I don’t think you do 😀
As you already know, Sin, was the only real crook still left.
The other two, Kelly and A.J, ditched their gray pasts for the straight and narrow, leaving our dear Tamsin as the only knight holding down their crooked fort. Well, it’s her turn to go down now, and I’ve found the perfect man for her. Meet Wentworth Ransom III
I had lots of giggles writing this one. First of all, their names. Wentworth Ransom Iii is such a stuffy name. It seems like something a white collar criminal with zero remorse would call himself. Basically, it’s one of those names that just makes you cut your eyes… and I love it lol. The man himself lives up to his name…. he starts out an asshole but soon you realize that he’s not that much of a dick. Just a little.
As for Sin, I liked the temptation in her name. Her name evokes thoughts of a seductress. Someone who can make you do what you don’t want to do. She, of course, lives up to her name but more interestingly, she ends up getting seduced. Turning the tables on her was almost as much fun as ruining, Worth’s neat little world by throwing him a crook.
So what exactly happened behind the scenes? What changed while I was writing? What didn’t you know? Hmmm…. A lot.
PS: Spoilers ahead so you might not want to read this until you’ve actually read the book. Find the details HERE.
Okay, onwards soldiers…..
1: WORTH WAS SUPPOSED TO BE IN THE DARK
When I planned the book, Worth was going to be completely in the dark about Sin’s nefarious plans. Right now, what you know is that Sin ditched her plan to marry and steal from him after discovering Claire’s dirty ways. But in the original manuscript, despite knowing Claire’s motives, she would’ve been unable to cut herself off from the woman.
Miss Tamsin was supposed to go the whole way i.e. seduce him completely until he was in love with her and then ditch him on their wedding day and disappear after leaving him the file to indict Claire. Imagine how heartbreaking that would’ve been for Worth. After thinking about it, I realized that that would mean writing two books, but I’ve realized y’all don’t like stories that don’t end in one book. Am I wrong?
2: SIN’S FATHER WAS GOING TO PLAY A BIGGER PART IN THE STORY
If you read the book then you know, Norman, Sin’s father was dead by the beginning of the book. However, the truth of the matter is that he played the biggest role in making Sin the crook we know her to be. Imagine how interesting it would’ve been to find out what kind of man he really was and if he was even remorseful about what he did to Sin’s mom. Maybe he could’ve even been the catalyst to Sin’s healing. Unfortunately, time run out, but I can’t help but wonder about him. Who was Norman McCarver really?
3: SIN WAS GOING TO BE WORSE. MUCH, MUCH WORSE
Okay, the lady is already bad but at one point I considered making her worse. You know, zero remorse, just stealing from people because she can. The idea to make her a kind of Robin Hood came from a friend who always gives me advice after seeing my plans. Her thought was that she didn’t want to read a story about a woman without any sort of moral compass. Plus, as douche-y as Worth can be, he had moral fiber right from the start. It wouldn’t have been fair to him to give him someone truly bad. I agreed. Do you?
4: THE HAPPY ENDING SHOULD’VE COME SOONER
Remember, that scene where Sin went to say goodbye, the plan was to end the book there. Unfortunately, Worth went rogue and just decided to be a bastard instead of wooing his lady like a planned. End result; the book could not end. Then I decided to make him go to New York and apologize. I thought, finally, it’s over. I mean I had already crossed the eighty thousand words mark by then, unfortunately Sin wasn’t ready to play nice either. It took me close to five chapters to get those two kids on the same page again. *sigh. Next time I’ll make sure I create characters who are more obedient.
5: JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE’S ‘MIRROR’ WROTE THIS BOOK
This song, man. This song! Just listen to the lyrics:
‘Cause I don’t wanna lose you now
I’m looking right at the other half of me
The vacancy that sat in my heart
Is a space that now you hold
Show me how to fight for now
And I’ll tell you, baby, it was easy
Coming back into you once I figured it out
You were right here all along
It’s like you’re my mirror
My mirror staring back at me
I couldn’t get any bigger
With anyone else beside of me
And now it’s clear as this promise
That we’re making two reflections into one
‘Cause it’s like you’re my mirror
My mirror staring back at me, staring back at me
The poetry, the way those words just touch you. I just can’t! It fit Worth and Sin so perfectly. Though it took them a moment to realize that they are meant to be, from day one they just felt right. Don’t you agree?
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Yeah, I know what you just thought: “You’re kidding, right? She’s bad enough as a thief and now you want to make her an assassin too?”
You only saw the nightmares he was having. However, in my original script, he had schizophrenia. The man was broken, really broken. I could’ve gone with all that, but I decided not to. Why? It was too much for one person. He’s already been through hell during his childhood, I didn’t feel like making his adulthood troubled too. Can you imagine how A.J would’ve felt had she found out that she ignored him all these years while he was having all that trouble? It would’ve been a nightmare.
Yay! I’m finally writing about my crooks. 
Spencer was meant to be a jackass, a real jackass. Yeah, sure he was going to get her out of prison, but I planned to make him unapologetic, since technically, he wasn’t completely to blame. Unfortunately, rogue characters tend to ruin the best laid plans. He threw me for a curveball with his appearance in the prologue, asking for forgiveness. From there on there was nothing I could do except let him be a nice guy like he wanted.
No, no, no. Don’t get me wrong. I like her very much but she’s not my favorite of the Crooked girls. That honor goes to A.J. (The girl on the side).
One month. That’s how long it took me to write it. Though I put it on a two-month pre-order, I spent the first month in Procrastinator City just trying to get my head in the game. But once I was in, man, my fingers were just flying over the keyboard. I think it’s because I really enjoyed writing Orion and Vina, plus Vina’s family kept pissing me off so I kept coming back to the manuscript just so I could glare at her dad.