Paper Perfect Characters

This weekend I was supposed to go on a date with a guy who seemed perfect on paper. If I had asked him to fill out an application to be my boyfriend he would have gotten the job. He was into art and seemed to be a nice guy, until it came time to go on the date. He wasn't there at the time he was supposed to be there, in fact, he sent me a text saying he was leaving ten minutes before he was supposed to be there. After waiting for awhile I sent him a text saying not to worry about it. He got angry and instead of rescheduling he demanded I go to him next time. He lives an hour away and I have issues driving to places I've never been. I can understand his anger, since he had already started driving toward me. Anyway, when I tried to make plans to reschedule and make actual plans he sent me a rude text saying he was busy and wasn't going to be around his phone (probably code for out with another girl, don't bother him), but if I wanted anything to do with him I would have to go to him. Before his rude text I would have had no problem going to see him, if I decided that I liked him, but we never went on that first date. I just had a picture of what I thought he was like. What does this have to do with writing? Well, he wasn't what I thought he was, and sometimes characters aren't either. People/characters are complex and have many layers (am I quoting Shrek?). In writing, just like in real life you have to peel back those layers and get to know what's underneath. When you write characters they have to come to life. They have to do things that make them reveal their layers, just like my date revealed another layer of his personality when he sent me a rude text. You have to put characters in situations where they reveal more things about themselves, the good and the bad. Readers won't keep reading a book where they can't they can't relate to the characters, that's one of the main things I see in book reviews. People talking about the characters and their actions and being driven crazy by them. The characters have to be real to the readers. Who wants to read a book they can't get lost in?