'Sex' is not the word for Mills and Boon's writer Jean Macleod

London, Mar 4 : She might have penned 130 books for romantic fiction novels, Mills and Boon, but 'sex' is not a word in Jean Macleod's vocabulary.

Jean, who is celebrating her 100th birthday, said that love has nothing to do with sex and she's proud of herself for never using the word in her writings.

"I never use the word 'sex' in my novels - that is not what romance is about. It's about love and emotion," The Sun quoted Jean, as saying.

Publishers Gerald Mills and Charles Boon set up business in 1908 but didn't focus on the books they would become famous for until the 1930s - when they ditched all their lines apart from romantic fiction.

The firm now sells 130million novels a year, in 26 languages - and Jean is responsible for a fair few of them.

When asked who's her inspiration, she said: "My father inspired me to write. He was an incredible storyteller."

"I sent off a few ideas to Mills and Boon in 1938 and they liked them - and that has pretty much kept me busy for the past 70 years," she added.

She added: "All my stories were different but they all had a happy ending - the perfect finish to any romance."

ANI