By Hope Tarr

What would you do if you knew you had seven sexy days and nights in your very near future? We’re talking passion so scalding, so unbridled, and so primal that most mortals never know the like.
The catch: those same seven sexy days and nights are most likely going to have to last you the rest of your life. Oh, and you’re not quite twenty-one which means “the rest of your life” promises to be a very, very long time.

Lady Bea Lindsey confronts that very scenario in The Tutor my Victorian-set romance published with Harlequin’s super sexy Blaze line. At the opening of The Tutor, Bea has gotten herself engaged to a very nice but very dull gentleman.

Conventional wisdom counsels that a young woman on the cusp of twenty-one, in this case a young woman of noble birth, purse-poor dowry, and an impulsive nature, dare we say “wild streak” should settle down safely and quickly. But conventional wisdom is not always…wise. And Bea is very much a modern girl—modern in the context of the 1890’s. She may be willing to settle for a dry-as-toast husband at the dining table but when it comes to the boudoir, she is going to need a little jam.

Only a disastrous dry run of the wedding night (pun intended) has demonstrated that if she wants any pleasure in her marriage bed, she’ll have to take the lead. But first she needs to be taught. And who better to take on the role of tutor than the oh-so-sexy Ralph Sylvester, a former East London street rogue and her brother-in-law’s private secretary?

Never did Ralph imagine that the woman of his dreams, a lady born, would proposition him and on the very night her engagement to another gentleman is announced! But when Bea shows up at Ralph’s bedchamber door after midnight wearing a red velvet cape and nothing beneath, he knows she means business. Armed with a contraband copy of The Kama Sutra and nine months’ of shored up lust, he sets about tutoring her in the loving arts. It’s every man’s fantasy, until the pupil surpasses the teacher.

Along with The Tutor, I have another Scottish historical coming out this July. My Lord Jack, first published in 2002 with Berkley, is being reissued with Carina Press, Harlequin’s new exclusively digital publishing imprint, on July 12th. A Rogue’s Pleasure, my Regency-set romp, will release with Carina Press on August 16th.

Happy Summer and yes, Happy Reading,
Hope Tarr

Hope is offering a signed copy of her Scottish-set Blaze Historical, TWELVE NIGHTS to one lucky commenter today!!!

Hope Tarr is the award-winning author of thirteen historical and contemporary romance novels including THE TUTOR. “Tomorrow’s Destiny,” her first novella, will appear in a single-title Christmas anthology, A HARLEQUIN CHRISTMAS CAROL, with Betina Krahn and Jacquie D’Alessandro this November 10, 2010. Visit Hope at www.HopeTarr.com where you can read her blog and enter her regular contest.

Many thanks to Tawny for inviting me to blog today! Once a Blaze Babe, always a Blaze Babe, so I’m feeling right at home hanging out here on this May morning.

Besides hanging out, I should probably present some topic in my daily life that ties in neatly with my June Blaze, WANTED!, the first book in the Sons of Chance series. But after wracking my brain, I’ve decided that tie-in ain’t gonna happen. So instead I’ll tell you about my latest travel near-disaster and see if maybe along the way I’ll figure out that tie-in to the book.

I just returned from the South, which is rapidly becoming my go-to spot for fun. First I flew to Huntsville, Alabama, for the Heart of Dixie Readers Luncheon, which is always a blast. Then Blaze Babe Rhonda Nelson and I drove to Atlanta, where we met with Blaze Babe Jennifer LaBrecque and spent a couple of days plotting books and eating way too much yummy food prepared by Jen.

Great times all around, but I almost mucked it up before I ever left Tucson. Because I’m traveling more than ever, I’m constantly looking for ways to get through security with less hassle. I have my easy-off shoes and a standard outfit that involves very little metal. I have a bitty netbook that’s easy to get out and put away again, and my jewelry is minimal. This particular time I was congratulating myself on how efficiently I’d navigated the process.

I put my ID back in my purse and zipped the purse into my carryon. I had my book and myboarding pass. I was sickeningly well-organized. Then the gate agent announced we’d have to produce our ID again before boarding the plane. I dug out my ID, which I presented along with my boarding pass, but at this point, I was in the chute with no time to put my ID back in the purse that was zipped inside the carryon without holding up the entire parade.

