Heather Hallman's Blog
February 10, 2023
Valentine's Day in Japan
Valentine’s Day in Japan
Things are done a bit differently here on Love Day.💞
In Japan, only girls/women give presents, almost always chocolates of some kind, and only to boys/men. They give honmei (love) chocolates to their loves and, hopefully, soon-to-be loves. (These can be women loves, too!) Oftentimes, these confections are homemade. If you’re on the receiving end of homemade truffles, you’re a pretty big deal.
Women also give kazoku (family) chocolates to fathers and brothers, and giri (obligation) chocolates to bosses, coworkers, and friends/acquaintances. Mostly, these aren’t homemade, and women will spend between $2 and $10 on these boxed chocolates.
A month later, March 14, is White Day. That’s when boys/men return the favor. Isn’t that convenient for them? They get to see who gives them chocolates first, so they don’t have to make the first move. The downside? They have to ascertain how much each woman spent on her chocolates and return in kind if not a bit more. So, it can get expensive for the men.
Women give about thirteen chocolates a year, one to the lover, one or two to the family, and the rest to their obligations. Most people I know think Valentine’s Day and White Day are expensive and tedious. Save for the love chocolates.💞
In book news…
Talk of Tokyo is on sale for 99cents for only a few more days. Sale ends on Valentine’s Day. You can order Talk of Tokyo from Amazon, Apple Books, and Kobo.
The series prequel, Scandals of Tokyo (a novelette), is always 99cents. You can order Scandals of Tokyo from Amazon, Apple Books, and Kobo.
Toast of Tokyo, the third book in the Tokyo Whispers series, is out now. Check out the fantastic cover and learn more about Marcelle and Nobu on Goodreads.
Hope you have a lovely Love Day!!!
Heather
Things are done a bit differently here on Love Day.💞
In Japan, only girls/women give presents, almost always chocolates of some kind, and only to boys/men. They give honmei (love) chocolates to their loves and, hopefully, soon-to-be loves. (These can be women loves, too!) Oftentimes, these confections are homemade. If you’re on the receiving end of homemade truffles, you’re a pretty big deal.
Women also give kazoku (family) chocolates to fathers and brothers, and giri (obligation) chocolates to bosses, coworkers, and friends/acquaintances. Mostly, these aren’t homemade, and women will spend between $2 and $10 on these boxed chocolates.
A month later, March 14, is White Day. That’s when boys/men return the favor. Isn’t that convenient for them? They get to see who gives them chocolates first, so they don’t have to make the first move. The downside? They have to ascertain how much each woman spent on her chocolates and return in kind if not a bit more. So, it can get expensive for the men.
Women give about thirteen chocolates a year, one to the lover, one or two to the family, and the rest to their obligations. Most people I know think Valentine’s Day and White Day are expensive and tedious. Save for the love chocolates.💞
In book news…
Talk of Tokyo is on sale for 99cents for only a few more days. Sale ends on Valentine’s Day. You can order Talk of Tokyo from Amazon, Apple Books, and Kobo.
The series prequel, Scandals of Tokyo (a novelette), is always 99cents. You can order Scandals of Tokyo from Amazon, Apple Books, and Kobo.
Toast of Tokyo, the third book in the Tokyo Whispers series, is out now. Check out the fantastic cover and learn more about Marcelle and Nobu on Goodreads.
Hope you have a lovely Love Day!!!
Heather
October 9, 2022
October News. The Big Kind.
Autumn greetings from Tokyo!
Big news… a New Cover for Talk of Tokyo
As much as I love the gorgeous cover we’ve been using, I think the new cover is going to capture the historical moment and the characters much better. I’ll send out an announcement when it’s ready.
