Hi, readers! I am beyond pleased to announce a very special post today on ILRB. Recently, I asked authors to come to the blog with a little background into their characters. Exactly what is it about them that keeps a writer up at night, composing those romance novels we love? I wanted to dig deep into each of these characters. Today is the next post in this series.
So, without further ado, let’s turn the mic over to author Molly V. Lovell, who has some things to say about her characters.
Hi, Molly! Describe at least one of your main characters and why he or she impacts the story.
Cassie vs. Edric
In romance novels, we focus on the hero’s relationship with the heroine. This is important, obviously, because it’s a romance novel. If this relationship didn’t exist, we would have no romance. But, I’m going to say something a little controversial: I don’t think that’s the most important part of the book.
In my opinion, if you just focus on the relationship only and not anything else, you’re going to have a boring book. Love is sweet and all, but without showing why the characters are awesome through their interactions with others, we don’t care if the characters get together because we don’t care about them as people. How many romantic heroines have we read where we want to just shake them and say, “Get a life! Stop obsessing over this guy!”? How many heroes have we not cared about because they don’t do anything except fawn over the heroine?
In contrast, look at all the fictional heroes we fawned over: Mr. Darcy, Heathcliff, Mr. Rochester, Han Solo, Jay Gatsby, Don Juan, James Bond, Sherlock Holmes, Don Draper, Jax Teller, and the list goes on and on. We love these characters because they’re fleshed out and they do awesome stuff, whether solving mysteries like Sherlock or throwing wild parties like Gatsby. If a hero doesn’t do anything, why should we even like him or care about who he ends up with? Same goes for the heroine—why should we care about her if she only obsesses over a guy?
I tried very hard with A Sibling’s Dilemma to develop well-rounded characters with their own interests and personalities. I don’t know how successful I’ve been; that’s up to the reader to decide. And I’m certainly not comparing Edric Kensington to the great literary heroes that I’ve listed; that would be very arrogant of me to do. But, I hope that readers will pick up my book and care about the characters a little and want them to get together because they’re interesting people.
In my novel, there are three main characters: Ellie Kent, Cassie Kent, and Edric Kensington. Ellie and Cassie are sisters (hence the same last name). Cassie works as a private investigator and, through a strange series of circumstances, she finds herself investigating Edric Kensington. She sends her sister, Ellie, to be a mole in his company.
I tried to make Ellie and Cassie as realistic as possible. While they’re not inspired by any specific people, they face issues that many real women struggle with—insecurities, balancing family and boyfriends, doing what you think is right, et cetera. Their relationship as sisters is just as important as the romantic relationships in the story. Since I went into Ellie’s character in depth with an earlier character interview with this blog, I will discuss Cassie and Edric here.
Cassie considers herself to be a very moral person, but she’s willing to set aside her beliefs—specifically about not dating a married man—when she meets her dream boyfriend. Since she grew up poor and had to work to support herself and her younger sister, she places a high value on material comforts and is attracted to rich, older men. Throughout the novel, she is torn between doing what she thinks is right and doing what her boyfriend wants her to do.
Edric is a pretty complex character. Like Cassie, he had to support his siblings, but, unlike her, he grew up rich. As a handsome and wealthy person, he’s used to getting his own way most of the time. He’s very skeptical of others, since most people just want to befriend him for money or for their fifteen minutes of fame. This has made him skeptical of those he deems to be “outsiders” or “coattail riders.” Even though his employees often describe him as a bit mercurial and tyrannical, he has a softer side to him. This comes out particularly when he interacts with his rambunctious younger brother, Owen. Those who know him best would describe him as a very emotional person, but very, very few people get to see this side of him. As a CEO, Edric works pretty much all the time—about eighty hours a week. He takes his work very seriously and isn’t prone much to flights of fancy.
When Edric meets the Kent sisters, their personalities clash. Cassie and Edric, both being outspoken people, butt heads a lot. Ellie is pretty intimidated by Edric’s strong personality and gets bulldozed over, and needs to learn to stand up for herself. I hope you will chose to learn more about my heroes and heroines and how they interact with each other by reading A Sibling’s Dilemma.
Wow! Fascinating, Molly! This sounds like quite a read!
Congrats on your new release. When a new book comes out, it’s always an exciting time for an author!
Let’s learn more about the novel with some teasers, shall we? 😉
And here is a peek into the book…
Ellie Kent sat nervously in the top floor of the Kensington group building. She wrung her hands and then fidgeted with the second copy of her résumé.
Am I qualified for this? I hope I’m good enough. I don’t want to let Cassie down.
She made herself as small as possible as she sat in the waiting room chair. Ellie smiled warmly at the nearby workers, turned bright-red, and then looked back down at her resume, avoiding all eye-contact with them once more.
They probably think I’m weird looking, or too scrawny. Ellie frowned. Her heart was racing a mile a minute.
“Mr. Kensington is ready for your interview.”
