When Trilogies Turn Bad Guys Good

On Tuesday I advertised a kindle sale on a trilogy I was very excited about. I'm halfway through the 3rd book in that series now. The series follows 3 children, all the spawn of the ultimate bad guy of the book, and a little 'evil' in their own way, though mostly for the sake of survival against a ruthless guy. The 3rd book covers the youngest of the children; the daughter, Fia. 

I'm having a hard time coming to terms with the Fia written this book in comparison to the evil, picking spawn that was expressed in book 1 and 2. The author set the stage at the end of book one to allow Fia to grow and become a better version of herself by book 3, but I'm really not buying it. I don't feel like i'm reading about the same character. She has turned this semi-villain into a complete heroine. 

This is something I see a lot in writing, especially with historical romances who often link books & characters together. I wonder if I'm alone in this. Do you believe a character can have a total reversal of personality and repent sins? 

Let's take normal human nature into review here. I will partake a slightly exaggerated scenario of real life I recently witnessed.

Hero is an alcoholic. Hero has trust issues.

Hero falls in love. Hero tries self improvement for sake of love. Self improvement works slightly, but the greater problem- alcohol and trust issues are not addressed- and love fails.

As time goes on, Hero ages, grows, and starts working on issues on own. Love re-enters, and the previous barriers are not quiet as strong. Let's try this love thing again. 

HUGE life events occur (death of most beloved and sad nature). 

Alcoholic is no longer an alcoholic. But alcoholic still wants alcohol. And instincts to be mindful and a bit paranoid still exist. Controlled, but still exist. Love and Hero still together, and happy ever after is happy, but rocky moments occur.

Now let's examine how a historical romance works:

Hero is an alcoholic. Hero has trust issues.

Hero falls in Love. Love gets to know hero, and POOF, alcoholism gone, trust issues gone.

Aw, an't that sweet? No more is it ever mentioned that these issues were there to begin with. 

This trilogy doesn't go quite to those extremes, but it reminds me of the few others I've read which have, and it's hard to get into a story that makes me think of how good writing can go bad so very quickly. Sad.