Author Spotlight: Hope Tarr

A lifelong romance reader, Hope Tarr dreamt of being a writer ever since she first touched the bright orange keys of her Fisher Price typewriter. That dream has weathered a master's degree in psychology and a Ph.D. in education, as well as a seven-year stint as a research consultant in Washington, D.C. One day in 1993 after writing one too many technical reports, she sat herself down to face the cold, hard truth: she didn't want to analyze people or teach them. What she wanted was to write about them!

Setting is an important aspect of Hope's books. It's A Wonderfully Sexy Life (Harlequin Blaze, December 2006), Hope's Blaze debut, takes place in her native Baltimore, Maryland, home to steamed hard-shell crabs, neighborhood enclaves like Little Italy and Highland Town, and wonderfully quirky characters who hail strangers and friends alike as "Hey, hon."

For more than five years Hope lived in Fredericksburg, Virginia, and the downtown historic district served as the setting for her paranormal romance, The Haunting. Hope's heroine, Dr. Maggie Holliday, just happens to buy a historic house that looks a heck of a lot like her creator's former turn-of-the-century Victorian.

A second-chance-at-love story set in New York City and Belize, Every Breath You Take is the first book to be written from Hope's new home: Manhattan. In the style of Candace Bushnell's Sex and the City, the novel offers a rich panorama of Hope's favorite spots—Union Square, The Strand bookstore, The Roosevelt Hotel and Sardi's.

Hope adores chatting with readers. She is a frequent guest blogger on romance-fiction forums, maintains an active presence on social networking sites such as Facebook and posts regularly to her author blog at www.hopetarr.com, where she also runs monthly and special contests.

The reviews of two of Hope's re-released novels from Carina Press follow this spotlight. Please take the time to look them over. They are both excellent historical romances that are really good reads.