Today I’m sharing a reading I did for Alex Cross. Alex is a geek you see and he needs love. He’s been having a bit of a hard time finding it. Sara Brookes asked me to help him out. Now I should be clear about one thing. Alex is a figment of Sara’s imagination.
Welcome to my Character Readings! I pull five cards for a fictional character and their author answers as the character. This is a lot of fun for me. I will always let you know if I have read the book first. Normally I have not. Since today is release day for Sara Brookes latest–Break Me In, you can be assured I haven’t read this one–yet!
So I’d like to welcome Alex Cross to the blog today. Let’s see what his reading says.
Arwen: How do you see the people around you?
Well you see them as happy and in love and having the life you don’t. Family is very important to you but you don’t think you deserve that, do you? This is the 10 of Cups.
This is the card of Happily Ever After, Alex. What most of us want to achieve. Yet this is you looking from the outside in. What holds you back?
And look at all the cups here. Do you depend too much on other things to see you through? Do you allow other things to ease your pain of not having this happiness you see in others around you?
Perhaps this is someone you lost and you still see your happiness reflected in “could have beens”?
Alex’s Response:
That is…eerily accurate. I watched my brother fall head over heels with the love of his life while my marriage was falling apart. And when I finally accepted my wife was never going to accept me for who I was, what I wanted, I drown my sorrows searching for the bottle of every bottle I could find.
Arwen: How are you seen by the people around you? Uh oh! They see you as someone who steals from themselves. Not a thief to be afraid of, but someone who denies themselves the joys of life. This is the Seven of Swords.
Alex, they would love to help you change your way of thinking. The swords here represent your own battles with yourself and there are those near you who would like to help you stop hurting yourself.
Alex’s Response:
You’re right, I’ve denied something about myself for a very long time. I was lying to myself, too, something I’m now on the path to rectifying.
Arwen: What is your most important goal? Judgment is a HUGE card here. This says that you have set your mind to rising up. You have realized that you have issues that need to be addressed. You are ready to move on them and change yourself. This is the card of Judgment.
You also have something to prove to someone other than yourself, I think. This goal is to show them that you are more than they said you were. Those words hurt but you have used them to get strong.
This goal is transcending your own blocks. Good job!
Alex’s Response:
Oh yeah, I got a great big kick in the ass that nudged me right over the edge and got in my face without any kind of apology for it. Still hurts, but I wouldn’t have it any other way now.
Arwen: Where do you get your strength from? The Nine of Cups is the make a wish card. An intriguing response to this question about strength. You make wishes come true—for yourself and for others. It’s a gift. Here is the Nine of Cups.
Your strength, Alex, is that you know how important belief and faith are. You understand on a molecular level that trust is the key to all good things. Your strength comes from your ability to trust that someone really does want what’s best for you.
Alex’s Response:
I didn’t fully understand trust until recently. Something happened that made me realize somebody I thought I loved and was destined to spend the rest of my life with was just using my trust against me. It really opened my eyes to a lot of things, mostly to a woman who was standing right in front of me all along.
Arwen: Why do you want to be remembered?
Ye Gods, man! Death? Don’t panic. This card is about transformation so complete that there is no going back to the old Alex.
You want to be remembered as a man who remade himself. As someone who used painful changes to become a better human being.
Death is a hard card if you don’t hold on to the fact that it is about change. Painful, unyielding change that you can’t go back from.
But I think maybe you don’t want to go back to your former self, do you? This Death of old self is a very good thing to be remembered for. Perhaps you will serve as a good example for someone else.
Alex’s Response:
I don’t want to go back to the old me. I have very few good things to say about him. Other than he helped me get to where I am today—spending my life with the woman I love, and who loves me right back. So maybe I should thank him.
Need to read a bit more? Check out an excerpt from Alex’s tale here.
And there’s a contest!
Ready to just get the darn book? Me too! Click here.
Itching to finish a book or get one started? Got a story that must be told (and sold)? I invite you to take my e-course. You will have thirty three days of lessons, journal prompts and handouts to help you on your journey to FINISH THE DAMNED BOOK.
. I got an ARC (advanced reader copy) because I whined–a lot. It’s a great start to what I expect will be one of those series you just have to read. Learn more about 
