Ellen Thompson

Ellen, a character in the Wishful Thinking book, is your rival and the former head reporter and daytime anchor of the Northbridge News. She becomes your friend towards the end of the story. She is first seen in Chapter 1.

Appearance
Ellen has brown eyes, black hair and dark skin. She wears a silky, green blouse and dark gray dress pants, and stilettos. You note she has a French manicure.

Personality
Ellen is shown to be blunt and rude to other station personnel and is not afraid to argue with her boss, Alec. If you decide to read her thoughts, you find out that she is overworked and doesn't want to openly admit it out of fear that others will see it as a weakness. This sense of pride and decision to save face is further proven when she objects to your character becoming junior reporter, as she feels that her position is threatened. As Aubrey reminds you, Ellen made her former co-anchor cry. She admits to being cutthroat and icy, but she chalks that up to being able to do investigative reporting.

In Chapter 12, if you adopted either or both pets, they are shown to be friendly to her and she appears to be an animal lover (or at least, tolerate them). If you adopted the cat, you will mention that Ellen is a cat person. If you adopted the puppy, she calls the puppy a "tiny warrior".

If you stay with Ellen in the hotel, she opens up to you considerably. She confides that her parents divorced when she was young and her mother remarried. Although she was initially happy for her mother and stepfather, she started to feel invisible and 'left out' after her half-brother was born. Ellen says, "I feel like I can never stop proving myself. As soon as I do, I'm invisible again," suggesting that her abrasiveness and aggression stem largely from insecurity.

Wishful Thinking

 * Chapter 1: I Can Only Imagine
 * Chapter 2: On My Mind
 * Chapter 3: Thought Process
 * Chapter 4: Good Idea
 * Chapter 5: Don't Think Twice
 * Chapter 6: Mind Games (Off-screen)
 * Chapter 7: Bright Idea
 * Chapter 8: Birdbrained
 * Chapter 9: Hold That Thought
 * Chapter 10: One-Track Mind (Mentioned) ​​​​​​
 * Chapter 11: It's Not What You Think
 * Chapter 12: Second Thoughts
 * Chapter 13: Mind Over Matter
 * Chapter 14: Think Again

Witness: A Bodyguard Romance

 * Chapter 16: Cliffs of Moher

Rising Tides

 * Chapter 11: Hell or High Water

Alec Burdock
Alec Burdock is her boss, and although she is abrasive towards everyone, he seems to be the only one who counters her arguments with more of his own. In Chapter 7, if you decide to follow her to find out what she is hiding (premium scene), you discover that she has been taking his bottles of sparkling water from his office.

In Chapter 9, if you tell Alec that she was snooping through his office, he fires her. If you tell him that she scared Anna yet again, he puts her on a one-month suspension.

Your Character
"She's actually so cute it circles back around to annoying."

- Ellen, about Your Character

As the ingenue, you pose a threat to Ellen and her job because your first two news pieces as a reporter became lead stories. In Chapter 5, she tells you that she thinks you're hiding something because it's strange that you came out of "nowhere" and, suddenly, you're climbing the reporter-ladder quickly. She tells you that she's going to find out what you're hiding and, instead of reporting the news, you'll be the news. In Chapter 7, if you decide to follow her, you hear her "thinking" that you don't have the instincts for the job and you can find out that she has been stealing Alec's bottles of sparkling water called Eau d'Brillance. You can choose to tell Alec or keep her secret. Either way, Alec kicks her out (by either firing or suspending her) and you are promoted to her position.

In Chapter 12, she works with you to uncover the secret about Oasis Unlimited. She knows you're a good person and a good reporter. You two go on a road trip to Oak Hills to interview some farmers who were affected by water contamination. After the interview you can choose to stay with her in a five-star hotel (premium scene). While in the hotel, you can either sleep on the couch, or sleep with Ellen and have an intimate moment with her. In Chapter 13, if you decide to go to the bar with her, Anna, and Jaime (premium scene), you have the option of dancing with her and kissing her. Although you cannot be intimate with her in Chapter 14, she shows up at your dad's house in the end with an idea of you and her co-anchoring a show in the future.

Trivia

 * She shares the same surname as Vera Thompson from Perfect Match, Book 2, the default surname of MC from Rising Tides as well as her family (Dad, Mom and Charlie), and Maria Thompson from Crimes of Passion, Book 1.
 * Her character model's facial features resemble Scarlett Emerson from Veil of Secrets.
 * The name Ellen is of English origin and means "bright, shining light". It's a variant of the Greek name Helen. In Ireland, it's also considered a variant of the name Eileen, which means "wished-for" or "longed-for child". Eileen is the Irish version of the English name Evelyn, who derived from the French name Aveline.
 * The surname Thompson is of English and Scottish origin, which means "child of Thomas". It derived from the surnames MacTavish and MacTamhais.
 * Her crimes include sabotage and theft.