trueromance

Sins of the Flesh, by Caridad Pieneiro
Setting: Jersey Shore, New Jersey
Subgenre: Paranormal Suspense
Hero: Mick Carrera
Heroine: Caterina Shaw

One sentence summary: Renowned cellist Caterina Shaw risks a experimental gene therapy to save her life, but soon finds herself something more than human and on the run, accused of a savage murder.

Scene you like most and would never cut: Toward the end of the novel, there is a scene where Caterina is pouring her heart out by playing the cello. Mick enters the room and is moved by the emotion in her music. He approaches and as she finishes, he moves away her cello so that Caterina can express her emotions through him instead.

Thing your heroine would never be caught dead doing/saying: “Oh darn, I broke my fingernail.”
Your hero, is he a boxer or brief kind of guy: Definitely a tidy whitey kind of guy. Why hide all that deliciousness with loose boxers?

Ancillary character you had the most fun with: Mick’s mom, Mariel, who thinks she can cure any ills by feeding someone the right food. Her philosophy and culinary skills are loosely based on my grandma, who was an amazing cook and could make you feel better by knowing just what dish to make for you.

Your heroine’s favorite hobby: Caterina hasn’t had much time for hobbies, but if she did, I think it would be cooking.

Your hero’s favorite hobby: Surfing. Although we don’t see this in the book, one of Mick’s reasons for having a home down the shore is so that he can surf and enjoy the beach all year round.

What you think readers will like best about this book: Believing at the end that love can conquer the most impossible of odds.

The person that readers want you to write about but you haven’t yet: Dr. Liliana Carrera, Mick’s younger sister.

What’s next: I just finished STRONGER THAN SIN (October 2010) which is the next book in the SINS series. The hero, Jesse Bradford, is an ex-football player with a bone disease that has prematurely ended his career. To be able to return to the game he loves, Jesse opts for a radical gene therapy and finds himself illegally genetically engineered. When Jesse is told that his sister may be ill with a more virulent form of the disease, he agrees to assist a black ops group in securing information from Caterina Shaw’s doctor. The black ops group is using the information to create genetically modified humans that can be sold for illegal activities. What Jesse doesn’t count on is falling for the determined and spirited physician. When his lies threaten their lives, Jesse will have to dig deep to find the righteous man he used to be to save those that he loves. I’m also at work on books 3 and 4 in the SINS series which will introduce nanotechnology and bionics into the mix!

Thank you so much for having me here to chat about SINS OF THE FLESH. One of the more fascinating things about writing the book was turning real life science, namely, genetic engineering, into something paranormal.

Genetically modified organisms have been in the news a lot lately and as I wrote SINS OF THE FLESH and STRONGER THAN SIN, one question kept on going through my head: “Just because we can do something, does that mean we should?” What do you think? Are scientists going too far by genetically altering viruses, plants, animals and even humans?

Randomly chosen winners who comment below will receive one of 5 copies of the book for review, and a t-shirts to go with it, size XL.-; Only residents of the U.S. or Canada are eligible to win-No P.O. Boxes