Behind the Heroine: Hazel Young

Poor Donna has admitted that Oliver was hell to write because he didn’t have much to say. If we’d had a heroine who was equally reticent, this book could have gone downhill fast. Luckily there’s nothing shy or withdrawn about Hazel Young. In fact, if Oliver had had something to say, he might have had trouble getting a word in edgewise. After all, with Ginny as one of her main influences growing up, there wasn’t much chance she was going to turn out quiet and demure.

Hazel also will always be special to me, because she helped me break my personal record of how many times I could use some variation of the word ‘fuck’ in one sentence. As seen here in this snippet from Wild Card:

Hazel’s snarl tore through the room. “Oliver fucking Russell can go fuck himself, with his fucking hands and his fucking growling orders and all of his fucking hotness.” And with that completely incoherent statement out of the way, the girl burst into hysterical tears.

In spite of Lottie’s attempt to raise a well behaved young lady, Ginny has obviously had an affect on her vocabulary.

But all joking aside, in Calling the Bluff Hazel is facing a pretty awful situation. Most of the single werewolf men in town are suddenly paying attention to her, but it has nothing to do with who she is. Hazel’s too much of a romantic to enjoy attention from men who are only interested in the fact that she’s due to have her first mating soon.

And there’s that unfortunate question of Oliver Russell. Hazel’s been in love with him for a long time (in fact, in the book she mentions the precise moment she lost her heart to him). She’s experimented a little bit with human men, but sex with other werewolves is a whole different ballgame…and one her instincts aren’t interested in experiencing with anyone but Oliver.

I love this picture because it pretty much sums up both halves of Hazel. She’s not tough and tomboy-ish in the same way Ginny is, but there’s that glint of something in her eyes that makes it clear that Lottie didn’t raise a perfectly behaved young lady, either. She’s strong and she’s going to grow up to be formidable, but right now she’s a young lady in trouble, and Oliver may be the only one who can help her. It just sucks that he’s the one who could break her heart, too.

Calling the Bluff: On Sale Now