So I tucked my ID in my book.

Did your tummy just clutch? You know what happened, don’t you? Once I was settled in my window seat, I opened the book to retrieve the ID. It was gone.

My seatmate was understanding and let me out, but truly, if she hadn’t, I would have simply vaulted over her. Like a salmon swimming upstream, I plowed through the passengers trying to board, all the while scanning the floor and telling everyone within hearing distance that I’d DROPPED MY ID. I made it to the cockpit, and nada.

Wild-eyed, I glanced at the flight attendant. “I’ve lost my –”

Smiling, she held it up. “This?”

I could have kissed her.

There you have it, my almost-disaster story, and I still haven’t figured out how it ties into WANTED! except that maybe . . . okay, this works. My hero, Nick Chance, stumbles upon a closely guarded secret that challenges his entire belief about himself, i.e. his identity. Ta-da! I guess it’s a bit of a stretch to compare my lost ID to Nick’s drama, but it’s the best I can do. And let me just say that writing about sexy cowboys is way more fun than searching the floor of a plane for a lost ID.

Have you ever lost your ID? Or nearly as bad, a credit card? Do you have any tips for avoiding this scary situation?

Tell me all your war stories, which will make me feel better and also enter you to win one of two copies of WANTED! I’ll give away today. Happy Monday!

By Marsha Zinberg
Executive Editor, Feature and Custom Publishing

Can there ever be too much of a good thing? Nah! Not when it comes to Blaze…and not when it comes to reissuing great stories that Harlequin readers love! As Executive Editor of Feature and Custom Publishing, I consider it my mission to find reissue opportunities for our authors. After all, the majority of our series authors build up a sizeable backlist over their writing careers, and odds are against the majority of those books…many of which were reader favorites (not to mention personal favorites of mine!)….occupying fresh precious space on the book racks. That’s just the reality of the current marketplace.

So imagine my delight when Marketing came to me with a request that we plan for a new program (albeit in format not unfamiliar to us!) that would pair stories by popular series authors, appear monthly and offer great value to the reader!

Well, yes, those of you who have been around for a while may comment, it does resemble the old By Request program. How is it different? First, we will be grouping these books by category, and happily for the Blaze authors and their fans, it was decided to focus on and launch with the Passion category. Second, we’re calling it Showcase. Third, some volumes will feature two books by the same author, and those books may be linked. And fourth, well….the packaging! It’s gorgeous!

First things first: Showcase is launching in May 2010, with two volumes per month, each containing two complete books by bestselling authors. And at $6.99/7.99, a great value!

Our scheduling has been designed to complement our authors’ frontlists wherever possible. For example, Showcase is launching with a 2-in-1 by Vicki Lewis Thompson. Working with Senor Editor Brenda Chin, we deliberately positioned this volume so that the first book of Vicki’s Three Cowboys and a Baby trilogy, The Colorado Kid, will be offered as a free ebook. The next two titles in this trilogy, Two in the Saddle and Boone’s Bounty will be featured in Showcase in May. And then in June, Blaze will launch Vicki’s new cowboy trilogy, Men of Chance. We have a similar plan for Tori Carrington. Again, our goal is to build our authors’ presence to the readers, so Blaze will offer a free ebook, Forbidden, the first book in Tony and Lori’s Sleeping with Secrets miniseries in August. In September, our Showcase volume will feature the next two books in the mini-series, Indecent and Wicked. And Blaze will launch a new Carrington trilogy, Private Scandals, in October.

But Blaze authors fare particularly well in this program right through till December. In June, Showcase will feature two Leslie Kelly favorites, Naturally Naughty and Wicked & Willing. Jennifer Labrecque and Jo Leigh pair up in August with Barely Decent and The One Who Got Away, and we have another team slated for October, Rhonda Nelson with 1-900-Lover and Joanne Rock with Silk Confessions. Finally, for December, our final Blaze 2-in-1 of the year– Cara Summers’s Intent to Seduce and Debbi Rawlins’s A Glimpse of Fire.