Bigger news… a Cover for Toast of Tokyo
Toast of Tokyo, the next book in the Tokyo Whispers series, is getting its cover this month because…
Biggest news… Toast of Tokyo will be released October 27
A little taste:
Japan, 1900: As the owner of La France Boutique, Marcelle fights to be one of the finest French dressmakers in Tokyo, yet when Nobuyuki Koide opens his stylish new department store, Marcelle’s sure that behind all his traditional Japanese charm and entrepreneurial skill lurks a design thief who’s playing dirty and intends to unravel everything she’s worked for.
I have lots more news about sales and pre-orders forthcoming.
Wishing you a lovely October,
Heather
PS: October is chrysanthemum season in Japan. The chrysanthemum is the imperial flower of Japan. It’s on the 50-yen coin. It’s the flower used to pay respects to ancestors, and it symbolizes timelessness.
PPS: My short story, Sweets and Spirits Ball, is in Eve of Love: A Hearts Through History New Year Anthology. It's available on Amazon.
Sweets and Spirits Ball
American Civil War veteran Oliver Collingsworth has spent 1872 performing engineering feats in Tokyo’s foreign quarter and biding his time to tell witty, captivating Lydia Wright of his longstanding affection.
Lydia has tasted blissful freedom since her missionary parents left Tokyo, and she has no intention of giving it up. The foreign quarter’s matchmaker has found Lydia the perfect candidate for a practical union that will ensure her continued independence.
But he’s no Oliver.
She ought to be prudent and welcome in the new year alongside her betrothed. But Lydia’s freedom has gone to her head, and in Tokyo’s foreign quarter, a heady sense of freedom can wreak havoc on even the best-laid plans.
Big news… a New Cover for Talk of Tokyo
As much as I love the gorgeous cover we’ve been using, I think the new cover is going to capture the historical moment and the characters much better. I’ll send out an announcement when it’s ready.
Bigger news… a Cover for Toast of Tokyo
Toast of Tokyo, the next book in the Tokyo Whispers series, is getting its cover this month because…
Biggest news… Toast of Tokyo will be released October 27
A little taste:
Japan, 1900: As the owner of La France Boutique, Marcelle fights to be one of the finest French dressmakers in Tokyo, yet when Nobuyuki Koide opens his stylish new department store, Marcelle’s sure that behind all his traditional Japanese charm and entrepreneurial skill lurks a design thief who’s playing dirty and intends to unravel everything she’s worked for.
I have lots more news about sales and pre-orders forthcoming.
Wishing you a lovely October,
Heather
PS: October is chrysanthemum season in Japan. The chrysanthemum is the imperial flower of Japan. It’s on the 50-yen coin. It’s the flower used to pay respects to ancestors, and it symbolizes timelessness.
PPS: My short story, Sweets and Spirits Ball, is in Eve of Love: A Hearts Through History New Year Anthology. It's available on Amazon.
Sweets and Spirits Ball
American Civil War veteran Oliver Collingsworth has spent 1872 performing engineering feats in Tokyo’s foreign quarter and biding his time to tell witty, captivating Lydia Wright of his longstanding affection.
Lydia has tasted blissful freedom since her missionary parents left Tokyo, and she has no intention of giving it up. The foreign quarter’s matchmaker has found Lydia the perfect candidate for a practical union that will ensure her continued independence.
But he’s no Oliver.
She ought to be prudent and welcome in the new year alongside her betrothed. But Lydia’s freedom has gone to her head, and in Tokyo’s foreign quarter, a heady sense of freedom can wreak havoc on even the best-laid plans.
July 18, 2022
Summertime in Tokyo
Greetings from Tokyo!
Hope you’re doing well and not suffering the summer heat.
We’re coming to the end of a very unusual rainy season in Tokyo. Typically, the rainy season begins in the second week of June and lasts through the third week of July. It rains every day, often in sudden downpours.
This year the rainy season began as scheduled but soon gave way to a two-and-a-half-week, record-breaking heatwave.
To combat the heat, we took a trip to Atami, a seaside town on the Izu Peninsula. If you’d like any recommendations in the area, let me know. See https://www.heatherhallman.com/life-i... for a picture.
