The Lady Jane Founders: Ron Hogan, Hope Tarr, Leanna Renee Hieber & Maya Rodale take a breath--and a bow.

The Salon celebrated Her Ladyship’s second anniversary in grand style, drawing quite possibly our biggest audience ever.Not only was sitting and standing room at premium but so, at times, was breathing space!

Roses from the darlings at Madame X, our host venue for these two years (and counting!), set a festive, romantic mood from the start.

On hand to help us ring in the Big 0-2 were our fabulous guest authors: Courtney Milan, Lauren Willig, and Caridad Ferrer.

Guest emcee, Andrew Shaffer had us all rolling in what little aisle space was left with his rousing and oh so hilarious readings from GREAT PHILOSOPHERS WHO FAILED AT LOVE. Poor Abelard and Heloise. It really isn’t funny–and yet it was!

Alyssa Montoya accepts our donation check on behalf of W-I-N.

But Lady Jane’s isn’t just about the razzle dazzle. From the very first, a vital component of the Salon’s mission has been to give back to our community. At the midpoint break, we Salon founders had the great pleasure of presenting our 2010 donation check to our chosen charity, Women-in-Need.

Afterward, it was time to break out the champers and cupcakes.Thanks to “guest bartender,” Sarah MacLean, for coming to the rescue with a ready pouring hand. By the by, Sarah writes a mean romance novel, too. Look for her as a return guest reader at our June 27th Special Event Salon.

Model, blogger and author, Isobella Jade generously donated a copy of her book, ALMOST 5’4 for our raffle. Thanks, Isobella! As someone who stands just ever so slightly *over* 5’4, I heart you!

In case you don't believe us about the crowd...

Last but never least, thanks to all our friends and fellow writers at Romance Writers of America/New York City for their consistent and loving support, and to all of you–yes, YOU–who’ve made Lady Jane’s a success these two years by coming month after month, blogging about the event, and generally sharing the goodness through word-of-mouth buzz. We wouldn’t be here without you.

Huzzah and Happy Anniversary!

Hope Tarr

Salon Co-Founder

Joining us will be: Stella Price, Terence Taylor, Allie Boniface, and the lovely Sarah MacLean. Looks like we’ll have a little bit of spooky, a little bit of Regency, and a taste of contemporary steam!

And we’ll also be raffling two copies of Lauren Willig’s latest, The Mischief of the Mistletoe.

Salon meets at 7-9 PM chez Madame X. Admission is $5 or one gently used romance novels, net proceeds and books to support NYC women’s charities. Cash bar.

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 10^thgrade 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 10^th 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!