As you can see from the cover images we’ve included, the team responsible for this program took a very non-series looking tack with our packaging strategy. It is based on a concept that was very successfully executed by Harlequin France, and this seemed the perfect product to try it on, so we are excited to see how it will be received by North American audiences. It focuses the readers’ attention directly on the author names and titles, and we have not tried to tie the two books together by an overarching title or conspicuous branding, as we have often done in the past. We feel we’ve achieved a very sophisticated and attractive package. What do you think?

We have five free Showcase books to give away to our first five comment posters. I’d love to hear what you think of the packaging, and am open any other great ideas you may have for getting the word out about our new Showcase program!

I’m so thrilled that the awesome Brenda Jackson is blogging with us today. Her Blaze, SPONTANEOUS, is a May release and you have to check it out! I mean, look at that cover – talk about HOT!!!

So without further ado, here’s Brenda…

I love hot men. Ooops, let me rephrase that. I love writing about hot men. The hotter the better. I’d read Blazes for years and after probably wearing Blaze-editor Brenda Chin’s patience down, since I’m sure she let me finally write me to get me off her back, I tackled writing my first Blaze. But then in order to write about a good Blaze guy I had to have the perfect Blaze girl. Umm, I wondered where could I find such a creature, one of those daring women who would truly appreciate my hot guy?

I looked at the young ladies in my family (ages 25 – 35) and found one or two who would fit the bill, and what they shared almost made my gray hair turn grayer. But after my interview with them I was ready for the big hook-up. I had found my guy a girl who was just as hot as he was, which equated to a lot of spontaneous combustion in my book. Thus, the title Spontaneous came about.

I love my hero Duan Jeffries. And it didn’t hurt matters that I’d gotten to know him first when I wrote his sister’s story in my Silhouette Desire of February 2009, Tall, Dark Westmoreland, which was followed three months later with his brother Terrence’s story in my Kimani book titled, Temperature’s Rising.

Of the three Jeffries siblings, Duan is the oldest which means a lot of experience in my book. And there’s nothing like writing about an experience hot man. So if you’re in the market for a hot man who meets his match in an equally hot woman, who together solves a mystery that involves her mother, this is just the book for you.

Blazes are known for being red-hot reads and I believe this one definitely will fit the bill.

Happy holidays, and thank you, Tawny, for inviting me to blog today! I’m excited to be back in the Blaze lineup after lo, these many moons, and even more excited to share the billing with Rhonda Nelson and Jill Shalvis. BTW, Rhonda deserves all the credit for coming up with the Damon Claus concept for BETTER NAUGHTY THAN NICE. She rocks.

So . . . it’s that time of year again. Do you all have your shopping done?

I always vow that this year will be different and stress free. Hahahahaha. I think it’s a holiday rule: No matter how carefully you plan your gift-giving, there’s always that one stinkin’ present that turns into a hellacious hassle. Last year it was a Thomas the Train storage table. This year it’s Ugg boots.

My son gave me the word – my granddaughter wanted Ugg boots, but I wasn’t to get REAL Ugg boots, which would be expensive and silly for a kid who’d outgrow them in six months. He said the fake kind were at Costco at a reasonable price.

Those of you who shop at Costco know the drill. Gift items are here today, gone tomorrow. By the time I got to Costco, those fake Ugg boots were way gone. But was I discouraged?

Well, yes, but this is the season of good cheer, so I contacted my friend Google to search Ugg boots online. And I found some! At a great price! Ordered them with a song in my heart and a Visa card in my wallet! Failed to notice the price was in . . . pounds.

Okay, so the girl was going to get actual Ugg boots from Australia, and it was extravagant, but what the hey. It’s the holidays and the bill won’t come until January.

Except . . . the boots were shipped from China. I could tell because there were Chinese characters all over the packing slip. I’m quick that way. And the box was damaged, although the boots were fine, except they stunk to high heaven. But I comforted myself that at least they’d have that all-important Ugg label on the heel.

Except . . . they didn’t. The label was WHOOGA. Which is an approximation of what I said when I saw it. Had I accidentally paid full price for a Chinese Ugg boot knockoff? And what about that godawful smell? Fortunately I’d saved the web site email address, so I researched returns and discovered that I could, in fact return these smelly, not-labeled-Ugg boots, but I’d have to pay postage. TO CHINA???

