I also love the driven-ness of Pierce's characters, which is why I made it through the Alanna series at all, in spite of me tossing it across the room during the Jon parts. Couldn't believe when I found out that Pierce had originally intended for Alanna to marry Jon and only changed that later. D=

I do like that she doesn't end up marrying her teenage lover, though, that happens far too rarely (and marrying your second teenage love isn't necessarily much better, JKR!)