For the past two weeks, however, it’s been raining, and the rainy season seems to be concluding as it always does in the third week of July. Next up, the heat and bugs of August. The bugs are actually quite charming in a big-silly-bug kind of way, some of them at least.
I recently finished a manuscript, Toast of Tokyo (title pending), the third book in the Tokyo Whispers series. The main characters are Marcelle Renaud, a French modiste with a boutique on Tokyo’s glamorous Ginza Boulevard, and Shige Koide, owner of Tokyo’s first department store.
The story, set in 1900, touches on a lot of my favorite turn-of-the-twentieth-century trends: the department store as a feature of urban life, astronomical art, lovers’ inns, Gilded Age culture, ready-to-wear fashion, colonial resistance, lovers’ inns, the shifting social relevance of the nobility, silent films, the social impact of the sewing machine (looking at you, Singer), lovers’ inns, engineering advances in rail travel, and outdoor modeling promenades.
I may have mentioned lovers’ inns. These don’t exactly qualify as a turn-of-the-century trend, but with Marcelle and Shige’s chemistry, it feels like they’re trending.
How are you beating the summer heat? Let me know if you have a chance.
Wishing you happy summer reading,
Heather
Hope you’re doing well and not suffering the summer heat.
We’re coming to the end of a very unusual rainy season in Tokyo. Typically, the rainy season begins in the second week of June and lasts through the third week of July. It rains every day, often in sudden downpours.
This year the rainy season began as scheduled but soon gave way to a two-and-a-half-week, record-breaking heatwave.
To combat the heat, we took a trip to Atami, a seaside town on the Izu Peninsula. If you’d like any recommendations in the area, let me know. See https://www.heatherhallman.com/life-i... for a picture.
For the past two weeks, however, it’s been raining, and the rainy season seems to be concluding as it always does in the third week of July. Next up, the heat and bugs of August. The bugs are actually quite charming in a big-silly-bug kind of way, some of them at least.
I recently finished a manuscript, Toast of Tokyo (title pending), the third book in the Tokyo Whispers series. The main characters are Marcelle Renaud, a French modiste with a boutique on Tokyo’s glamorous Ginza Boulevard, and Shige Koide, owner of Tokyo’s first department store.
The story, set in 1900, touches on a lot of my favorite turn-of-the-twentieth-century trends: the department store as a feature of urban life, astronomical art, lovers’ inns, Gilded Age culture, ready-to-wear fashion, colonial resistance, lovers’ inns, the shifting social relevance of the nobility, silent films, the social impact of the sewing machine (looking at you, Singer), lovers’ inns, engineering advances in rail travel, and outdoor modeling promenades.
I may have mentioned lovers’ inns. These don’t exactly qualify as a turn-of-the-century trend, but with Marcelle and Shige’s chemistry, it feels like they’re trending.
How are you beating the summer heat? Let me know if you have a chance.
Wishing you happy summer reading,
Heather
April 4, 2022
Greetings from cherry blossom season in Tokyo 🌸🌸🌸
It’s been a while since I sent out a newsletter. I mean to send one every month, but this year got off to a rocky start, culminating in an emotionally exhausting, crazy-busy March.
Spring break in Japan occurs between school years. The final semester ends in March and the new school year begins in the first week of April. This year the dates worked out to leave only 12 days of break for multiple ballet rehearsals and recitals, a special gymnastics class, a few park outings (can’t miss those blossoms 😅), and going through all the preparations for the new school year. And my husband’s movement disorder (dystonia) necessitated an operation (baclofen pump insertion), which put him in the hospital for half of the month. Oh, March, let’s not do 2022 again.
But I was able to start and finish a contribution for a New Year historical romance anthology scheduled for publication this November. Mine is the short story of a talkative heroine and shy hero with a long-standing mutual crush. Against the backdrop of Tokyo’s Sweets and Spirits ball, they finally connect, and, wow, the sparks! The kisses!
