The bags are (mostly) packed, and in just a few short hours I’ll be jetting off on the red-eye, headed for the Romance Writers of America national conference in New York City!

Before I forget —

While in NYC, I’ll be passing out some beautiful postcards for A Night to Surrender, directing people to visit my website to read the first chapter. So… the first chapter is up now. 🙂 You can read it here.

Things I’m so excited for in the coming week (other than the chance to see all my fabulous and far-flung romance-minded friends, of course):

• Workshops! I’ll be on the “Quick Release Trilogy” panel with Stefanie Sloane, Monica McCarty, Zoe Archer, and Christy Reece.
• The literacy signing! Open to the public and featuring hundreds of fabulous authors in one place, this Tuesday night event is always a blast. Plus, it benefits local literacy organizations.
• The awards luncheon – can’t wait to see local colleague and friend SuperLibrarian Wendy Crutcher pick up her “Librarian of the Year” award.
• PARTY – I have some smaller celebrations planned with friends, and I’m particularly excited for the Avon party at the swank Central Park Boathouse.
• The RITAs and Golden Heart awards. It’s a huge thrill to be a RITA finalist for Twice Tempted by a Rogue, and I’m so excited that my good friend Leigh LaValle is up for a Golden Heart in the Regency category. Actually, I’ll be rooting for friends in several categories, so it

A Night to Surrender finally has its own bookshelf page! There isn’t a whole lot there yet, but there are pre-order links and a blurb and tiny teaser excerpt. I will be posting a much longer excerpt in weeks to come.

If you’d like to win a signed coverflat and bookish surprise, please do enter my new contest.

Exciting news! Rights have been licensed for the Stud Club trilogy to be published in Thai translation.

And before I dash off again to put the finishing touches on Spindle Cove book two (A Week to be Wicked), I leave you with this gorgeous French cover for Goddess of the Hunt.

C’est magnifique! I just love it. I especially love how much that cover model looks like “Lucy” to me. Her hair is perfect, and her expression definitely looks as though she’s up to something. 🙂 And the title, Impulsive, certainly fits Lucy, too! The French edition releases June 15th.

I hope you’re all enjoying the first taste of summer!… Read More »

I finally found time to update the site with some of my most recent foreign covers. I thought I’d highlight them here, too.

First, this gorgeous new Slovak cover for Surrender of a Siren:

Siigh… So romantic! I love it.

And here are two new covers for A Lady of Persuasion– the Indonesian and the Thai.

What I find so interesting is that they’re wildly different covers, but the artists seem to have tried to keep the same color scheme from the book’s original cover. Or maybe that’s just coincidence?

I understand (from a Russian reader) that the Russian title translates loosely to, “Why a Lovelace Gets Married.” To which I asked, “Um… What’s a lovelace?” 🙂 A scoundrel or rake, she tells me. So there you go! A very appropriate title, actually.

Speaking of great foreign titles, the German edition of Surrender of a Siren releases next Monday! Its title? “Hurricane of Love.” (I confess, I can’t type that without hearing it as ‘Hurricane of Luuurve.’)

To any German readers who might wander by… Ein herzliches Dankeschön!
(Crossing fingers I got that right. I don’t speak German! Correct me if it’s wrong, please.)

Foreign editions are just the most exciting things. It’s so amazing to think that people in Russia and Indonesia and Germany and Slovakia are all reading a book that I wrote. *pinches self* … Read More »

I spent much of the last week at the RT Booklovers’ Convention in L.A., and it was a fabulous conference. What a busy few days! I, of course, always forget to take pictures – especially ones with me in them – so I’m linking to a few posted on various blogs, and I hope those folks don’t mind.

Wednesday, I participated in a few panel workshops, then attended Avon’s Romance Live event. We had some technical challenges, but I’m told something like 800 people stuck with us and watched the chat! Pictured, from left to right: Katharine Ashe, Cathy Maxwell, Sophia Nash, publicist Pam Spengler-Jaffee, editor Erika Tsang, me, and Elizabeth Boyle. What an amazing group–I’d doubt it really happened, if I didn’t have this picture to prove it.

Photo linked from Avon Romance blog

Thursday, I hosted Purple Prose Taboo with friends and fellow authors Victoria Dahl and Courtney Milan. A raucous good time was had by all!

Photo linked from RT Book Reviews blog

Also on Thursday, I was honored to accept the RT Reviewers Choice award for Best Regency-Set Historical, forOne Dance with a Duke. And no, I didn’t take a picture. But when I got home yesterday, the darelings reenacted the award ceremony with a toy pink microphone that makes applause sounds. 🙂 The actual awards ceremony was wonderful–I especially enjoyed the inspiring speeches from the career achievement award recipients, including Robyn Carr, Catherine Coulter, and Lisa Kleypas.

Of course, the highlight of conference … Read More »

Don’t miss this! Tonight, at 9 PM Eastern, 6 PM Pacific — six Avon historical romance authors live-streaming questions and answers. You can watch it here and order personalized books here.

From the latest announcement…

If you are a romance fan, but you can’t make it to the RT Booklovers Convention in Los Angeles next week, join your favorite authors online for a virtual chat and booksigning, broadcast live from the Avalon Ballroom at the Westin Bonaventure Hotel in L.A.!
Log here on April 6, at 6 pm PT (9 pm ET). We’re going for a historical salon theme. Granted, I don’t think that our bestselling participants Katharine Ashe, Elizabeth Boyle, Tessa Dare, Sophie Jordan, Cathy Maxwell and Sophia Nash will come in hoop skirts or kirtles, but they’ll be dazzling nonetheless! And you’ll have a chance to buy personalized copies of their newest titles, and selected backlist, via Mysterious Galaxy Bookstore.
So, grab a glass of wine, make sure to snag yourself something sweet, and join us for a romantic interlude where we talk about our enduring passion for historical romance with these beloved authors!