Before resorting to such drastic measures, I shot off an email to the company. The reply was extremely civilized and stated that these were, in fact, Ugg boots made by another Australian company with a pedigree as good as Ugg itself, and that all Ugg-type boots were now manufactured in Asia, and that the smell was from the tanning process and would go away in a few days. They apologized about the battered box.

Faced with return postage to China (or Australia, not any better), I set the boots outside to air, and you know what? The smell is gone. The boots are lined with genuine sheepskin and they’re cozy to the touch. My granddaughter isn’t expecting boots with Ugg on the heel. When she sees WHOOGA, she’ll probably think I got them at Costco. I’m giving up on the angst and giving her the boots.

Which gift is keeping you up nights or causing you to haunt the stores or eBay? Or are you all done and feeling smug about it?

Did you ever like to play pretend when you were a kid? Get dressed up in Mom’s high heels and beads and clomp around the house affecting a British accent with an aristocratic nose in the air? Or sink your feet into Dad’s rubber boots and chase your siblings, yelling, “Fee Fi, Fo, Fum?” Did you turn curtain rods into fencing swords and Zorro the heck out of anyone who’d play with you? Did you ever throw a blanket on the floor, imagine that it was a raft and you were Tom Sawyer (I was a tomboy, Becky Thatcher was boring) and you and Huck were navigating the mighty Mississippi? Did you memorize the words to Romeo and Juliet and go around saying, “Did my heart love till now? Forswear it, sight! For I ne’er saw true beauty till this night.” Did you write plays and force the neighborhood kids to act out the parts with you?

No? Okay, so maybe that was only me.

But my heroine, Roxie Stanley, from Zero Control was a weird kid like me (and you too if you’d just admit it. I know how you are. I’m an introvert with a vivid imagination just like you.) She lives too much in her head, indulging in fantasies. And fantasies are all they are…until her boss sends her to get the lowdown on his competition, Eros Airline and “adults only” vacation resorts. At Eros, Roxie meets her match, a man who not only indulges her most forbidden fantasies, but takes things to a whole new level. Too bad Dougal Lockhart just happens to be an undercover air marshal out to nab himself a corporate spy.

There’s lots of pretending, wish fulfillment and erotic fantasies in this one. So come on, get your game on, join Roxie and Dougal as they learn firsthand how dangerously fun it is to live their deepest fantasies.

Oh and while we’re at it, fess up. What was it you used to pretend to be when you were a kid?

Genevieve Ralston, the heroine in my October historical Blaze, TOUCH ME, collects artwork—everything from landscapes to sketches to framed poetry to portrait miniatures adorn the cream silk walls of her home. They say write what you know, and well, while I may not possess the laundry/housekeeping chromosome, I definitely have the collecting chromosome. Even as a kid, I always collected stuff. Coins. Rocks. Shells. Records. Stamps. Stuffed animals. And of course, books. I still have mychildhood set of Nancy Drew books (she made me want to be a detective), my Cherry Ames books (she made me want to be a nurse), my Vicki Barr books (she made me want to be a flight attendant—do you see a pattern here??!), and my Agatha Christie books (luckily she didn’t make me want to be a murderer ). I also loved Trixie Belden and the Penny Parrish series. If I had to pick a favorite, it would be my signed first edition of Pat Conroy’s The Prince of Tides—because not only is that my favorite books of all time, but he actually SPOKE to me when he signed the book! Of course, when he spoke to me, I totally forgot how to speak English and said something like, “blah, blah, yup, blah, blah.” ACK! I also have collections of dolls, Lladro (Spanish porcelains), art books, Depression glass, and Princess Diana books and stamps. I’ve heard someone say that if you have three of something, it’s considered a collection. Great. Like I wanted to collect cellulite dimples on my ass. NOT!

So…what are some of your favorite things (besides Blaze books )? What do you collect and why is it important to you? And does anyone know of a rehab facility for collectors—preferably one near a shell-filled beach and lots of antique shops?

Happy 60th Anniversary!

