Welcome to Thank You Thursday, where I invite an author to answer a few questions about his/her book’s dedication and acknowledgements. I LOVE reading these little snippets at the beginning of books and often wonder about the story behind them. So I decided to ask.
Today, I’m thrilled to welcome NY Times Bestselling author Caridad Pineiro. Although we both wrote vampire stories for the anthology A Vampire For Christmas and went on a mini-blog tour together, we had never met in person until the RT Booklovers’ Convention last year. Besides being wickedly talented and smart, she’s just as gracious and charming in person as she is online. When I heard she had a new book coming out, I invited her to my little neck of the internet for a couple of questions.
Entangled, 2012
1. In the acknowledgements of THE PRINCE’S GAMBLE, you congratulate your daughter Samantha. Can you tell us more about that?
My mom always told me that anything was possible if you worked hard enough and I tried to instill that same idea in my daughter. Earlier this year, just after finishing her MBA, the opportunity arose for my daughter to take over a surf and skate shop in Ocean Grove, NJ. It was something we all sat down and discussed, but we knew she would work hard for this since it has been her lifelong dream to own her own shop. We are very proud of her for taking this risk and for working so hard to achieve success.
2. Was there anyone who helped you when you researched a plot detail? If so, who is it and what did you learn?
I guess you can say several people helped with the research, namely, my friends who did a Las Vegas writing weekend with me and my mother-in-law, whom I’ve driven to Atlantic City on many an occasion. Those trips inspired the story line for THE PRINCE’S GAMBLE and being able to visit the casinos in real life made it possible for me to include some of my observations in the story line. As for what did I learn, it was interesting to discover how money laundering works in casinos and that the gains from such laundering fund several different criminal activities as well as terrorism.
3. Entangled Publishing is a new house that’s creating quite a buzz. How do you like working with them?
I love working with Entangled and can’t say enough about how exciting it is to be on the ground floor of this new venture. I’ve been doing traditional publishing for over a decade and wanted to expand my career with someone who had out-of-the-box ideas and such enthusiasm for the romance genre. In addition, Entangled is very author-friendly and so it was great to see what we could do together. I have a number of releases with them, including the relaunch in April 2013 of THE CALLING vampire novel series as THE REBORN vampire novel series. I am confident they will help me realize my dream of having this series of my heart continue.
Prince Alexander Ivanov is scrambling to save his reputation and his livelihood. One of the Russian Nights Casino’s hostesses has disappeared, and his business is suddenly under investigation by the FBI for associations with the mob and money laundering.
Special Agent Kathleen Martinez has no patience with rich, entitled aristocrats, especially one like Alexander Ivanov whom she believes is involved in the vicious human trafficking ring which she’d tried—and failed—to shut down two years earlier. With a second chance to bring him to justice, she goes undercover in the casino, but instead of facing the villain she expected, she finds herself battling a sizzling attraction to the man.
Now, forced to work together to trace the source of the illegal activities, the danger—and the passion between them—grows out of control, and they slowly begin to realize the biggest danger isn’t to the casino, it’s to their lives…and to their hearts.
About Caridad:
Caridad was born in Havana, Cuba, and settled in the New York Metropolitan area. She attended Villanova University on a Presidential Scholarship and graduated magna cum laude. Caridad earned her juris doctor from St. John’s University and became the first female partner of Abelman, Frayne & Schwab, an intellectual property firm in midtown Manhattan.
Find Caridad here:
Buy THE PRINCE’S GAMBLE here:
Thanks for the blog today!!!
Thanks for stopping in, Diane!!!
Thank you so much for having me as a guest. I really appreciate the opportunity to help raise money to help my home state of NJ. Thank you and thanks to Diane for coming by to visit.
Caridad, I think it’s wonderful you’re donating proceeds from the book to help those who suffered from Hurricane Sandy. Thanks so much for coming here and telling us some behind the scenes info we wouldn’t have heard otherwise. xxoo