This story takes place in 1872 about a decade after Japan lifted its 250-year ban on foreign residents and a few years after foreigners were given reclaimed land in Tokyo to build the foreign quarter of Tsukiji. In the space of those few years, the foreign community put up hotels, churches, schools, and a neighborhood of homes. They set Tsukiji on course to resemble a London or Boston suburb, which was how visitors for decades to come would describe the foreign quarter.
Now, I’m tweaking the second installment of the Tokyo Whispers series. This one takes place in 1900. It’s the love story of Marcelle, lady’s maid turned modiste, from Talk of Tokyo and Shige, an overseas Japanese who returns to Tokyo to open Japan’s first department store and marry an aristocratic Japanese woman of his mother’s choosing. Spoiler alert: mother is not pleased.
I’m also thinking about romance tropes for future books. What tropes do you like? Which ones can’t you stand?
My favorites in historical romance are enemies to lovers, bluestockings, marriage of convenience, forced proximity, and second chance. I’m not a big fan of secret baby, secret/unknown nobility, and age gap. Looking forward to hearing yours! You can email me at heather@heatherhallman.com 💖
Also, please don’t forget to leave reviews for Talk of Tokyo and Scandals of Tokyo. Even just the star(s) would be fine. Reviews give authors a way to gauge a book’s reception and guide other readers to books. Thanks if you’ve already left a review. You can leave reviews on Goodreads, BookBub, and online retailers like Amazon.
Wishing you a beautiful, petal-filled spring,
Heather
For the full post with a local cherry blossom picture, see here: https://www.heatherhallman.com/life-i...
Spring break in Japan occurs between school years. The final semester ends in March and the new school year begins in the first week of April. This year the dates worked out to leave only 12 days of break for multiple ballet rehearsals and recitals, a special gymnastics class, a few park outings (can’t miss those blossoms 😅), and going through all the preparations for the new school year. And my husband’s movement disorder (dystonia) necessitated an operation (baclofen pump insertion), which put him in the hospital for half of the month. Oh, March, let’s not do 2022 again.
But I was able to start and finish a contribution for a New Year historical romance anthology scheduled for publication this November. Mine is the short story of a talkative heroine and shy hero with a long-standing mutual crush. Against the backdrop of Tokyo’s Sweets and Spirits ball, they finally connect, and, wow, the sparks! The kisses!
This story takes place in 1872 about a decade after Japan lifted its 250-year ban on foreign residents and a few years after foreigners were given reclaimed land in Tokyo to build the foreign quarter of Tsukiji. In the space of those few years, the foreign community put up hotels, churches, schools, and a neighborhood of homes. They set Tsukiji on course to resemble a London or Boston suburb, which was how visitors for decades to come would describe the foreign quarter.
Now, I’m tweaking the second installment of the Tokyo Whispers series. This one takes place in 1900. It’s the love story of Marcelle, lady’s maid turned modiste, from Talk of Tokyo and Shige, an overseas Japanese who returns to Tokyo to open Japan’s first department store and marry an aristocratic Japanese woman of his mother’s choosing. Spoiler alert: mother is not pleased.
I’m also thinking about romance tropes for future books. What tropes do you like? Which ones can’t you stand?
My favorites in historical romance are enemies to lovers, bluestockings, marriage of convenience, forced proximity, and second chance. I’m not a big fan of secret baby, secret/unknown nobility, and age gap. Looking forward to hearing yours! You can email me at heather@heatherhallman.com 💖
Also, please don’t forget to leave reviews for Talk of Tokyo and Scandals of Tokyo. Even just the star(s) would be fine. Reviews give authors a way to gauge a book’s reception and guide other readers to books. Thanks if you’ve already left a review. You can leave reviews on Goodreads, BookBub, and online retailers like Amazon.
Wishing you a beautiful, petal-filled spring,
Heather
For the full post with a local cherry blossom picture, see here: https://www.heatherhallman.com/life-i...