I never get tired of expressing that sentiment even though 2009 is winding down. It’s been a good year and we’ve had lots of fun celebrating with readers and authors. I really appreciate how many of you have been involved from writing special reader letters, giving away books or hosting a link to harlequincelebrates.com.

Thousands upon thousands of visitors have come to the site and I’m pleased to report that the Blaze book was extremely popular. That translates to many new readers looking for the Blaze series each month either on the bookshelf or online. It’s truly been a great sampling effort!

I’m just back from our Sales Conference in Montreal where we had a chance to sit down with the reps who make sure our books get out there month after month. No easy job in a year of recession and uncertainty but their hard work along with the 60th Anniversary momentum gave consumers lots of great books to enjoy.

Our Harlequin Teen program is also in-market and we had a sneak preview of all the wonderful upcoming titles. The Non-Fiction program was also presented and once again I’m excited how Harlequin has moved into a whole other world of books.

Blaze of course is always close to my heart and a big part of my world. Back in 2001 it was “my baby,” but I had to give her up a few years later. I know she’s in good hands with Brenda—and all of you. I can still claim to be a Blaze babe now and then. (But boy not sure I can write about vegetables the way you all do!)

I love my job these days as I get to hang out with not only the Blaze babes but all the great authors from American, Supers and Intrigue. Only the latter occasionally make me nervous as they know a lot of ways to kill people and don’t mind discussing it over lunch!

I’m looking forward to 2010, which for all of us in publishing, is well underway. We’ll be building on the excitement created by the 60th but also looking for new ways to reach readers. And as always we’re looking for the best books we can find to publish.

Have a good week and looking forward to chatting if you have time.

Hi Everybody,

Just so you know, this is my first blog. Not just here on the BlazeAuthors website, but anywhere. I know you’re gasping in shock. While I think the internet is a fine thing, with many nice bells and whistles, we don’t share an intimate relationship. I don’t even have a web page, which I understand is something close to sacrilege. No, wait. That’s a lie. I just remembered that I have an old web page that seriously needs to disappear. Something else for my To Do list. Anyway, I have some books I’m pretty excited about, and a little anecdote that made my day, so here I am!

First, the book news. Right now, TEXAS HEAT, my 3 in 1 Encounters, is in your stores! On your Internets! Perhaps even on your eReaders! (See, I’m not completely out of the loop)! It was an amazing adventure writing those three stories. They all take place on a big old ranch in West Texas during a giant 4th of July Celebration. The fireworks are not just in the sky, if you know what I mean. ::eye waggle:: The cool thing about the Encounters is that you can sneak in a quick love story almost any time. In the car, waiting to pick up the kids. In line. When you should be vacuuming. From what I’m hearing (no, not on twitter, I don’t tweet), the Encounters books are hitting the spot for readers on line and off. I sure love them!

Not only was it fun to write TEXAS HEAT, but I also left poor Kate in quite a pickle. So what’s a romance writer to do with a woman who needs some good lovin’? Write TEXAS BLAZE. Kate’s story is coming out this December, and I hate to give anything away, but she and Mitch? More fireworks. Seriously. Also cattle rustling. Surveillance. Bad guys. One really, REALLY good guy. And Texas. I don’t know about you, but I can’t get enough of those cowboys.

Which led me to a different kind of love story. Oh, it starts out in the same West Texas town, but sexy, delicious Jake doesn’t stay there for long. Well, it’s actually not a question of where he is, but WHEN. That’s right, LONE STAR LOVER is a Western Time-Travel! I can’t even tell you how much fun I had writing this book. Poor Jake is so confused. And lovely Rebecca doesn’t know what to make of him. Things heat up pretty quickly between them, though and whether it’s 2010 or 1877, Blaze heroes know just what to do when faced with a warm, willing woman. Look for LONE STAR LOVER in March, 2010!

And now for the anecdote. This just happened. Yesterday. For real.

