My Heart to keep

My Heart to Keep began as a short story that I turned into the book's prologue. After writing the initial scene, I knew I had to turn it into a book.

Vanity was as shallow as they come. She wasn’t necessarily a likable character, but she was honest. I wanted to highlight how Vanity viewed status because there was a contraction that I had to point out. There is a section in the book where Triumph addresses how Vanity has a high standard for the men she’ll date, yet she was willing to give him pieces of her believing that he wasn’t on her level.

I firmly believe that everyone should have standards that we stick to. However, we have to question if these standards are of our own choosing or rooted in society’s forced standards. If not society’s, then that of our parents.

The way we are raised plays a major role in who we grow up to be. Though we are not our past traumas, they have a hand in who we become. Vanity was the perfect reflection of that. She had always been the perfect child in her parent’s eyes because she lived according to their rules. It only made sense for Vanity to struggle between following her heart or believing her parents’ ideologies.

Triumph was sure of himself. He wasn’t going to allow Vanity to treat him as if he wasn’t worthy. Although some readers believed Vanity didn’t deserve Triumph, I wrote him to compliment her. Logically, she had to be with someone that could help her see her stubbornness. Triumph wasn’t going to coddle her nor compromise his standards to be with her.

In the end, Vanity and Triumph chose to give one another their hearts.