The Heartbeat of “A Boy From Before”

Some characters arrive quietly.

Jon Paul didn’t.

In Book 1 (The Option), he’s barely mentioned by name, yet his presence is everywhere, shaping Gary’s heart, shaping his choices, shaping the grief he carries. By Book 2, it’s Jon Paul’s love that silently reinforces what’s coming. And in Book 3, A Boy From Before, Jon Paul finally steps into the light and tells his own story, his life, his love, and the reason he chose to wait for Gary on the other side.

From the moment he appeared in my mind, Jon Paul felt less like a fictional creation and more like someone who had always been standing just outside the doorway, waiting for me to invite him in. If you’ve read A Boy From Before, you already know how deeply he threads himself into the lives around him. If you’re new to the series, or simply curious about the boy readers keep asking me about, this spotlight is for you.

A Life That Begins in Denver

Jon Paul’s story starts the way many love stories do: with two young men discovering that the world feels wider and kinder when they find each other. Denver becomes their home base, their place of laughter, late-night movies, coffee shop confessions, and the quiet rituals that make a life feel shared.

People often ask whether Jon Paul is based on someone I know.

The truth is: like many of my characters, he began as a blend of people, faces I’ve known, voices I’ve heard, moments I’ve tucked away. But somewhere along the way, he stopped being a blend and became someone entirely his own. Jon Paul grew into himself, and once he did, I just followed along.

Another question I hear often is about the hospital scenes. “Did places really turn away AIDS patients? That doesn’t seem right.”

It wasn’t right. But it was real.

There were hospitals where doctors couldn’t officially treat AIDS patients; if they did, they risked losing their jobs. Fear and misunderstanding led to cruelty, and too many people died without compassion or proper care. Gary’s experience with Jon Paul’s parents, their rejection, their refusal, is not exaggerated. Sadly, it reflects circumstances I learned about firsthand.

Jon Paul’s journey takes him through illness, the limits of time, and the grief of leaving someone he loves behind. But in this series, death isn’t the end. It’s a doorway.

Between Lives: The Other Side

Early on in Book 3, we learn what happened to Jon Paul when he died. More than that, we discover how his role was so important in Book 1. When Jon Paul crosses over, I didn’t want his afterlife to feel abstract or mystical. I write the other side as a place with real locations, real emotions, and real decisions. And so, Jon Paul's time there had to feel like a continuation of who he was: gentle, observant, full of longing but also hope.

In the world of the Tower, love leaves an imprint, a signature that doesn’t disappear just because a lifetime ends. Guides walk beside you. Memory becomes promise. And you get to choose what comes next.

That was important to me.

Jon Paul doesn’t choose to hover, or haunt, or cling. He chooses to wait with purpose. To try again. To return to the boy he loved.

That choice shapes everything that follows.

Becoming Zack

When Jon Paul is reborn as Zack Perez, he enters a new life with new parents, a new culture, and no conscious memory of who he once was. But the emotional fingerprints remain.

A song.

A tower on a hill.

A feeling of having loved someone he hasn’t met yet.

Through Zack, I wanted to capture that almost universal experience of déjà vu, moments that feel borrowed from a life we can’t fully remember.

Writing Zack meant honoring Jon Paul’s past while allowing him to become something new. He’s not a copy of the boy he was; he’s a continuation, a second chance shaped by new experiences, new friendships, and new identity.

That tension between past and present, between echo and discovery, is the heartbeat of A Boy From Before.

Why Jon Paul Matters

I’ve said before that Jon Paul is the soul of this series, not because he’s tragic or noble, but because he is human.

He loves deeply. He makes mistakes. He fears being forgotten. He hopes anyway. He chooses connection even when he’s terrified of losing it.

Through Zack, he gets a second chance, not to redo the past, but to grow beyond it. To become more than the boy who died too young. To become someone who understands that love doesn’t vanish.

It transforms.

It adapts.

It finds a way forward.

At his core, Jon Paul represents the courage to love again, even after everything.

Where His Story Leads Next

Without spoilers, I can say this:

Jon Paul’s presence doesn’t fade after Book 3. His choices ripple forward. His memories stir things awake. And his love, quiet but persistent, continues shaping what Zack and Flint discover about themselves, each other, and the lives they once led.

There are secrets waiting.

Revelations coming.

And a future neither of them could have imagined.

Jon Paul set everything in motion.

And I can’t wait for you to see where his legacy leads.

Mj