We are very happy to welcome author Jeanette Grey here at Book Lovers Inc today. Her new science fiction romance, Unaccetable Risk released this week and it completely blew me away (review will be up later today). It’s an action-packed and heartbreakingly good story, you really shouldn’t miss out on this one. Jeanette offered to answer some of our questions about her new book and she also has a prize for one lucky commenter. So take a cup of tea or coffee and enjoy the journey into the world of Plix and Edison. 

Susi: Jeanette can you please tell us a bit about yourself?

Jeanette: Sure! I’m a thirty-something woman. I write erotic contemporary romances and futuristic romances. I’m a former teacher, a science and art enthusiast, an amateur potter, and I live in North Carolina with my husband and my pet frog.

Susi: Describe a typical day of writing? Are you a planner or pantser?

Jeanette: The first thing people need to know about me is that I’m nocturnal when I’m writing. I typically get up at the crack of noon and do some editing until it’s time to deal with the real world. I sometimes sneak in some writing time in the afternoon or evening, but usually I get cranking about when my husband goes to sleep. Then it’s all writing all the time from about ten at night until three or four in the morning.

As far as being a planner or a pantser, I’d say somewhere in between? When a story idea occurs to me, I usually sketch out a half-page or two of hand-written notes (in pencil), including character names, motivations, and basic plot points. I’ll expand on the “outline” as I go, but from there, I let the story flow, and I never cease to be surprised about where things end up.

Susi: What do you think is the difference between a reader and a real Book Lover?

Jeanette: Readers pick up a book or an article to pass the time. A Book Lover lives for the time she gets to spend inside the worlds in her books.

Susi: Your new release, Unacceptable Risk is set in a very fascinating and intriguing science fiction world. Tell us a bit about the setting? What makes your world stand out?

Jeanette: Unacceptable Risk imagines a not-too-distant future where corporate greed and technology have grown completely out of control. There’s been a breakdown in government, and big companies are free to do whatever they want, including releasing toxins into the water and silencing dissent. The current trend of being completely connected all the time with cell phones and tablets has continued to the point where people build those connections into their brains.

I think it stands out because it tries to extrapolate how seemingly innocuous things happening in our own world could spiral out of control.

Susi: In your world people are able to enhance their bodies. How does this work and what is possible? Are there any physical or moral boundaries they wouldn’t cross?

Jeanette: Technology has advanced to where circuitry can be meshed with nerves and muscle tissue, allowing basically any part of the body to be replaced or enhanced. A reputable tuner like Edison consults with the people who want to have work done and makes sure it’s something the person understands the consequences of. He would absolutely have standards and refuse to do any procedures that impaired a person’s health or longevity or that he felt would be used for evil.

In an unregulated society like this one, though, a lot of cybernetic modifications are ‘after market.’ The people who perform those sorts of alterations would do so without scruples.

Susi: If you could enhance yourself- what would you do?

Jeanette: It’s hard to say, since our world it so different in its values and mores. I’d love to fix my creaky knees. And considering how addicted I am to my internet connection, I’m sure I’d have the dataport in the back of my neck and the satellite hookup in my brain like Plix does.

Susi: Can you give us a short summary of Unacceptable Risk?

Jeanette: Can I cheat and give you the blurb?

Plix spends her lonely, gritty life trying to solve the mysteries her father left behind. Armed with a variety of cybernetic enhancements and a talent for getting into places she shouldn’t be, she searches for clues to his murder—and who’s responsible for poisoning her city.

Waking up on a street corner with her brain wiring fried to a crisp, she figures she must have gotten close this time. There’s only one man she trusts to pull her back from the brink: a tuner who can retrieve the evidence hidden deep in the recesses of her mind. A man she dares not let too close to her heart.

When Edison downloads a secret SynDate schematic from Plix’s burnt-out circuitry, he knows with dreadful finality that nothing—not even the fiery kiss he’s been holding back for years—will stop her from pursuing her quest past the point of insanity.

All he can do, as he helps her plan her final mission, is ease her pain, watch her back…and hope one of them doesn’t pay with their lives.

Susi: Your heroine Plix is a very mysterious character. While reading we are slowly getting to know her page by page. I don’t want to spoil this process but how would you summarize her in 5 words?

Jeanette: Fierce. Driven. Isolated. Needing love.

Susi: Edison is a tuner and one of those people who actually perform the enhancements of the human body. What is such a life like? How did he came to be what he is?

Jeanette: His life is somewhere between a doctor and a mechanic, with a lot more danger to it. He runs a storefront with a workroom and an operating room attached to it, and in a given day he could do basic tuneups on an artificial leg or completely rewire someone’s brain. Because his clients come from all walks of life – some respectable and some not – he has to be very careful who he deals with and how he deals with them.

As for how he came to be a tuner, Edison was one of those people that loves to take things apart and then put them back together. He did well in science and had a natural way with computers and circuitry. In this world, tuners are sort of like really advanced hackers, so he was fairly self-taught beyond that. He apprenticed with another tuner and learned the ins and outs from him.

