This week, it’s Valentine’s turn! While there are many female characters in the Valentine and Valentine Apart series, I’m going to focus on the most important characters.

Val Entienne, aka Valentine: The first time you meet her, she starts out as a wild nineteen-year-old girl, who only wants to drive from Chicago to L.A., to save or father. Over the course of the series, she becomes so much more. She becomes a hero, best friend, and a fighter. Val doesn’t take any crap, and certainly will never play the role of “damsel in distress”. She’ll do anything to protect her family, including putting herself in harm’s way.

Veronica Entienne: Val’s cousin, best friend, and the voice of reason, when she needs someone to pull her back. She’s against violence, but slowly learns that sometimes, it’s the only solution. She lost her parents at a young age, and has lived with Val and her father Vincent ever since. Veronica is a caring person, and always stands by Val’s side.

Melinda St. James: She was waiting for a train to Tulsa, when Val saved her from a group of boys who were harassing her. Melinda sees Val as the ultimate hero: she’s brave and unafraid. Melinda is sweet and can be a bit naive at times, but she has a good heart.

Victoria Entienne: She’s the half-sister Veronica never knew existed. Victoria loves her sister, but she idolizes her cousin Val.  She has trouble trusting people, and it often takes her a while to open up.

Lola Vencent: She was John Rafferty’s Valkyrie, a hit woman who knows how to handle a gun. Lola has been a member of the Syndicate for years, and she knows it like the back of her hand. She lost her father, Luther Vencent, a prominent NY Attorney, when she was a child, and his death shaped the woman she later became. She and Val start out as enemies, but quickly become very good friends.

Mac Avery: People think she’s a little crazy, but the truth is, she’s just protective of the people she cares about. Mac and her brother Allan are hitmen and members of the Syndicate, but their loyalty is to each other and the people they care about. Mac’s methods of carrying out each hit may seem unorthodox, but she always gets the job done.

Jo Fuentes: Jo is a Marine who survived an explosion that killed all but two members of her unit: herself and Patrick “Sully” Sullivan. When she returns to the United States, a member of the Syndicate reaches out to her in hopes of using her skillset. Jo is tall, sarcastic, but very passionate about the people and things that matter to her. She takes a liking to Val the very first time she meets her.

Kelly McCormick: The highest-ranking woman in the Syndicate. Her father and uncle were members of the Irish mob when she was younger, so she’s no stranger to danger. Jo works for her, and while Kelly may be the only female sitting at the Syndicate’s table of leadership, she has no trouble making her presence known.

The importance of Val Entienne:

You seldom find a female character doing the things Val does in the series. She drives a classic Mustang. She knows how to handle a gun. She’s not afraid to fight someone, even if that someone is a man. I could have easily made Valentine a male character, but let’s face it: it would have been clichéd. I liked the idea of the “badass” in the story, being a young woman instead of a young man.

The importance of Jo Fuentes:

Jo is not the first LGBTQ character I have created, but she is the first to appear in a published W.E. book. She wants to be in a relationship, however, she begins to understand how dangerous her work is, and she doesn’t want to endanger anyone she loves. She’s one of the best hitmen in the Syndicate: she earns the nickname “Black Queen” after being the first to pass a weapons test with a perfect score and record timing. She’s also a Marine: she still reports to a commander on a routine basis. What makes Jo stand out from the rest of the hitmen, is her skillset: she can kill anyone, using anything , from guns and knives, to her bare hands.

Next week: The Ladies of Fortune’s Wing