It’s been a year since the release of my final book in the Lost Heritage Trilogy, and I can still remember the inspiration behind the darker, misunderstood character of the youngest sister, Marissa Rossi. Ever since the first book, Call of the Celts (and into the second book, A Tuscan Treasure), Marissa was the wayward, sassy, rebellious side of a sister who appeared to be nothing but a selfish, spoiled brat.
But as this final book unfolds, we finally see what lay hidden behind the surface of a very troubled young girl who used sex and words as her weapons.
No one knew the trauma she endured as a child, and that loneliness created a hardened woman with a tough shell. A high school teacher who violated her trust. A brother-like role model who abandoned her in her time of need. Her too preoccupied family ignoring her cries for help. Marissa internalized all that happened to her, and instead, created an armor that couldn’t be penetrated.
It isn’t until she confronts her jealousy of her sisters, permits herself to release her emotions through creativity, and faces a precarious situation that she realizes how powerful she truly is—and how it’s okay to be vulnerable.
Though torn between two men vying for her love—each usurping the other’s trustworthiness in her eyes—she finds comfort and wisdom in the most unlikely of places: her quirky long-lost cousin. He helps Marissa to see the demons within her that want to be released through art, and it’s more than the past that she finally breaks free of.
She finds herself connecting more deeply than expected to her lost heritage: a double-headed dragon statue that represents all that is light and dark within every human.
By embracing who she is fully and without apologies, Marissa is finally able to follow her heart. The conclusion brings together the final puzzle pieces of the sisters’ complex relationships, the reveal of their secret tormentor and the mysterious heritage left behind by their grandfather in the heart of Barcelona, Spain.
To hear more about my thoughts on the development of my character, Marissa, and how I connected to her, check out my video book review, Find Yourself in a Character:
Find the books here: https://www.jennydeeauthor.com/the-lost-heritage-trilogy
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