Ex Libris

Hi Folks! First off, many thanks for having me here as a guest to chat about , the second novel in my Suddenly Cinderella Series of contemporary fairytale themed romances for Entangled Publishing. Below is a brief bit about the book.

Internationally famous fashion photographer, Francesca St. James (Ross’s ex from ) gets considerably more than she bargained for when she leaves New York for Los Angeles to join the cast of a newly launched reality TV show as a fashion coach. “Project Cinderella” aims to remake fashion frogs into styling Cinderella princes and princesses. Silicon Valley CEO Contestant Gregory Knickerbocker is a geek with a heart of gold, a six-foot three leanly-muscled hunk in need of a mercy makeover. Fortunately Francesca loves nothing more than a challenge and serving as Greg’s “fashion fairy god mentor” promises to be that and then some. Can a pair of vintage Saks Fifth Avenue red slippers help her look beyond Greg’s center-parted hair and gray hoodies to the Prince Charming that lies beneath?

I thought it might be fun to catch up with a secondary character from the series, in this case Samantha—Sam—Mannon, teenage daughter of Ross () and Francesca (). Ordinarily Sam is very cagey about whom she shows her diary to, but given that I’m her creator, she’s kindly entrusted me with a few carefully selected entries.

February 14, 2012
New York, NY
Dear Diary:
Valentine’s Day sucks. As if not having a boyfriend isn’t crap-tastic enough, my mom won’t let me go to the Valentine’s party at NYU. She says I’m too young for college boys—and yet she’s been dating Freddie AKA Evil Freddie, a sous chef in his twenties. She is soooo freakin’ unfair.

February 14, 2013
Washington, DC
Dear Diary:
Valentine’s Day still sucks though not as bad as last year. Now I’m living with my dad and his new wife, Macie in DC. Dad’s even stricter than mom—a lot stricter—but Macie’s pretty cool, so I guess it balances out. I’m still not allowed to go to college parties, so Macie came up with a compromise—I can have a few friends over to the apartment tonight. And bonus: mom told me she gave Evil Freddie the shaft. Things are definitely looking up…

February 28, 2013
Washington, DC
Dear Diary:
B-i-g news! Mom left me a voice message saying she’d signed up to be a “celebrity” coach on a new reality TV show, Project…Cinderella (I think). The show basically takes losers, or at least fashion freaks, and turns them into styling swans.

But, get this, being on the show means she’s going out to Los Angeles for eight weeks. California’s like…the other side of the country. Even though I decided to live with Dad and Macie instead of her, I feel kind of… left behind. I mean, what if she decides she likes LA so much, she wants to live there all the time? She asked me to call her back but I’m not going, not for a while…

March 15, 2013
Washington, DC (yes, still, but at least spring’s coming)
Dear Diary:
So mom has called like ten more times, but I’m still not answering. I did send her a couple of text messages so she wouldn’t totally freak, but that’s all she gets. She says she only took the reality TV job so she could make more money, enough to take off the summer and spend it with me versus being a fashion photographer and having to fly all over the freakin’ world. Knowing mom, though, if I say yes to summer vacay, she’ll drag me all over the freakin’ planet. All I really want to do is hang out at home like we used to. Why doesn’t she get that!

April 1, 2013
Washington, DC – April Fool’s!
Dear Diary:
Okay, so my dad got on my case so bad, I finally broke down and called Mom out in LA. I keep forgetting about the three hour time difference, so I guess it was kind of late. I finally told her I wouldn’t be spending the summer with her—I do have a life, you know—but I could probably come up to NYC for a week. She sounded pretty let down but more than that, she sounded like…like maybe she wasn’t alone. I wonder who the latest loser is?

April, 14, 2013
Washington, DC – Cherry Blossom Season, yay!
Dear Diary:
More intel on the Mom frontage—the Latest Loser is Gregory Knickerbocker only he’s not a loser at all! Mom confessed that she’s seeing him and made me promise to keep it a secret for now. Because of some crappy clause in their contracts, they’re not allowed to see each other off set. If they’re caught, they’ll be fired from the show. I thought the guy’s name sounded familiar, so I Googled him and guess what!?! He’s the founder of Cloud Flyer, the cool new social media site my friends and me are always on. Go, Mom!

July 20, 2013:
New York, NY – Big Apple, how I’ve missed you!
Dear Diary:
So Mom’s back from LA. She has to go there again for a few days at the end of the month to film the final episode, but that’s it. Breaking news—we made up! I told her I was sorry about being such a biyatch and that I’d spend the summer with her provided she promised, absolutely swore, not to drag me from airport-to-airport like we’re on some kind of vacation Trail of Tears. (Macie is turning me into a history geek, can you tell?) Anyway, we’re having a really great time hanging out in the city. Mom keeps saying how happy she is to have me with her, but she seems sad a lot, too. I feel like it has something to do with Greg. She never mentions him anymore—but ever since LA, she’s been really into ABBA!


July 30, 2013
The Outer Banks, NC – The beach at last, thank you, God!)
Dear Diary:
So Mom’s “few days” in LA has turned into more than a week and Mr. Knickerbocker—Greg—is definitely the reason why. She sounded so happy the other night when she called, I couldn’t help being happy for her, too. She says she wants me to meet Greg as soon as possible, that he’s her…soul mate. I’ve never heard her talk that way before, never! She handed over the phone so I could talk to him for a couple of minutes and, you know what, he seems really cool. They’re going to visit me in DC before I start back to school. And you know, I think it’s going to be really good. Better than good, I think Mom’s finally scored her Happily Ever After. It’s about time!

Thank you, Sam! I hope readers will love Sam’s mom, Francesca and Greg as much as I do. And, if you enjoy , please check out my previous Suddenly Cinderella releases: (Macie and Ross’s story as well as Sam’s debut) and the in-series novella, (Starr and Matt’s story).

Hope Tarr is the award-winning author of twenty historical and contemporary romance novels including , Book #2 in her Suddenly Cinderella Series of contemporary fairy-tale themed romance novels. Hope is also a co-founder and current principal of Lady Jane’s Salon™, New York City’s first and so far only monthly romance fiction reading series now with five satellites nationwide. 

Connect with Hope at her website -  -  - Goodreads

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