“Thank you.” She stood up and then followed the secretary over to the doors. The young woman went to pull the door open, realized that it could only be open by being pushed, blushed, and then pushed it open.
Oh God. I can’t even open a door right.
Ellie walked inside the room and saw Edric Kensington sitting behind his desk. He appeared to be quite bored and unamused. She was surprised by how young he looked, she guessed he was in his early-to-mid thirties. Surprisingly handsome too—he was tall and slightly muscular with strong and symmetrical facial features and unblemished, olive skin. The pictures in the paper didn’t do him justice.
Edric wore a crisp navy-blue suit and had silver cufflinks. His chestnut-brown hair was combed neatly and seemed to frame his face well. Everything about him seemed put together. Ellie immediately felt embarrassed by her own appearance. She wore a light grey skirt suit that she got from the thrift store, which was just slightly too big for her.
The CEO stood up from behind his mahogany desk and walked over to Ellie. She immediately felt intimidated by his height and somewhat muscular stature—it made her feel small and scrawny. And she hated feeling small and scrawny. Suddenly she wished that Cassie were there with her. Someone strong that she could draw strength from.
He reached over and extended his hand to her. “Edric Kensington.”
Ellie reached over to accept the handshake. It was strong and firm. Almost a little too much so; it hurt her small hand.
Oh no, I gave him a weak, limp handshake. I’m not supposed to do that. He probably won’t want to hire me because of it.
“Eleonore Kent.” Ellie’s pale cheeks were flushed red. She averted her eyes to the floor.
“Take a seat.” Edric pointed to the chair opposite his desk. He slowly walked away from the young woman and sat behind his desk—she noticed that he had a confident gait about him.
Ellie knew that she looked flustered. She was never good at faking confidence. Her violet eyes were wide and her cheeks were bright-red. She had a ‘deer-in-the-headlights’ look about her. When she sat down she made herself as small as possible—hunched over, with her hands curled up underneath her chin. In contrast, Edric sat behind his desk poised confidently.
Ellie took a copy of her résumé —the copy that she didn’t crumple nervously in the waiting room—and quickly handed it to Edric. He held his hand up in a ‘stop’ sign.
“I already have a copy, Eleonore.”
Ellie returned the paper to her lap and begun to wring this extra copy of her résumé, since she already tore the other copy to shreds.
“Your résumé is strong—I see that you’re probably going to graduate in a few weeks at the top of your class at an Ivy League university, with a master’s degree, no less. Excellent references. I see lots and lots of community service.” Ellie’s blush deepened. “I have one question. Why would you want to work here as my assistant?”
“I-I…” The young woman swallowed deeply. “I’m thinking of starting up a non-profit one day.” She blurted out and then looked at the floor.
“I see.”
He probably thinks my reasons are stupid and that I’m not cut out to run a non-profit or to run anything.
“What do you have to offer this office?”
The way that Edric said the word ‘you’ made Ellie feel even worse.
“I…” Her hands started to shake.
Don’t cry, Ellie.
“I’m organized. I work hard. I. Um. I’ll do the job.” Ellie stammered.
Edric scoffed at Ellie and shook his head. She blushed and ran her fingers through her silky white hair. “You’ll start now. If you can make it through the end of the day, you can keep it. You will work nineteen hours a week for the next two weeks until you graduate. Then you will work full-time. Understood?”
Ellie nodded her head. “Yes.”
Edric pointed to a wooden desk in the corner of the room. It was made of mahogany, like Edric’s desk, except it was smaller and less ornate.
“The computer is up to date and you’ll find whatever supplies you need in your desk. The computer has an email installed on it for you to use.” He handed her a large notebook and then began to pace back and forth. “This is my copy of my schedule for the week. You will take over managing it, since my incompetent secretary clearly can’t. Send out an email to my sales department to find out what our sales have been for the past four months then make a spreadsheet detailing these sales to me. Book a room for my four o’clock meeting and write me a report detailing all the people who are attending this meeting.” Edric paused. “Oh, and if you fail, you’re fired.”
Riveting! ♥♥♥ I hope you all get a chance to read this contemporary romance! 🙂
Thanks for stopping by with your fascinating guest post, Molly! Lovely to have you here! ♥
Guest Bio
Molly V. Lovell is a law student at William and Mary by day, novelist by night. Her hobbies include writing (obviously), painting, looking at cute puppies, and reading books about political theory, a subject that Molly has a Master’s Degree in. Molly was born and raised in Amesbury, Massachusetts, by her two amazing parents and she now lives in Hyattsville, Maryland, with her loving husband.
Author Links
Thanks again, Molly, for giving us a peek into the world of your characters. Awesome! 😀
Readers, stay tuned for our next special feature on this topic when author Isobelle Cate visits us on September 26th! Yay! 🙂
We’ll definitely have lots of other posts before then, though.
Have a great week, everyone!
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