An Assassin and His Blind Love Interest

Why, you may ask, would I write about a central female character who is blind? As one reviewer shelved, "DNF. Goodluck with this one".

I am fascinated with assassins and they always seemed to sport a strong, beautiful woman on their arm. Women who always happened to look perfect in comparison to the fantastic flaws of the hero. Check out a good assassin oriented movie like well, Assassin, starring Sylvester Stallone. Or Bourne Identity? Or Hitman?

But the weird me began thinking, what if... what if his love interest was blind? What would his challenges be, taking into account the chaotic world he's lived in? How would he protect the woman he loved then?

A Jar of Dreams and A Jar of Hearts documents the life of Eric Tanner who does just that. Faced with the consequences of the decisions he has made all his life, he only begins to realize that the price for those decisions may well probably be blind Anne Mullen, the woman he has hopelessly fallen in love with.

Was I able to successfully impart the angst, heartache, the tensions and the conflicts Eric Tanner was faced with? I hope so. As another reviewer puts it:

I loved how the love story part of this was so well-developed. It felt so real.

Medavis66, Goodreads                    

It was a proud, teary moment for me as I scannd through reviews pouring similar sentiments for the books because these two books were probably two of the hardest I had ever written. There were times I had doubted myself for ever pulling it off and there were certainly times I wanted to shelf them away for good. 

Having a blind character navigate her way through each page was a challenge. I certainly saw her in my mind but how do I show my readers exactly what I was seeing? And what of Eric Tanner's flaws? He is a murderer. He may have a conscience but he still was a murderer. Did he deserve Anne?

I took to the movies and binged on romances with blind leading characters such as At First Sight (1999), Blind (Netherlands), Fanaa (India) and Always (Korean).

Always (Korean) Trailer with English Subtitles

And I did not regret it because I was ecstatic when I found out that there were readers who enjoyed them just as much. I understand that the concept may not be suited to everyone out there, but the books served as an important lesson to me as a writer.

Never give up on a dream. If I worked hard at it enough, everything was possible!