So this is the meme I saw a couple years ago that got me started thinking about Tessa and Cooper.

Back up–Tessa and Cooper are the two main characters in my upcoming novel AboutLast Night. The cover just came out today (May 7th), and there is a special preorder-only price of $.99. Go ahead and one-click, I can wait.

Okay, back to the meme.

Typically I like older men. I think my underlying assumption is that an older man equals an emotionally mature man. Not hardly ever the case in reality, but I have an easier time fantasizing up an emotionally mature male when he’s in the form of a late thirty-something or older guy.

However, sometime during the fall-apart of my marriage, I saw this meme and it lingered with me a while. I got to thinking about those powerful women and how they didn’t need a man at all, so why not have fun with someone younger and more capable of keeping up with them? Also what an ego boost to have an attractive younger man find you, an older, more past-her-prime woman, attractive.

It took a couple of years for me, personally, to come around fully to the idea that if I ever enter into another relationship I would like to do it from a financially dominant position. I would like to not need someone. But Tessa was birthed on the day I saw that meme.

I thought about Cooper and what a slob he appears to be at the beginning of the story and what could make a fairly stable, steady woman like Tessa fall into his arms. She’s not that much older than Cooper, but divorce can make you feel used up and ugly and old. And the thrill of being hit on by a gorgeous younger man would, I think, appeal to anyone in her situation.

So that’s where she came from, and it’s lucky I remembered. I hardly ever remember character origins. Their evolution usually happens at a murky, semi-conscious level. But Tessa emerged fully formed out of my own newly found empathy for women who date younger men.

Okay, back to work for me.

P.S. If you’re a reviewer and interested in an ARC, you can fill out this form and I’ll get back to you as soon as possible.