Ugly Love

Tate Collins is a 23-year-old ER nurse from San Diego who moves to San Francisco to pursue her master’s degree in nursing. She is the novel’s protagonist. For most of the novel, she lives with her older brother, Corbin, in his luxury apartment. Tate’s strength is her ability to love, but her inability to establish and maintain relationship boundaries is her weakness. However, late in the novel, she manages to set her boundaries by saying goodbye to Miles and moving into her own apartment. When Miles returns with his epiphany in Chapter 38, Tate is able to preserve her boundaries without sacrificing her loving nature.

Her relationships with family, friends, and even strangers exemplify her kindness and compassion. She is concerned about the unhoused population and always wants to help, even when others tell her she shouldn’t. She befriends Cap, whom most overlook because he is an elderly attendant. Tate is attentive to the good in people and wary of those with bad intentions, like Dillon. Throughout the novel, she upholds her integrity yet struggles with expressing her true self and feelings. Although Tate is initially disinterested in romance and appears emotionally guarded, she becomes able to express emotional vulnerability through her trying romance with Miles.