Discover Aubrey Knight's WIP: Sunshine Moonbeam

EVAN "Evie" MacTHOMAS

WHAT IF the werewolf who fell in love with you turned out to be a giant cuddly lap dog of a man?

WHAT IF the MMC werewolf had... not "golden retriever energy" exactly... but more "labrador retriever energy"? He's punny and goofy, loves lounging about together but gets excited to go out and adventure, he decided you're his best friend, and he is obsessed with food? And he flies to your side to protect you when you're in danger?

WHAT IF he could be protective and loyal, or even a bit possessive once you became partners, but not prone to anger and violence? What if he felt safe?

WHAT IF he helped you get revenge on the men who wronged you in a creative, non-violent (and even magical) way?

I wrote the character of EVAN MacTHOMAS because:

(1) I am tired of male rage. We talk a lot about "feminine rage" in the bookish community. Male rage, as it is stereotyped, is what gets women killed for horrible reasons like "I'm drunk so I lost my job and now I'm angry at everything like the fact that a car cut me off at the intersection yesterday and you're not in the kitchen making me a sandwich because I deserve everything catered to me because I'm a high-value alpha male", whereas feminine rage tends to often be about enacting justice, or just and appropriate revenge. I don't want to be around the stereotypical male rage anymore. I want to create a story where the MMCs are walking green flags of how to appropriately manage male anger. Go to therapy if you keep lashing out and punching things out of uncontrolled and boiled-over male rage. My MMCs are grown-ass men who manage their emotions.

(2) I want to write about what it means to be truly loved and cared for. I grew up loved and cared for. I know what love and care feel like, and I have expectations that I wish I could share with everyone. We all deserve love and care in our lives, especially if we ourselves radiate love, and practice caring for the people closest to us. I keep saying love AND care together, because being loved without acts of love (care) leaves you feeling hollow. True love is being invested in the entire well-being of another person, it's being thoughtful of their needs and experience, and being happy to watch them grow and blossom into the person they were meant to be. I want my FMC character to have a true love enter her life, which provides contrast with the inadequate "love" of her past.

I think that Love is not just what you feel toward another person. You can say "I love them!" sure, but do they feel loved by you? Love is... like some untangible force held between two+ people, like a shared aura.

(3) I want cozy cuddly werewolf romance. I want to read about the playful, snuggly, unconditional love like from man's-best-friend- side of a guy who is a werewolf. I am tired of the "macho" or super tough dominant werewolf guys, the kind you envision in leather jackets hanging out at the bar or club (that they own), who are quick to pick a fight. I've read and loved many romance books with that type of werewolf, but I think it's been overused lately. I also want a werewolf pack without the fighting-for-dominance dynamics.

DAVID "Davie" MacTHOMAS

WHAT IF the werewolf who fell for you had a brother who also fell for you?

Note: Davie is not "Davey" because it's slightly more gender-neutral, and because his twin brother is also nicknamed Evie. Davie and Evie.

I wrote the character of DAVIE MacTHOMAS because:

(1) I love a man who ignores gender norms and does what he loves. He's a cisgender man who bends gendered fashions to his will, partly as a statement, and partly because he is just drawn to pretty things, including you. Davie could fuck you while wearing pink frills and fishnets, then go off to do a stereotypically 'manly' and tough sport like rugby, still wearing frills and fishnets. Awesome, whatever he wants. I'm attracted to men who are both delicate and strong, and there's strength in saying F U to the binary standards like 'men can't wear that'.

(2) I just want more "love-triangle rivalry becomes Fuck-it!, Why Choose? romance". Davie appearing complicates things for his brother. Unlike Evan, who made himself romantically unavailable on purpose to create what he thought was a safe space for Nora, and to prevent a prophecy from coming true by them getting too close, Davie has no reservations about letting Fate and love just happen.

(3) and as he is doing his best to flirt with Nora, she calls him out for pushing a boundary, and he respects that. He falls for her the moment she puts him in his place while opening up to him about her past. I want to emphasize green-flag behaviour such as boundary-respecting, permission setting, and just consent. In order to emphasize that, Davie shows character growth throughout the story. He enters hot and heavy, less thoughtful and a bit of a spoiled rich playboy... the playboy that his brother, Evie, used to be as well, but by the happy ever after, Davie has become a consent king. Character development is hot.