Let’s Clear A Few Things…

Okay, so I’ve been hearing and seeing a lot of people complaining about my leading man in Who He Is, Gage Grendel. His arrogance. His cockiness. His whole demeanor throughout the first 50% of the book and I do admit he is a cocky one. He knows how to piss a chick off, especially Ellie, and that’s exactly how I wanted him to be. EXACTLY! I wanted Gage to irk some nerves, to make you want to punch him in the face because THAT WASN’T THE REAL GAGE!

If I made Gage piss you off, get under your skin– hell if I made him hate him more than love him throughout the book, that was the point.

Gage wasn’t meant to be adored for his arrogance. I know some enjoyed it and thought it was perfect for the book, and I thank you because that’s exactly what I was going for, but the real gage was what I wanted everyone to see. To be honest, I wrote Who He Is for me. I wrote it to be entertained, to find out who the REAL Gage Grendel could be. I adore him for who he became in the end, how he opened up to Eliza, and how he knew he messed up, how she felt awful about letting him go… all of it. I cried extremely hard over the final chapter and throughout the book because these characters were like no other to me. It was weird creating them because I wanted to do something completely different but then they’d switch it up on me and I would have to rewrite a few things. Yeah, it was tough. But I didn’t mind it.

Anyway, the point of this post wasn’t to discuss Gage and his ways… I didn’t really mind that. I saw that one coming from a mile away. Gage was hard to love at first and I get that. That was the point. It’s WHO HE IS! He didn’t really care until Ellie came along. *wink wink*

The major point of this is to talk about my leading lady, Eliza Smith. Some hate her for leaving, but if we’re being real… how can you hate someone for striving for success? How can you hate someone who worked hard their entire life for something better, just for letting someone she really got to know for only two months go? You only get to go to a real college once. You only get one chance to make the best out of a scholarship from your dream school. She knew there was plenty of time for her to find Grendel and talk to him again after she was done. They both knew where their hearts were. Honestly, I was upset she left. I was hurt that she walked away, but at the same time I can put myself in Eliza’s shoes because priorities come first. Life in general comes first. If you expect me to avoid reality in my books, you’re expecting wrong. I’ve been through a lot, I’m very ambitious, and I made my character the same way. No one can really call her selfish when Gage left her alone for two nights. Both of them blame each other, and although Gage doesn’t know how to show it, he blames himself most. He’s upset with Eliza, yes. The first two chapters of book 2 prove this, but he’s really upset with himself and you will see in book 2 how he really, really feels.

In my opinion, Eliza was smart. She did the right thing. She could have talked to him, but remember: What they had going on was a fling. What they were going through was supposed to be for fun, but it got way too serious for them to handle and they were nowhere near ready for it. They all knew Eliza was going to have to go in the end no matter what and that was that. He had to face it, even though it hurt. Plus he promised to avoid and leave Penelope alone for her– and he did– but it didn’t last long. That’s what hurt Eliza most. Him leaving for someone he promised to drop for her. Maybe if he would’ve stuck around with her, things would have gone a little differently, but he screwed up. She isn’t the only one to blame. This isn’t going against anyone’s opinion because we are all entitled to our own, this is just my opinion and how I saw the book. We all see things differently. Some may think it’s dumb, some may have thought it was annoying, and some may have just flat out hated it, but to me, this was my baby. My book. And I wanted to make it the best story possible. Just wanted to let you see how I saw things while writing it. I wasn’t seeking the cliffhanger. I freaking hate them! They kill me, which is why I added in the first 2 chapters of book 2 because I hate being left hanging. But this book would’ve been way, way too long for me to complete their story. There was so much more in store for Gage and Eliza and I had to do what was best.

Okay… that’s my take. and now that it’s off my chest, I can’t tell y’all how excited I am to release book 2!  I really can’t wait to release the rest of the books about the band either. I think you’ll fall in love with their stories. They’re really running wild in my head right now and screaming for me to get them out there. Especially Montana’s crazy ass. Haha!

I do want to thank each and every one of you personally for taking the time out to buy and read my book, for enjoying it and falling in love with the characters like I did. I really enjoyed writing this book and I really, really can’t wait to get book 2 out there! Ellie and Gage’s story is far from over. I am warning you that book 2 will have a lot of heartache, a lot of problems, and a lot of messy crazy-troll sh*t that won’t be dealt with for a while, but when they reach a certain point in the book, it’ll be worth it. I promise. A lot is revealed in this book and I think y’all will love it!

Thanks for reading! Time for me to get back to work now.

Shanora xx

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