You know how I mentioned I didn’t have an operational web site? Yeah. So I got an actual letter with paper and postage forwarded to me by Harlequin. A lovely lady said extremely nice things about my books (blush) and how she had every single one of them…except one. She’d lent it out, and it’s out of print, and did I, perhaps, have one she could buy? Altogether a sweet letter in every way. But then I got to the kicker that just made my day. The lovely lady? She’s 91+ years old! Needless to say, I’m sending her the book. I just hope when I’m 91+, I’m still reading Blazes and getting my romance on. Because that, my friends, is the way to live life to the fullest.

While I’m here (limited time offer, trust me) you guys have any questions? Have you been reading the Encounters books? How about the historical Blazes? What about the Time-Travel Blazes? I’d love to hear what you think! I promise, I’ll answer!

Love, Debbi

BLAZING the Trail with New Technology

I did my first ever podcast last week. Thrilling? Breathtaking? Terrifying? It turned out to be just like talking to my editor on the phone. Because I was talking to her on the phone. That’s how these things are done, apparently. She asked questions, I rambled on about my Blaze historical Make Me Yours, and, voilà, I podcasted!

Don’t even ask me what I said.

A writer friend asked me the same day if I had trouble in my first contemporary Blaze with using modern day technology in the story. What – as a historical writer, I’d be like a fish out of water with 21st century technology? Hello. I LIVE in the 21st century. Just because my imagination often “dallies” (forsooth!) in the old days doesn’t mean that’s the only place it is comfortable. I have plenty of current-day daydreams. I mean, I see every Jason Statham, Clive Owen, and Gerard Butler movie that comes along. (“The Ugly Truth” with Gerard and Kathryn Heigl. July 24th. Mark your calendars.)

Anyway, my first impulse was to say I didn’t use modern technology in it. Then I realized: I ended the danged story with a text message! Whoa. I’m a contemporary girl after all. Which started me thinking.
Technology changes, but human nature doesn’t. Well, not much. Which means we use today’s technology to help satisfy the same basic needs we’ve always had: feeding ourselves (online pizza ordering!), clothing and housing ourselves (online clothes ordering & apartment hunting!), communicating (e-mail, Facebook, texting, photo messaging, Skyp-ing, calling, & voice-mailing) and meeting our needs for (ahem) Community and Companionship (Chemistry.com, e-Harmony, Match.com. . . chats dedicated to bringing together like minded people. . . as well as “dating” and “escort” services and more hardcore connections.).

This started me wondering who made the first sexy telephone call. Who had the nerve to pick up a new-fangled telephone (one that was probably a party line) to pose a sexy come-on? Phones have been around since the 1880’s, you know. Yeah, that long. And people being people, I bet somebody in a bustle was getting her padding warmed via telephone waaaaay before 1899 became 1900. Who arranged the first assignation or affair via phone? Who made the first phone sex call? Some horny college boy to an obliging finishing school miss across town? Some philandering rich guy telling his light-o-love the coast was clear? When and where was the first “What are you wearing?” uttered?

Sigh. Lost in the mists of time, I’m afraid. But it just goes to show you that the good old days weren’t quite as up-tight and “Victorian” as we might think. When you think about it, phone calls are a very intimate kind of talk—the receiver pressed against you, the voice whispering in your ear.
(Note to self: include sexy telephone call in next historical!)

Much has been said about e-mails and texting and how intimate and personal they feel. People fall in love texting and IM-ing, meet and get married after a courtship of just e-mails. Know anybody who has met their “match” on the internet? Ever gone on to a dating site to check out the offerings? Hmmm?
Sooooo, when will that next historical be out? Next July. Working title Sin and Sensibility. (Yeah, that’ll change.) But my first contemporary Blaze will be out in February—a novella in the Valentine “Manhunting” anthology, with Joanne Rock and Lori Borrill.

So what do you think? Does technology help or hurt romance? What’s more your romantic techno-medium: telephone or an e-mail?

Let’s ratchet it up a notch. . . how does phone sex compare with the real thing? Do you think the intimacy and ease of using cell phone cameras makes for better romance or worse?

And do you remember hearing about “sex-ting” for the first time? Were you scandalized by the thought of teenagers sending each other provocative or nude pictures of themselves? Did you ever play slumber party “phone games” yourself? Do you remember flirting and experimenting with the phone the way kids do today with cell phones?

Talk to me—inquiring minds want to know!