When you finish a good book or TV series, do you cry? I do.

Penned initially in July 2024 for my Janet Writes Substack, but timeless for anyone still emotionally recovering from The Bear, Lessons in Chemistry, or that one novel that wrecked you in aisle 7 of Barnes & Noble. In this post, I confess my habit of grieving fictional characters like they’re exes who ghosted me — and explore why endings hit so hard when the storytelling’s good. If you’ve ever ugly-cried over a season finale or whispered “I miss you” to a paperback, this one’s for you.

Word count: 942