02 Mar V Day II: Character Highlight & Wins

So V Day II was released and it has been my best effort on a personal level. It was my goal to make one of my most disliked characters redeemable and I think I achieved that.

V Day I was a mixed bag of reactions and I expected it would be. Tina is an extremely polarizing character and you either love her or loathe her and truth is, I’ve always been drawn to strong personalities. There’s always a simple story behind their actions and motivations and I don’t shy away from exploring that.

I don’t write fluffy romantic stories, (though I’m working on one because I like the challenge) It’s not natural to me. We’ve established that. They’re often messy as my characters are flawed, sometimes in unforgiving ways and Tina is very much that and makes horrible decisions for reasons I explore in Book II. 

She’s not nice, she’s not good and she’s downright unlikeable. There’s more to her though, as I’ve come to believe even the worst of the worst have some sliver of good in them. Some of us are late bloomers, are emotionally stunted and it takes a lot to change when you’ve gotten away with so much for so long. 

Tina’s character is the polar opposite to her best friend turned lover and they’re drawn to each other for that very reason. In fact, Morgan has always been infatuated with her if only because Tina is everything she isn’t and perhaps maybe would like to be, at least the good parts of her, confident, fearless, independent and ambitious. Where people immediately run from a woman like Tina, Morgan wasn’t scared off by her brashness and Tina who is wholly guarded and as she is needy, kept her close.

I wrote a follow up to their story in the short story collections Irreconcilable: Morganomy which was well received so I knew it was possible to bring my readers around to Tina, at least those who liked the story overall despite their disdain for the MC.

One reviewer said, I write “characters with character” and though I want my books to be known for many things, writing interesting characters is my goal. Hate them or love them, but you won’t walk away feeling nothing.

This one will always be special to me, as it is the first to peak as a Best Seller (even for a blip in the space and time continuum)

It’s very much a goal and for me, an achievement especially for someone with a half baked lackluster marketing plan. I break into hives when I have to post anything on social media…and by social media, I mean Instagram only. 🥴 I do write for myself, but the raging anti-social-extrovert in me relishes the feedback and friction of people, even from a distance.

This book is one I have already read for myself twice over. Yes, I’ve been getting high on my own supply. 👀 And that’s the one thing I’ll take away from the experience for this book. If I don’t feel the magic, I’ll keep working on it until I do because readers do feel the effort. I felt that same magic with the Bluest Christmas and my first novella At the Deep End. As much as a bad review sometimes hurts because as an author, we’re essentially birthing these books into existence, there is something to be said about objectively looking at those criticisms and realizing, you know what, maybe I could’ve done a little more. That is exactly what I did with this one.

V Day II is available for those who care for a story of redemption with a side of romance.

If you haven’t read V Day I, get into it now, and let me know what you think…good or bad. 

5.0 out of 5 stars Everything I hoped for!

Reviewed in the United States on February 27, 2022

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