Something has been on my mind, y'all. The greatest compliment I hear from my readers is that my books are not your typical romance. That my characters are real and relatable. I always take that as a compliment, all the way to my soul.
But I have also heard something akin to "the characters aren't perfect", said with a frown. Well...yeah. They are definitely far from perfect. To me, Lee and Mack, Brid and Callan, Dorie and Alex, Penny and Grant, are quite real. I know them well. They are my friends. Yes, I write fiction, but my characters are based on real humans. Therefore, they are fallible - imperfect - HUMAN. They make mistakes. They don't always choose the right path. And that imperfect humanity is used to demonstrate God's perfect love and forgiveness.
In Luke 5:32, Jesus says: "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance."
Yeah, my characters are never going to be perfect. They're never going to make exactly the right decision, every time. They are going to mess up and go running to God to get their booboo kissed and therefore fixed. Because you know what? I'm the HUMAN author and that's what I do in real life. "Hey Lord. Father God, it's me, JD again. Yeah, you know I messed up again. Thanks for still loving me anyway."
Let he/she who is without sin, cast the first stone. Go ahead, I'll wait.