Greetings, Babes Readers!

This week, the Babes are sharing whether we've ever had a character in our books do something terrible.  If so, how did we redeem them?  Terrible is a relative term, I think.  My characters haven't killed, stolen, cheated on their spouses, abused children or kicked puppies.

The "villain" in one book stole the heroine's research data and presented the study as his own -- but he got his comeuppance at the end, which was exactly what he deserved.

However, this doesn't mean that my main characters, the heroes and heroines, are perfect, unflawed, human beings.  If they were, they'd bore me to write them and you to read them.  So, in each of my books, the heroines do something that they come to regret; acts that jeopardize their goals, their future happiness.

In All Keyed Up, Victoria presents herself to the hero and his aunt under stretched pretenses.  She doesn't really have a research grant funding her study, but is instead using money from her trust fund.  When those funds are no longer available, not only are her own dreams at risk -- but so is the survival of the dolphin facility.  This creates a major black moment for Vic and Jack. 

In Key of Sea, Dora has major hang ups over the fact that she's older than Bobby and over her no-longer-size-four body.  This created a really interesting dilemma in a sex scene.

Yes, I write romance.  My books have love scenes.  However, in this case, I really did write a sex scene because there was no emotional satisfaction or love in it -- at least not on Dora's part.  Those hangups got the best of her and caused her to do something that she wouldn't have otherwise.   By the way, if anyone ever doubted that it's possible to rock a man's world sexually and piss him off at the same time . . . let me tell you, Dora manages.

In neither case, were the women evil or bad.  They were . . . human.  Sometimes, our needs, our desires and our fears drive us to act in ways we wouldn't otherwise.  Against our own better judgment, we act -- often before we think it through and realize the potential results won't be what we really want. 

So, how did I redeem these basically good women who screwed up things in their lives?

I didn't.

They redeemed themselves -- by recognizing their mistakes, honestly regretting their actions, and then moving Heaven and Earth to make amends and right the wrongs.  In doing so, they earn their redemption and our respect.  We end up rooting for them to overcome the consequences of their own actions.

In the end, each character's determination to make things right makes her story better -- and we, and her hero, love her for it all the more.