Hello everyone! I’m Nika, the writer behind this newsletter.^^
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Hello dear readers!
How was your weekend so far?
Only one more day to go until Christmas!
For some, that might sound exciting, and for others it’ll be a sigh of relief to know that the busy holiday season will soon be over.
Whichever end of the spectrum you fall on, I hope you can switch off your busy mind for a while with this newsletter and let me carry you off into the world of fiction.
Or in this case, the behind-the-scenes of my current romantic short novel WIP (work in progress) A Sweet Disruption.
If you haven’t read the first newsletter about my WIP, where I introduce you to the plot and two of my favorite subcharacters, you can take a look here.
As you have probably noticed, I made a new cover for all coming WIP updates!
I hope you like it, and if you do let me know in the comments!
But now, without further ado, let me introduce you to the two main characters of A Sweet Disruption, Liana and Arthur.
(And since it’s Christmas tomorrow, there will be a bonus section about how they celebrate the holidays!)
Liana Aymes
Liana is the female protagonist of A Sweet Disruption and the daughter of Rowenna Aymes, whom I introduced in the last WIP update. Her father left them rather unwillingly when she was young and since then it was only her and her mother, until Rowenna opened the book café Baked Novels and hired Sicilia.
Sicilia, who I also introduced in the last WIP update, is also a single mother of her daughter Tia.
Tia has been going to Baked Novels a lot with her mother since she started working there, and thus both girls often played together and became really good friends.
At the time the novel takes place, Liana and Tia, both 23 years old, are best friends and attend the same university in their hometown of Danbore.
Our female protagonist studies literature in the fourth semester with the main focus on creative writing (she is aiming to become an author in the future), and she takes an extra class in Tales and Folklore called Mystical History, which is open to all students on campus on a limited basis.
This is also the class where she meets Arthur for the first time, but we will talk about that another time.
Some might think that Liana seems quite distant and maybe a bit ignorant at times, but she simply enjoys a small but close circle of friends and family and doesn’t let it show easily if she is interested in someone before she doesn’t know their true intentions.
That’s also she is friendly, but still cautious the first few times she meets up with Arthur.
Likes
Liana’s favorite things are her mother’s lemon drizzle cake, sunshine, taking walks at night under the stars, and every animal in existence.
She also loves Baked Novels and she spends a lot of time there because it’s right below the apartment she lives in with her mother.
Dislikes
She hates loud noises, so she will definitely be the first to leave at a disco or party. For some reason she ate a bad strawberry when she was younger, so now she has developed a huge dislike for the fruit, and one thing she absolutely cannot stand is when someone is trying to pick a fight with her (yes, she has been in fights before, no, she isn’t very proud of it, but yes, she won), but she will still defend herself or a loved one if she deems it necessary.
Arthur Leroy
Arthur is the male protagonist of A Sweet Disruption.
He grew up in a family of four: Lilian Leroy, a very caring mother who often reprimanded him when he got into mischief with his one year younger brother, Nicolas Leroy, and his father, Ferdinand Leroy, who is a very open-minded man and runs a hostel, a little castle he renovated with some of his friends. He also has a grandmother to whom he is very close, Gretel Leroy, and whom he visits as often as he can.
He met a young boy named Matthew in high school when he was playing catch with one of his other friends and accidentally hit him with the ball. Well, what can you say? They have been best friends ever since.
One of Arthur’s favorite companions is his ginger cat Rufus, who lives with him in his two-bedroom apartment in Danbore.
He studies languages with a the main focus on English language at Danbore University while taking a few extra classes, including Mystical History, where he meets Liana for the first time and takes and instant interest in her.
Our male lead has been taking martial arts lessons in aikido and boxing since he was 15, so he knows how to defend himself, or attack, depending on the situation, which came particularly in handy at a certain point in his life, but I don’t want to spoil too much of the plot, so more on that later.
He is a very outgoing character, taking after his father, and likes to flirt with Liana. He often catches her off guard with his honesty, but at the same time it’s one of his qualities she appreciates the most.
Likes
He has a weak spot for dark chocolate and cats, especially for Rufus, and he likes to move his body, practicing martial arts or going for a run.
Dislikes
Arthur doesn’t really fancy any kind of bug, but he can tolerate them. There is one particular book that he came to dislike after a bad incident, but again, I don’t want to spoil too much yet, so more on that part at a later time.
Other than that, he dislikes anything that keeps him from his daily happiness or the people he loves.
Liana’s & Arthur’s Christmas Traditions
Christmas with the Aymes
Since Sicilia and Tia have become a part of Liana’s family, they always celebrate Christmas together in Baked Novels.
After all customers have left the store, they close up the book café and Rowenna brews a big pot of hot chocolate for all four of them and hands out cookies, while Sicilia cooks a delicious Christmas dinner with the help of the two girls.
After dinner, they all exchange gifts in the back of the store, sitting in the comfy chairs where customers usually take a break to browse through their newfound books.
The cozy evening always ends with laughter and lots of stories that are traditionally repeated every year, while Sicilia’s cat, Louis, snores contentedly on his owners lap.
Christmas with the Leroys
Christmas with Arthur’s family is always a little chaotic, but he loves it anyway.
The family of four celebrates the holiday by taking a long afternoon walk together. They talk about their lives, joke around, and the two brothers will always end up chasing each other while their mother shouts for them to behave themselves and their father laughs and puts a loving arm around his wife to calm her down.
When they get back home, they put finishing touches on the Christmas tree, every one of them has a special ornament they traditionally put on on Christmas Eve, and his mother and Nicolas prepare dinner while Arthur and his father take care of setting the table.
For dinner, they always invite Gretel Leroy, Arthur’s grandmother, and after they are done eating, they sit around the tree and exchange presents.
The evening usually ends in a happy, slightly tipsy, laughter, affectionate teasing with lots of banter between the two boys and a Ferdinand Leroy who always showers his wife with especially many compliments after a few cups of mulled wine (he already does so normally) and a Lilian Leroy who is happy, but embarrassed by her husband’s behavior.
How do you celebrate Christmas? Do you have any special traditions in your family?
Let’s chat in the comments!
I’m still not sure if I will upload Memo Times next Wednesday, it depends on how busy I am over the upcoming holidays, but that said, I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and happy holidays!
-Nika.^^
A little reminder that you can get 30% off the yearly subscription to read all past and future WIP updates and other paid newsletters until December 31st here: