Got...ENSLAVED? Countdown to contest closing.

Hi Folks,

We're counting down to the finish on my end-of-summer Got...ENSLAVED contest. Just six more days before the contest closes on 9/1, so if you've seen ENSLAVED out and about, or elsewhere online, please email in.

"Alert readers" continue to email me their ENSLAVED sightings, including readers from other countries. Recently added to the list of early release sightings are Chapters book store in downtown Montreal and online at The Book Depository (www.bookdepository.co.uk).

:-) Hope

Latest ENSLAVED sighting...

Multiple copies of ENSLAVED (turned face-out, no less!) were sighted in the romance aisle of a Books-A-Million in Pensacola, Florida as of August 14th. Many thanks to Lucile for reporting in. Good luck, Lucile, in the end-of-summer Got...ENSLAVED Contest.

:) Hope

Got...ENSLAVED Contest Closes 9/1

With temperatures soaring, at least here in Virginia, it's hard to believe fall is right around the corner but it is. Soon school bells will once again be ringing and back packs will be filled with crisp new textbooks to be cracked open--and closed.

Along with those harbingers of autumn, my summer "Got...ENSLAVED? Contest" closes on 9/1. So, if you've happened upon one of the advance copies of the book, don't forget to drop me an email with "Got...ENSLAVED?" in the subject header to make things nice and simple. I'll add the location to my growing list and enter your name in the contest pool.

Hope

Got...ENSLAVED? Latest Sighting

Copies of ENSLAVED have been sighted most recently at the Barnes & Noble in Daytona Beach, Florida. Thanks to Lucile F for emailing the info. Lucile, good luck in the "Got...ENSLAVED?" summer contest.

Hope

Back from RWA in Dallas...

Hi All,

I'm finally rested up from the Romance Writers of America Conference held in Dallas and ready to dish. The conference kicked off on Wednesday evening with the Readers for Life Literacy autographing. Think 450 romance authors packed into the Hyatt's grand salon signing their books and chatting up readers. That was enough to steam up even the most Arctic air conditioned of rooms.

Instead of my normal slinking to the hotel bar post-signing for vino and fried munchies, I joined fellow authors Kathryn Caskie and Sophia Nash on a out-of-hotel foray to Cowboy Red River, a "real live Texas cowboy bar" complete with mechanical bull. Romance Novel TV came along for the proverbial ride, film crew in tow. Courage bouyed by a very large and very strong Texas style Margarita, Yours Truly climbed aboard the about-to-be bucking beast. Maybe it was the tequila, maybe it was the white Stetson borrowed from a cute cowboy called Ray, or maybe it was just my stubborn Irish pride, who knows, but bumps and bruises aside, I managed to hold my seat for the full eight seconds. For those of you tempted to remark that eight seconds isn't all that, I say this--Try It. ;)

That was, of course, only the first of my four days in Dallas. Other highlights include dancing to "Love Shack" at the Harlequin Party on Friday night with about-to-be Rita winner, Julia Quinn, dishing with RNTV emcee Sophia Nash on "the red carpet" at the Saturday night Golden Heart and Rita Awards ceremony and gala, and sipping champagne with Kathryn Caskie, Nocturne author, Pam Poulsen, and romantic suspense writer, Terri Ridgell in the Hyatt lobby lounge while the rest of the hotel guests evacuated in response to a (false) fire alarm--think the orchestra playing on the deck in "Titanic."

Okay, enuf about me. Anyone else go?

I'm sure I'm leaving out lots of fun times and events, but summarizing four action-packed and star-author studded days into a single post would make for one book length blog. That said, I hope you'll check back for pictures from the conference to be posted. In the meantime...

Happy Trails,

:-) Hope

Got ENSLAVED--latest sighting

Copies of ENSLAVED can be found at Barnes & Noble and Waldenbooks stores in Mesa, AZ. Thanks to Joy I of Mesa, AZ for emailing the information.

Got (a copy of) ENSLAVED? Email me the store name and location with "Got ENSLAVED?" in the email subject header, and you'll be automatically entered in my special summertime contest. The winner will be announced in early September.

And please check back in a day or so for the dish--garnished with the occassional "naughty bit"--from the Romance Writers of America conference in Dallas.

Hope

Off to RWA...

Just a quick note before I dash off to Dallas for this year's Romance Writers of America conference. Each year, the RWA conference kicks off with a multi-author (think 450-strong) Readers for Life Literacy autographing, the proceeds benefiting a major literacy-related charity housed in the host city. While the conference programs are for registered attendees only, the book signing is open to the public and heavily publicized. I'll be signing copies of VANQUISHED as well as THE HAUNTING and chatting with readers, fellow authors, and media in the Hyatt grand ballroom.

In between "work," there will be publisher parties galore as well as some hours logged in the lobby lounge sipping wine, eating far too many bar munchies, and catching up with writer friends I only get to see a few times a year. The conference wraps with the Awards Ceremony and gala on Saturday where everyone puts on the Ritz to celebrate the Rita and Golden Heart winners (and console the other finalists) with champagne and chocolate. :)

At some point during the conference, I'll be blogging from the RWA media room set up in the conference hotel. To read the blog in progress, go to rwanational.org after Wednesday and follow the links.

Once I'm back, I'll be posting pictures and tasty tidbits from the conference week. Also on the horizon is my blog on "Hope and Susan's Excellent Adventure," a post-Independence Day roadtrip to Roanoke, WV and Blacksburg, VA with my buddy, Susan. (Hint: If Susan lets me, there may even be a pic posted from that adventure, too).

In the interim,

Happy Trails--and Happy Reading,

Hope