I’m a mother of three, born and raised in the United States and I’m Puerto Rican. I was raised to be proud of my Puerto Rican heritage. I speak the language and will honestly admit that I’m failing my kids in passing on the language. If any of you have taken spanish in school you KNOW it’s not the easiest. My peers and I got in plenty of trouble for, “but it sounds right!”
Anyways, I digress. Today’s post was inspired by a Huffington Post article that claimed only 43% of those they polled knew that Puerto Rican’s are citizens. (If you want to learn a bit more on the history of our citizenship click HERE to learn more from the History Channel.)This is very upsetting to me. Sure I grew up knowing this. To me this is just a reminder of how lacking our education system is. I don’t know about you but short of the Mexican War and Spanish American War we were not taught a lot about Latinos and their impact or relationship within America’s history.
At the bottom of this article there was a side article for click bait. Yup they got me. It was images and quotes of various Hispanic actors in Hollywood. They were speaking out on the lack of casting and how growing up they didn’t see people like them on T.V. It’s true, it really is. We see more now at least. One goes on to say that only gang banger parts were offered, another says crack-ho parts, and another says they asked for them to use their accents. Oh, and the movie Argo? The part Ben Affleck portrays (I’ve never seen it) is a Mexican American man. (This can go two folds, one Ben was the best actor to come along and snag the part, or two shame on casting for not picking one of the many strong Hispanic actors to do the part. You can’t be upset you’re type-casted for how you look and then be upset they didn’t pick you but rather a different race for the part you look more the part of.)
This all saddened me because I can see what they are saying. Personally, I’m an advocate for humanity. I don’t care what you look like, where you come from, what language you speak, or who you have fallen in love with. I really don’t. I may be curious and ask because I’m fascinated about our differences and learning more about real people, not just text book or what stereotypes have told us to believe.
This then had me thinking about my characters. Sofia has exotic high cheek bones but her family line has been from New Orleans for quite some time and with her grandmother’s last name, Blanc, you know there is French ancestry. Noah is an all American man, born and raised and his background like so many people is very blended. Lindsey comes from an Italian American household with light skin and brown eyes. Marc is Puerto Rican, tan with whiskey colored eyes. Jaime Lynn is another American blend. Jesse is described to have milk chocolate skin with brown eyes.
Their careers in order, Juvenile Probation Officer turned photographer, prior Air Force Security Forces airman turned handyman, Librarian, prior Air Force airman turned Construction company owner/worker, Pub owner, and Bartender/Co-owner of a Bar/Brewery.
With all of the above I’ll share, Sofia’s exotic cheek bones and her career as a JPO was inspired by my lovely, beautiful best friend who is now one of my angels. My husband is in the Air Force and brews at home as a hobby. I have a Masters in Criminal Justice and I used to work in a library. I have family in New Orleans and love the city and the people. Quite a few of my friends come from first if not second generation Italian families. I had a few uncles who worked in construction so Marc’s occupation is a nod at them. And Jesse was originally a white southern man. That is until a friend of mine complained he was having a hard time finding a good woman to date. He’s a smart, funny, good looking black man and I thought this really sucked. So Jesse is my way of giving him a love story, even if he has NO CLUE that he inspired pieces of Jesse. I’m also glad I changed Jesse because there really are not enough interracial romance novels. The shortage of stock photos reinforces this fact.
After analyzing my characters I’m happy to see how so many facets of my own beliefs, experiences and the people I love and admire have brought my characters together. I don’t care what you look like or who you fall in love with. I do care about whether or not you are a kind, respectful and loving person. If you treat me and my family as such I like to think I’m a loyal person. If you don’t… well, how about we don’t share too much today?!
Well if you’ve stuck around this far know I’m super excited to share Noah and Sofia with you! You can pre-order now before I raise the price. The links are found HERE.
If you have any questions or thoughts go ahead and comment below. I like to think I’m an open book and sometimes I don’t know what you want to know about me. I’d love to hear from you!
ajrenee.com 
