Welcome to my RITA® award celebration! Hosted by the Romance Writers of America®, the RITAs celebrate outstanding romance novels and novellas. I’m so thrilled to be a finalist in the Romance Novella category, and I’ve asked my fellow RITA® finalists to come tell you more about themselves and their books. I hope you meet some new favorite authors!
Today we welcome 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 upstate New York.
1. Which of your books has been nominated for a RITA, and in what category?
Take What You Want, Romantic Novella
2. How do your hero and heroine meet, and what are their first impressions of each other?
As far as Ellen knows, she meets Josh in a bar on the first day of spring break. Her first impression is that he’s not a bad choice for a one-night stand.
Much to her surprise, they’ve actually been taking classes together for years. While she didn’t recognize Josh without his glasses, he recognized her immediately as the quiet, pretty girl from the back of the lecture hall the instant she approached him at the bar.
3. What are their best and worst characteristics?
Ellen’s best qualities are her dedication and her heart. Her worst is her tendency to let her dedication to work get so out of control that she loses sight of everything else.
Josh’s best characteristics are his loyalty to his family and his generosity. His biggest flaw is his fear of upsetting the people he cares about, which sometimes causes him to hide his own desires.
4. Where is this book set, and what makes the setting special?
It’s set at a small college town, the location of which I never specify, but in my head it’s in Upstate New York.
5. Is this the first time you’ve been a RITA finalist? If not, what books have previously finaled?
Yes, it’s my first!
6. Have you read any of the other books that are finalists in your category? If so, which ones?
I have them all on my Kindle, and I’m working my way through them, with the goal of finishing up before Nationals. So many great books to read!
7. What was the first thing you did when you found out you were a RITA finalist?
Scream. Then text my best friends. Then go on Twitter and scream some more 🙂
8. Do you write in genres other than the one you finaled in? If not, are there any genres you would love to write in?
In addition to contemporary / new adult, I also write futuristic and male/male. I love jumping between sub-genres – it helps keep everything fresh, and really fuels the creativity for me.
9. If you win the RITA, who’s the first person you’ll thank in your speech, and why?
My critique partner, Brighton Walsh. She was the first person I ever really talked to about my writing, and she was the one who convinced me to enter, when I thought it was a waste of time. I wouldn’t be anywhere if it weren’t for her!
Speed-dating round
What’s the most beautiful place you’ve ever been?
Kyoto, Japan
If you could bring one of your heroes to life for a day, who would you choose?
Edison from Unacceptable Risk
Which of your characters is most similar to you?
Probably Ellen from Take What You Want
What kind of dessert are you hoping they’ll serve at the award ceremony?
Doesn’t matter, so long as they serve it with coffee
She needs an escape…and he’s exactly what she had in mind.
College senior Ellen Price spends every spare minute studying to get into medical school. Until spring break yawns before her, as empty as her wallet.
With no money to hit the beach, she fills her empty to-do list with a plan: for just one week, she will become the kind of take-no-prisoners woman she secretly wishes to be, starting with the hot guy at the bar. It’s a no-risk situation: at the end of break, he’ll head back to his campus, and she’ll go back to hers. No muss, no fuss.
At first, Josh Markley isn’t sure what to think when the quiet, intense beauty from his pre-med classes approaches him for a night of casual sex. Even more mystifying, she doesn’t seem to return his recognition. But if she wants to play “strangers in a bar”, he’s game.
Their passionate night is a welcome respite from life’s stress, but afterward, Josh realizes he wants more—from himself, from life, from Ellen. Except she still thinks he’s a one-off she’ll never see again. Confessing the truth now—before she figures it out on her own—could shatter the fragile beginnings of just what the doctor ordered. A forever love.
Warning: Contains mistaken identities, a sometimes-glasses-wearing hottie, deep questions about figuring out what you want from life, and a red-hot college romance.
Giveaway!
Enter using the Rafflecopter form below. Winner will be announced on Monday July 21. Make sure you come back tomorrow for another interview and another chance to win!
This sounds like so much fun! I’m looking forward to reading all of these novellas.
Thanks so much for hosting these interviews, Kat! It was such a great idea to get all the novella finalists in one place 🙂
Thanks for being here, Jeanette! I’m so glad you all were so receptive to the idea. 🙂
Hi, Jeanette! Your book sounds really good. Thanks for the giveaway!
Hi Jeanette, your books sound fantastic and I would love to read it. I have read Jane Porter’s book Take Me Cowboy and it was really good. I am enter under the name of Virginia. Thanks for the great giveaway!
THRILLED I was the first person you talked to about your writing, and I’m glad my incessant badgering finally paid off! I am SO SO SO proud of you, and cannot wait to be your date for the RITAs!