Although this post title is tethered to Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, it has much more meaning for me.

My dear friend, Pammy, passed away from cancer on March 16, 2024. She was one of my biggest champions. She was an avid Beta reader, and she would not hesitate to call me out on things that would annoy her as a reader. I will never forget her strong opinion about the scent of jasmine in my first book. She was enraged. “Why does everything have to smell like jasmine?” I immediately changed the scent to lavender.

She had the biggest heart, and she was funny to a fault. During a fundraising benefit, we were reduced to fits of giggles in a church and had to do our best to reign in our laughter. Her biggest wish was for me to create a character that was an albino. It was our running joke. Fast forward to the new book I have begun to write. Originally, the lead character was to be named Storm, but that changed as I plunged further into the story line.

In my other books, characters names came quite quickly, but with this book, I felt a slight hesitation. I had to do my research. Although Silas was the first name I came across that I liked, I had to do my due diligence and test drive some other names. After typing Silas ‘movie names’ into my search bar, this photo from The Davinci Code flooded my screen and I knew it was a sign from Pammy. Although she is not here to read this book, in a roundabout way, she finally got her wish for an albino in my book.

While my Silas will not have albinism, his namesake will be a tribute to my dear friend. I miss you, Pammy, and I hope this book doesn’t piss you off in any way. xx