Feeling the Love -- Mason & Gia
Time is ticking! Tomorrow is St.Valentines Day! Despite how you feel about the actual day itself or whether you intend to celebrate it, this week I have posted about the characters I've created -- The couples within my stories. If you've read my books, you'll recognize them and you can comment on your own views. If you. haven't, I hope these intrigue you to read more.
Now, I should remind everyone that I write clean romance. My reasonings were discussed in last week's post (Feb 03 2025, titled "Where's the Romance?") but you can expect PDA and flirting at most in my books. Insinuations and innuendoes as well. But does that make for a crappy romance book? Nope. In fact, I doubt you'll even miss the spicy scenes.
(NOTE: All photos are AI representations of the characters created using various AI apps on Canva.)
So let's get started with my fourth and final main character coupling -- Mason Beaudrie and Gia Bennington from "One Hell of a Best Seller" in Could've Been Something, The Allegheny Chronicles: Veil Falls, and The Allegheny Chronicles: The Warrior Returns. They also have another work in progress that will be released this spring. If you've missed my other three posts, you can find them by clicking here.
Q: How did you come up with Mason and Gia?
Mason and Gia first appeared in a story called "One Hell of a Best Seller" in my short story collection "Could've Been Something." It is about an established mystery author deciding to try her hand at writing a smutty romance novel because that's what is popular and she wants a best selling novel. Of course, it doesn't go as she hopes it would go. I never intended for them to go beyond that short story, let alone become part of the Allegheny Chronicles. Their story just kept going so I kept writing and they have developed into at least three more books.
Q: How are Mason and Gia different from your other characters? How are they similar?
Mason and Gia. Let's start off with their similarities. The male characters in my books are all military or veterans. They have all been through things. They are all strong, fiercely loyal, focused, and manly. My female characters are all strong, loyal, loving, and smart as well. They hold everything together and are the anchors for their men. They are equals. But Mason and Gia are more "complicated." Now for Mason, he's got so much going on within him that being "together" is a façade he shows. He doesn't want to be noticed. He wants to go with the flow. He just wants to live a quiet life and have the comfort of being average. He wants to just do his job. He has a difficult time being appreciated by women in his dating pool. He feels very deeply. He has a lot of heavy secrets he is keeping to himself, including the events he went through in his past which have unfortunately led to PTSD, panic attacks, and suicidal thoughts. He's fighting an invisible battle that no one in his life seems to know about...Except for his father because he can't hide it from his father. And then, he's got a secret he's held for what seems like his whole life, one that he feels makes him less-than-desirable, a mutant, and even more alone. And then there's Gia. Gia has her mind in the clouds, constantly writing about life instead of living it. She seems oblivious to Mason, who has been one of her best friends for over 20 years. She leans on him, depends on him, and is very close to him. She seems to use her heartbreak of her one past relationship as a prison, an excuse, so she doesn't have to lose her heart again. It's almost like she is keeping herself from becoming attached to anyone. Unlike Ryan and Angelina in Along the Way, the friendship between Mason and Gia isn't mutual flirting. Unlike Brian, Mason knows how relationships are supposed to go. Unlike Avonlea, Gia isn't entirely confident in herself because she views her one true love as being an ex that she broke up with. Like Eden & Barrett, they have an instant connection but unlike Eden and Barrett, there is no leap of faith and for all appearances, Mason is alone in having lost his heart....Until things move very rapidly. I don't want to give too much away for those who haven't read their story yet.
Q: Mason has incredible bad luck with girlfriends, people, and life (it seems.) Gia seems stuck on her ex and has put him in the friendzone. Should Mason have spoken up about his love for Gia?
One of the 'turn offs' for some women will be Mason's insecurity about telling Gia how he feels. He's known her for twenty years, he's been in love with her, and he's aware she doesn't seem to share his feelings, but at the same time, he wants to tell her. One of the beautiful things about Mason is that he truly cares. He doesn't want to cause their friendship to end and he doesn't want to cause Gia to run away from him. He claims that the song, "You Don't Know Me" is his theme song with Gia. The story of Mason and Gia is still ongoing so only time will tell if his pain of a seemingly unrequited love is going to pay off in the end.
Q: What is an alternate direction you considered taking their romance?
I don't wish to give away spoilers here because their story is still a work in progress, but I did consider some different directions in "One Hell of a Best Seller" such as having Gia get back together with the ex that she pined after, only to realize her own feelings for Mason. I wasn't sure what or how it would go. That story is seen from her point of view. In that story, I also considered introducing another strong, likeable female character who understood Mason and have instant chemistry but have her be a "red herring" that makes Gia jealous. I just went with the direction that flowed better, but once their story became part of the Allegheny Chronicles, it went off on it's own direction. It's still going and even I'm not sure where it will end up. It'll be a fun surprise for all of us!
Q: It's Valentine's Day. What songs are Mason and Gia going to dance to?
Music has always seemed to be more of something Mason pays attention to than Gia. Songs have meaning for Mason. So, he's going to be the one to ask Gia to dance at Jim's Bar on Friday night (if he's not working) to Under My Skin by Nate Smith or Fall Into Me by Forest Blakk. Both songs are about being "saved" by meeting the other person.
------
Comments
Post a Comment