Despite having no actual visual arts talent of my own, I love art and am fascinated by artists. I adored writing an artist heroine in Surrender of a Siren, and giving Sophia all the artistic talent I wish I had, but don’t.

This week, I am the very happy beneficiary of some prodigious artistic talent!

First example, this lovely new design at Tessadare.com. Frauke of CrocoDesigns just knocked it out of the park. Look at the file I sent her for inspiration…

I knew it was way too busy to use as a pattern on the site, but I loved the colors and feel. She just totally took that and made it a website, didn’t she? So talented.

And then, can we take a moment to ooh and ahh over my new cover?

Here’s how the art looks, on its own:

Some people like to say that all romance novels look the same, and there’s no thought whatsoever put into matching the cover with the contents of the book.

Those people (in this case, at least), would be dead wrong. So much thought and work went into this cover, on the part of my editor, the art director, and the artist – I’m so grateful to all of them! They really thought about the book, and it shows. The book is a fun, sexy, emotional struggle of wills…a Regency-set a battle of the sexes, if you will. And this pose was carefully staged to get that across. Just who … Read More »

Sometime in the next few days, the site will have a bit of downtime – so my wonderful web designer, Frauke Spanuth of CrocoDesigns, can give it a new, fresh look. I hope everyone loves the new design as much as I do!

Operation Auction update:
The winning bidder on my book video was none other than Maya Banks! I am soooo unbearably excited to make a video for her. It’s TOP SECRET for now. 😉 But in the meantime, please know that Maya is an amazingly generous person, in addition to being an incredibly talented author. Thank you so much to all the bloggers who offered to post the video when it’s finished – I guarantee, we’re going to have something entertaining for you!

Congratulations to everyone to donated, bid, and helped with the auction. I hope the proceeds are some help to Fatin and her children as they move forward from this terrible tragedy.

I’m so excited to be headed for the RT Booklovers’ Convention in LA next week. I’ll be on three different panels, signing at the giant book fair, and also attending the Reviewers’ Choice awards ceremony–where I’ll be honored to accept the Best Regency Romance award for One Dance with a Duke!

And even if you can’t be at RT, don’t forget about Romance Live! Next Wednesday, 9ET/6PT.

From the press release:

For romance fans who can’t make it to the RT Booklovers Convention in Los Angeles next week, Avon Books is broadcasting

First, don’t forget about Operation Auction! Bidding for my book video has been doing great, thanks to all who’ve helped spread the word. But I know we can raise even more money for Fatin and family.

Second, I’m going to be part of this uber-cool event at RT on April 6th, called Romance Live. Six Avon authors of historical romance are going to answer questions and chat with readers, and it will be streamed live on the Internet for everyone to see. (note to self: buy darker lipstick) I hope some of you will be able to join us online, or even in person – I hear there will be wine and cupcakes!

I’m very excited about this, and even more excited to post the ad because it has my beautiful new cover for A Night to Surrender! The one I haven’t been cleared yet to post on this site! But there it is (the pretty purple one), so get out your magnifying glasses and enjoy. 🙂

… Read More »

I want to draw everyone’s attention to a huge Ebay auction going on right now, to benefit a special cause. From the Operation Auction website:

Fatin has been an integral part of the romance community for years – she owns and runs the RR@H Novel Thoughts and Book Talk blog, is an administrator of the WriteMinded loop, an author assistant and a tireless advocate for romance novels. She is also a friend to many in this community.

On Tuesday, March 8th, she lost her husband in a senseless act of violence, leaving her alone with four children. You can read more about the tragedy here: https://www.wral.com/news/local/story/9233067/

I can’t even begin to imagine the pain and fear that Fatin and her children must be going through, in the wake of this tragedy. Authors, bloggers, editors, agents, and others have donated a myriad of items to raise money to help the family. You can view the items and bid here. There are signed books, gift baskets, critiques, name-a-character packages, lunches with authors, and much more.

My own contribution to the auction is a custom book video, similar to the video I made for the Stud Club books last year.

Here’s the item description:

The winning bidder will receive a customized book video shot on location in the Darelings’ bedroom.
Tessa will provide all props, materials, and (admittedly amateur) production. You provide cover art, a manuscript or synopsis for reference, and creative direction, if you wish. If desired, the video

I got “the call” this morning that Twice Tempted by a Rogue is a finalist in the 2011 RITAs, in the Best Regency Historical category! The RITA awards are presented by the Romance Writers of America each year, at our annual conference.

I am so thrilled and honored, not least because I’m in the most amazingly talented company. Just look at this list of finalists:

His Christmas Pleasure by Cathy Maxwell (Avon Books; Lucia Macro, editor)
The Mischief of the Mistletoe by Lauren Willig (Dutton; Erika Imranyi, editor)
Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake by Sarah MacLean (Avon Books; Carrie Feron, editor)
Provocative in Pearls by Madeline Hunter (Jove; Wendy McCurdy, editor)
To Surrender to a Rogue by Cara Elliott (Forever; Frances Jalet-Miller, editor)
Twice Tempted by a Rogue by Tessa Dare (Ballantine Books; Kate Collins, editor)
When Harry Met Molly by Kieran Kramer (St. Martin’s Press; Jennifer Enderlin, editor)
The Wicked Wyckerly by Patricia Rice (NAL/Signet; Ellen Edwards, editor)

(You can view all the categories here.)

Congratulations to all the finalists!

The amazing Sarah Maclean has a giveaway up and running already, where you could win all of the finalist books in my category! … Read More »