Born In Sin by Kinley MacGregor a/k/a Sherrilyn Kenyon.

Historical Romance

Born in Sin was published by Avon in 2003 and is part of the MacAlister’s series. When writing historical fiction Sherrilyn Kenyon writes as Kinley MacGregor. This is the book I found on the virgin heroes list. I purchased it as an eBook from Fictionwise. As luck would have it they were having a Christmas sale and I got 40% off. It was in a format that would not load on my eBookwise reader so I had to read it on the computer.

This is the second book in the series and the only one I have read. In fact this is the only book by Kinley MacGregor that I have read. I will add her to the list of authors whose book I watch for.

Sin, the hero, is the bastard sons of the MacAllister’s. Rejected by his English mother at birth he is sent Scotland to live with his father. He is allowed to stay but is ignored. When the English king demands a son from all of the Scottish clans Sin is sent. He is abused by the knight he serves and finally sold to the Saracens to pay for the knight’s trip home from the Holy Lands. As a slave to the Saracens he suffers further abuse. They train him as a killer and send him to kill King Henry. While holding a knife to Henry’s throat Sin offers to spare his life and to be his man forever. Henry accepts the offer. Sin still does not find acceptance when they return to England. Henry’s use of Sin’s skills causes all to fear and hate him. Sin has never been with a woman because he does not want to bring an unwanted child into the world.

Everything changes when Henry uses friendship and power to force Sin to marry Callie. She is a Scotswoman and Henry wants to use to marriage to ensure peace. Sin has never known love or acceptance and does not know what to make of Callie. She seems to like him but he keeps pushing her away. This is a great story of love and acceptance. In addition to the love story of Sin and Callie there was additional actions and suspense that kept me reading.

Born in Sin is a keeper on my favorites shelf. I recommend the book.