Susi: Which 4 characteristics should your perfect hero call his own and does Edison fit that bill?

Jeanette: My perfect hero would be intelligent, confident, loyal, and ready to give anything for the person he loved. Edison meets those criteria in spades.

Susi: In Unacceptable Risk you created a highly emotional and compelling story. What do you think is the most important element to make a story this tangible for the reader?

Jeanette: Thank you! From a writer’s point of view, I think it’s all about immersing yourself completely in the characters and the story. That kind of intensity can’t help but come across on the page.

Susi: I saw that you also wrote a free holiday prequel for Unacceptable Risk. Tell us about us and well I’m sure our readers would love to have the link to it. 😉

Jeanette: Fellow sci-fi romance writer Jessica E. Subject was running a holiday event, where she invited authors to write a short holiday-related story using the characters from one of their books. The story I wrote shows a glimpse of Plix and Edison from about a year before the beginning of Unacceptable Risk, and I hope it provides some insight to their relationship before the events of the novella.

It’s available on Jessica’s website at Mark of the Stars.

Susi: I read on your website that you also write m/m romance. I myself have a soft spot for those. Why do you think are these stories so appealing to woman?

Jeanette: I am a huge fan of M/M romances. They appeal to me on so many levels. One, how sexy is it to have more than one man in a love scene? Two, as a lover of angsty romances, I feel there’s a certain inherent tension to M/M romance novels because that sort of relationship is still not completely accepted in some parts of society. The characters have often spent time struggling with themselves, who they are, and how they are perceived. Three, I adore a good beta hero who can be emotionally vulnerable. Unlike the alpha-male dominated M/F world, I think there’s more room in M/M romances for male characters to show that kind of depth.

Susi: What is next on your schedule?

Jeanette: I have a few works in progress, including a novel-length erotic contemporary romance that’s in the editing stages and another cyberpunk story that I’ve only just started writing. I love having a couple different projects in different genres and at different stages to work on. It helps keep everything fresh.

Susi: Now the mean questions- I apologize in advance. Star Wars or Star Trek?

Jeanette: Ouch. Star Trek. I think.

Susi: Give us 3 reasons why people should read your books?

Jeanette: They feature real people with real flaws. They tell sexy, high-stakes love stories. And they have a unique voice.

Susi: Can you summarize Unacceptable Risk for us twitterstyle (140 characters or less)?

Jeanette: Plix’s mission in life is to save the world; Edison’s is to save her. Little do they know, they’re both so much stronger together.

Susi: And the meanest question of all: if you were me, what would you ask as the final question and please feel free to answer!

Jeanette: A pet frog? Really? Why a frog?

Why not a frog? They’re adorable, they’re emblematic of handsome, rich heroes with scattered pasts and not-so-easy-to-love exteriors, and you don’t need to walk them.

Furthermore, Kermit the Frog was my first true love. He’s been my imaginary boyfriend since I was five, and I’ve adored frogs ever since.

About Unacceptable Risk:

Plix spends her lonely, gritty life trying to solve the mysteries her father left behind. Armed with a variety of cybernetic enhancements and a talent for getting into places she shouldn’t be, she searches for clues to his murder—and who’s responsible for poisoning her city.
Waking up on a street corner with her brain wiring fried to a crisp, she figures she must have gotten close this time. There’s only one man she trusts to pull her back from the brink: a tuner who can retrieve the evidence hidden deep in the recesses of her mind. A man she dares not let too close to her heart.
When Edison downloads a secret SynDate schematic from Plix’s burnt-out circuitry, he knows with dreadful finality that nothing—not even the fiery kiss he’s been holding back for years—will stop her from pursuing her quest past the point of insanity.
All he can do, as he helps her plan her final mission, is ease her pain, watch her back…and hope one of them doesn’t pay with their lives.

Amazon, Barnes & Noble, All Romance eBooks,Samhain Store

About Jeanette Grey:

After brief, unsatisfying careers in advertising, teaching, computers, and homemaking, Jeanette Grey has returned to her two first loves: romance and writing.
When she isn’t writing, Jeanette enjoys making pottery, playing board games, and spending time with her husband and her pet frog. She lives, loves, and writes in North Carolina.
She is a member of Romance Writers of America and Carolina Romance Writers.
Website, Twitter, Facebook, GoodReads

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~*~*Giveaway*~*~

Jeanette has generously offered an ebook  copy of Unacceptable Risk to a lucky commenter!

All you have to do is tell us what YOU would have asked Jeanette as the last question of the interview.
(You can read our full giveaway policy here)

Please leave a valid email when placing your comment so we can inform you if you win.

This giveaway is open to all.

Giveaway ends on Saturday, January 7, 2012; we will announce the winner on Sunday.

Good luck!

About Susi

Susi is a geeky vegetarian from Gemany. She just finished university and now works as a civil engineer in steel construction. Besides her reading addiction she also knits like a maniac while listening to audiobooks. Susi also blogs at the Secret HEA Society.

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