My Ex-Boyfriend

Sometimes I wonder if my ex-boyfriend – let’s just call him James – will ever read my books.

Why do I wonder this? Well… mainly because he’s featured in three of them in some form or another. And since he was a smart guy, he could probably figure that little fact out.

I first introduced him in “Not So Human,” since it was the story of my life for a few pages, and James and I were then going through one of the “off” phases in our on-again-off-again romance.

You see, James was British (English-British, to be specific), and let’s face it: Long-distance relationships have a bad habit of taking their toll on all parties involved. You’d think I’d have learned that lesson the first time, but that’s a whole different story altogether.

Regardless, James became Alex, Sabrina’s once-cherished boyfriend who got all moody and broke up with her without giving her any kind of closure. Of course, James never handed me over to the faerie-hating HPAC, so he does have a one-up over Alex there; but his personality and much of his looks are otherwise spot-on.

Which means the characterization isn’t entirely flattering.

Sorry, James.

But while my ex was way too interested in protecting himself emotionally speaking, he had a lot of great qualities, hence the reason why I fell in love with him in the first place. And that’s a very good part of the reason why Alex pulls through in the end to become a much more heroic character… right up until – SPOILER ALERT – I have him shot in the head, of course.

I never wanted to shoot James. Just for the record. In fact, I went back and forth multiple times about who I was going to kill off in the end of “To Err Is Faerie:” Alex or Dallas.

I think readers would have killed me if I had offed Dallas, so I ultimately threw Alex to the wolves. And in the end, I couldn’t even go through with that, merely removing him from the picture and sending him far, far away from Sabrina.

Yet James came back anyway several books later, at least in name, in the form of Sergeant James Slasen in “Maiden America.” Makes it sound like I’m so not over him, right?

It’d be understandable if you thought that. But you’d be wrong nonetheless, since Revolutionary War heroine Abigail isn’t me in any way, shape or form. And she’s the one who falls for the enemy.

Personally, I’m so over that. Those accents are cute, sure, but they’re not worth the drama.

Abigail can keep him, with my full blessing and fondest wishes for them both.