I have a confession to make that my dear husband may not like. I’m in love with Sam Osborne.

Don’t worry though, honey, he’s not a real person. He’s the detective in our Fate series. And unlike with you, this love did not start out with a bang. It took me many months and many revisions of the books before I began to fall for this character. And it didn’t hit me hard until this third book—Fate of the Violet Eyes.

Sam went from being a nice man in Twist of Fate who helped a girl in a wheelchair and a homeless man to a friendly detective in Wretched Fate who helped the main male character as he stumbled into dating. Then in this third book, we readers get to spend a lot more time with the man. His masculinity comes out, and instead of being the person behind the romance, Sam falls in love with his own client. Despite the fact he shouldn’t, he lets that love to the forefront as he helps her try to find her child.

I suppose it’s kind of weird, actually, to fall in love with a character who was originally created by my own mother. But he’s a product of two vivid imaginations: two generations’ ideas of what a good man is. That’s why he’s inquisitive but polite; kind but capable of anger when he’s sees something that’s wrong; quick to laugh, but often introspective.

And I also think falling for the characters happens to a lot of writers: we spend so much time with them in the writing/rewriting/editing process, they become part of our life.

So forgive me, dear husband. But I’m hoping to make others fall in love with Sam Osborne as well. And I’m sorry, but my love affair with Sam will continue. Mom is now working on book four and book five is already drafted. You’ll just have to put up with me, honey, until the Fate series is complete. And you know what? I hope that doesn’t ever happen. I’d miss my Sam too much!

Genilee Swope Parente