Sometimes a story just sits in your head waiting with its foot tapping. That’s what this one did, characters patiently waiting as I took on The Sheikh’s Sinful Seduction, which pushed back Seduced Into The Greek’s World, and forced this story to stay off the page until the fall of 2014.
I kept referring to it as ‘The Photographer,’ not that I talk about my Works In Progress very much. But I knew that my heroine, who remained nameless until I was actually ready to write, would eventually pick up a camera. I had all kinds of scenes taking up bandwidth in my head, moments showing her accepting accolades for her photographs, bringing in a cast of thousands from my previous books.
Virtually none of those snippets made the final cut of the book. Such is the writing life. All the great strings of dialogue that make you feel like a genius at three a.m. don’t look quite as brilliant when you’re actually typing them.
What did stick was the kernel of this story–a revenge premise. I knew that Roman and Melodie would have a white-hot affair despite being mortal enemies and that they would have to find their way out of cruel betrayals. I loved the contrast of those opposite ends of the love-hate spectrum.
Roman is one of those heroes who guards himself so closely I didn’t know the depth of his backstory until I’d written two thirds of the book. Then he finally began to share and oh, he really deserves the right woman.
Melodie is one of those heroines who has been knocked around by life but hangs onto her ideals, wanting to believe the best in everyone, always hoping for the best outcome. That’s why Roman hurts her so badly. He dents her core sense of optimism, which is pretty unforgivable in her books.
Fortunately, he redeems himself. Which is the best part of reading a romance, right? I hope you enjoy this one.
