Readers bond with characters through happy and even funny events as well – the birth of a child, a wedding, Preacher and Paige trying to make a baby, Jack getting in deep trouble with his wife for interfering in everyone’s love life. The key factor is writing about things to which the reader can relate, and the truth is – we relate to positive and negative events.
When a writer takes a character through heartache to a satisfactory conclusion, for a reader it’s almost as though they’ve found some personal resolve. I don’t expect my readers to think real hard about why I made the decision that someone was going to die – I just expect them to read on and feel their own response to the situation. It’s pretty easy to figure out if you’ve screwed up on that life or death decision. When a reader writes that they cried and cried at that particular scene, you hit your mark, sad though it might have been. You provided the drama, created the tension and evoked the emotion. But when a reader writes that it made them furious and it seemed a senseless waste, you might’ve removed a character that the story couldn’t afford to lose. And the purpose was lost as well. 
Never including the harsh or painful side of life in a novel is like writing And They All Lived Happily Ever After in the first sentence. Our characters have to endure real life challenges so that we can watch them overcome and resolve their conflicts – it’s the entertainment factor. My preference is to treat my readers with kindness by keeping their favorite and most important characters safe. Life should be fair somewhere.
First of all, I’d like to say that I laughed and cried right along with your characters. The situations Rick dealt with, Preacher and Paige deciding to have a baby, Vanessa’s pain..all of it impacted me. Kudos to you for that, because that doesn’t happen to me very often.
I think you’ve done an excellent job of blending reality with the need for an HEA. Life is life. Unexpected things happen that hurt us or bring us joy, but one of the reasons I read romance is to take a break from reality, and see characters I’ve become emotionally invested in find happiness.
I think you’ve done a wonderful balance act.
Good job. 😛
Robyn,
You know how much I love your books even when you’ve killed characters. I’ve had to use many tissues reading your books.
I know I’m gushing. You are definitely worth it.
Ann M.
WOw, what a great post. And the last two lines…
My preference is to treat my readers with kindness by keeping their favorite and most important characters safe. Life should be fair somewhere.
Thats really awesome.
I mentioned this in my review on Whispering Rock, I think it was that I thought you did a wonderful job of making this series so…real. In order for this series to progress, we had to lose some really good characters and we had to meet new ones, I think you balanced all of this with ease and I just felt like I was in the thick of everything right along with the characters and that’s what made me totally love this series, GOOD EFFING JOB ROBYN! =)