Caterina Shaw’s days are numbered. Her only chance for survival is a highly experimental gene treatment – a risk she willingly takes. But now Caterina barely recognizes herself. She has new, terrifying powers, an exotic, arresting body — and she’s been accused of a savage murder, sending her on the run.
Mick Carrera is a mercenary and an expert at capturing elusive, clever prey. Yet the woman he’s hunting down is far from the vicious killer he’s been told to expect: Caterina is wounded, vulnerable, and a startling mystery of medical science. Even more, she’s a beautiful woman whose innocent sensuality tempts Mick to show her exactly how thrilling pleasure can be. The heat that builds between them is irresistible, but surrendering to it could kill them both . . . for a dangerous group is plotting its next move using Caterina as its deadly pawn.
GUEST POST:
People always ask how book ideas come to me, but in actuality, I usually get the ideas for the characters before the idea for the plot. When it came to SINS OF THE FLESH, Caterina’s character popped into my head first. I knew I wanted her to be vulnerable, but strong and determined to be in control of her own life. I wanted her to be elegant and creative.
That demanded a hero who was the seeming antithesis of all that. One who wanted to be in control. One who was powerful and possibly a little rough around the edges. It was then that Mick Carrera popped into my head and I had no doubt that at first glance, the reader might not like Mick very much. But that was just the start of the fun!
Since I’m a character driven writer, one of the things I strive for in a novel is creating a story that slowly peels away the layers on the characters, exposing new and interesting things about them with each chapter.
In Caterina’s case, the reader discovers right away that she is a world renowned cellist, but that success can’t protect her from a terminal illness. As we get to know Caterina, we see her strength and purpose as she decides to try a radical gene therapy to restore the one thing she loves most in her life – her music. That music is the center of her universe tells us something about Caterina immediately – that she really has no one of importance in her life. That’s confirmed when Mick goes to speak to Caterina’s best friend. As the story progresses, we learn more and more about Caterina’s family and why Caterina is alone.
What I loved most about Caterina was her strength in the face of nearly impossible odds, both at the beginning of the book and at the end, when she is confronted with the possibility of not only her death, but Mick’s.
As for Mick . . . There was so much I loved about this character and revealing his true nature little by little was a writer’s dream. I loved that at first, your initial impression of Mick is possibly negative and he seems far from hero material. But as the story progresses, you come to find out that there are many people who admire and respect Mick, which makes you wonder whether he is really as bad as he seems. After all, friends and family surround him, so is he really the dark mercenary we meet in the first chapter?
But what I loved most about Mick was his honor. Time and time again when confronted with not only the villain but with Caterina, he chose the high road in dealing with them. Especially with Caterina! There is an initial scene in the book which I actually rewrote to demonstrate that deep sense of honor. Caterina is feeling ill and is burning up with fever. She decides to cool that fever by escaping Mick’s house and diving into his pool, setting off all kinds of alarms in the process. When Mick hears the alarms he goes into action mode and is ready to recapture and/or punish Caterina, but as he realizes why she “escaped”, he becomes concerned and even tender. When he holds her in the pool and his body responds to her proximity, he contains himself, even though he realizes that Caterina might not reject his advances. He does so because of his honor. Because he realizes Caterina is not well and possibly not thinking clearly.
Mick wants nothing more than to have Caterina totally aware and totally in agreement with making love with him. Anything else would be wrong in his code book. As for Caterina, it is almost impossible for her to resist Mick both because he is attractive, but more so because she sees the unique and loving individual he hides behind his rough exterior.
I hope you enjoyed this behind the scenes peek at the characters in SINS OF THE FLESH and I hope you will grow to love them as much as I do!
For Behind the Scenes blogs where readers can find out about the places where the book is set, you can go to: http://www.caridad.com/books/paranormal/sins-of-the-flesh/
New York Times and USA Today bestseller Caridad Pineiro wrote her first novel in the fifth grade when her teacher assigned a project – to write a book for a class lending library. Bitten by the writing bug, Caridad continued with her passion for the written word through high school, college and law school. Shortly after the birth of her daughter, Caridad’s passion for writing led to a determination to become published and share the stories she loved with others. In 1999, Caridad’s first novel was released and a decade later, Caridad is the author of over twenty novels and novellas. Caridad hopes to continue to share her stories with readers all over the world for years to come.
When not writing, Caridad is an attorney, wife and mother to an aspiring writer and fashionista. For more information on Caridad, please visit www.caridad.com or www.thecallingvampirenovels.com.
Sins of the Flesh
is available at Amazon.com as a paperback and Kindle edition.To see where Caridad stops next on her virtual book tour, please visit www.virtualbooktours.wordpress.com
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