Bookshelf
A LOVE WORTH SINNING FOR…For much of her life, Aileana MacDonell has fearlessly accepted the responsibility that has been entrusted to her: to guard the sacred amulet that protects her clan. But never has there been a danger so great as the one presented by legendary warrior Duncan MacRae, who threatens dire retribution if the lovely Aileana will not submit to his every desire…and whose breathtaking masculine power tempts her to sweet sin. Duncan has good reason to seek revenge on the hated MacDonells – dark imprisonment and torment have seared that need in his soul. Yet he means no harm to the proud, courageous lady he has captured, wishing merely to learn the location of the magical amulet that was stolen from Clan MacRae years before. But the exquisite Aileana is an adversary more stubborn and cunning than any Duncan has ever encountered, for she strikes where the bold avenger is most vulnerable: at a noble heart suddenly enflamed by passion and the tender agony of unforeseen love.
 THE SWEETEST SIN
Avon Books
ISBN: 0060098120
June 2004
 
This book is actually my second-ever completed manuscript, put into a drawer and resurrected after my third book, THE CRIMSON LADY, was finished. The manuscript for THE SWEETST SIN was in need of a great deal of work when I brought it out of hiding, but the story itself was set in Scotland, which always seems to be a popular locale with readers – and it was a book that was near and dear to my heart, though I hadn’t been successful selling it, back when I first finished it. I had begun the manuscript in 1994 – and then, when Braveheart came out in theaters the following year, I was very hopeful that I had a saleable idea. But the publishing Powers-That-Be have ideas of their own, and of the seven personal (as opposed to the form) rejection letters I received for the manuscript, all mentioned that the book was well-written – but while one editor thought the story and characters were “intriguing” and the book “effectively plotted”, another found the hero “too dark”, and the “pacing too slow” to keep her compelled. Two agents complimented me on the merit of my work, but didn’t “feel the leap of enthusiasm” necessary to offer representation. And one poor, beleaguered editor actually rejected me twice on the same exact submission; apparently inundated with work, she fired off a second letter, unaware that she’d already sent a rejection for the same material eight months prior. All in all, it was a confusing muddle of rejections, with no clear consensus as to why the manuscript wasn’t saleable – and so I put it aside in frustration and started a new story, with the intent of making it full of compelling characterization, palpable conflict, and a pace swift enough to please the most discriminating editor. That new manuscript, of course, turned out to be my debut, SECRET VOWS – but THE SWEETEST SIN remained in the back of my mind, waiting for the right moment to be brought forth into the light again. The manuscript was finally resurrected some five years later, dusted off, examined critically, professionally edited by both my agent and my editor, and released in its new incarnation. I am pleased to say that I think it is a much stronger book now than it was when I initially submitted it – still with the same hero and basic plot it boasted in its first embodiment – but with much tighter pacing and enhanced characterization. The manuscript made the rounds and was reworked on two separate occasions in the years before I was published, and so it had two initial working titles: BENEATH A HIGHLAND MIST (coined before Karen Marie Moning’s story BEYOND A HIGHLAND MIST came out – quite a shock seeing that very-similar-to-my-own title on the shelves, I’ll tell you!) and HIGHLAND MAGIC. Its eventual title, THE SWEETEST SIN was a suggestion I came up with, upon my editor’s request, and I do think it fits the story very well!
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