When readers finished book 1, my DMs were there place to ask about Emily. Her book was easy for me to write in that I had already dropped clues for who she'd end up with in book 1. But for me to write her losing James and for readers to experience that scene from her perspective, was a whole new ballgame.
This book begins with Emily starting her first day of high school. So she is way younger than Kamryn was when book 1 began. But, I did this for a reason because me as the writer and the readers needed to see Emily and James's relationship develop before we got to the goodbyes. If I thought writing Kamryn's funeral speech was hard, Emily's was emotionally draining. Most readers ask if authors cry while writing certain scenes. And I'm here to tell you, YES! I'm lucky that when I was writing this book, my office only has me occupying that space. So I was able to sob in a relative quiet space.
When readers call my FMCs immature, I hope they realize that we put a bit of ourselves into our characters. So when they call them immature that means they're calling me immature. Would that mean we wouldn't be friends in real life? Probably not. Being mature is boring. With Emily, her level of immaturity stems from how she grew up and the lack of her parents being present in her life. They truly showed up when she got older and I purposefully gave them a redemption becuase they're her parents. And she needed that.
Writing a cinnamon roll MMC was not on my BINGO card. But y'all loved Adam just as much, if not more than I did. I wrote Adam based on my ideal single dad. Because let's be honest, the single dads on dating apps always say their time is sparse between work and kids. So what makes them think we'd fall for them? Now Adam is a fictional man who made the time to date and fall in love. *cue So High School* He knew what he wanted and he got her.
I also wrote this book to setup for the next series. It was a bit early to do that. But who doesn't love a forbidden romance?