane's by upcoming guest Sarah MacLean!

  • Posted on March 25, 2010 at 8:16 pm
Sarah Maclean will read from her latest release at Lady Janes April 5th Salon

Sarah Maclean will read from her latest release at Lady Jane's April 5th Salon

There are few things in my life that I’ve been more excited about than April 5, 2010…when I’ll be reading from my debut adult romance, Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake at the FABULOUS Lady Jane’s Salon with Miranda Neville (The Wild Marquis), Kate Noble (The Summer of You) and N. K. Jemisin (The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms). 
I discovered Lady Jane’s a few months ago–and along with it–my people. I have never been more excited about Monday nights ever!  
When Leanna asked me to pre-blog the event on the Lady Jane’s website…I decided that the most helpful post I could create would be the one I wished I’d had the night of my first Salon…when I was totally uncertain of what this crazy thing was going to be…and totally afraid that I’d feel utterly out of place!  
 
So…I give you…

Nine Things you Should Know About Lady Jane’s Salon…
1. The cover price of one gently-romance novel is the best cover in the city.
2. If you have an aversion to velour, this may not be the place for you.
3. If you don’t have an aversion to velour, you are about to find your heaven.
4. Make friends with Alex (the bartender).  He’s all alone back there and he makes a good drink.
5. Dress for a warm climate.  All those sexy passages make for a hot room. 
6. You will definitely run into an author about whom you are fangirly. Try to hold it together.
7. Leanna, Hope, Maya & Ron are about the four nicest people you’ll ever meet.  It’s impossible to stay nervous in the face of their gleaming smiles.
8. If your husband has never understood your adoration for romance novels, one night at Lady Jane’s will explain everything.
and, finally, 
9. If you’re looking for someone to talk to, come introduce yourself to me.  ;) 
The Regency World of Sarah MacLean.  
Fetch the Smelling Salts.
http://www.macleanspace.com
http://www.twitter.com/sarahmaclean
http://www.facebook.com/macleanspace
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Confessions of a Lady Jane’s Salon Virgin by author Louisa Edwards

  • Posted on March 5, 2010 at 9:54 am

I’d love to talk about how froid my sang was at the prospect of reading from my new contemporary romance in front of a crowd of smart, savvy Salon regulars in a bar in the West Village. I write fiction for a living; I could definitely spin you a tale about laughing carelessly in the face of public speaking, or how I just threw on whatever dress came to hand and definitely didn’t try on multiple outfits or take an extra shower to get my hair looking right.

But I’m not going to lie. I was freaking out. I practiced the section I’d painstakingly chosen over and over. I thought about what I’d say when I got up there, the points I needed to hit. And then it was my turn and Ron Hogan, our emcee, ushered me up those stairs and onto that little balcony stage.

Nearly every second I spent up there is a blur. I can only hope I pronounced my own name correctly, much less the title of my book, On the Steamy Side. I know for a fact that I forgot to mention it was hitting bookstores the very next day! I’m pretty sure I read the right section, but my main memory is of how hot it was under the lights.

And then . . . something kind of magical happened. I know, that sounds lame. But there was this moment, as I got to the banter between the hero and the heroine, and I read a line of dialogue that always makes me smile—and the crowd laughed.

I looked up from the book I’d been clutching hard enough to make my fingers ache. I stared out over the upturned faces of my listeners, perched on couches and poufs, sprawled on the floor and standing by the bar, and realized they were all smiling with me. They were engaged and interested and present in the moment, right alongside me.

And all of a sudden, my nerves evaporated.

What was there to be nervous about? I wasn’t on some random stage in front of strangers! No. I’d stumbled into a room filled with kindred spirits, romance readers and writers and aficionados, just like me. I was home.

That’s the magic of Lady Jane’s Salon. It’s a safe place, a sanctuary for those of us who don’t believe that a fondness for happily-ever-afters makes us stupid. It’s also a way to expand our world and discover new writers, as I did when I got my turn in the audience, gazing raptly up as the fiercely intelligent Cara Elliot and the lovely, frank, funny Mingmei Yip took to the stage.

I can’t wait to go back to Lady Jane’s Salon, to experience that energy and enthusiasm for the genre I love, and that sense of community and camaraderie I miss during my solitary writing hours. And while I’ll probably still choose my next reading—and my outfit—with care, I won’t be afraid.

Louisa

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