Big Feelings: introducing the characters
Four weeks, and happy pride!
Friends and ex-lovers (probably),
Happy pride month to all who celebrate! I hope you’ve sprayed love and good vibes on all your queer friends, and told them that you’re proud AF of who they are.
What a perfect moment to be introducing the next instalment of the countdown to my book, Big Feelings, which is out in four weeks today YEE-HAW.
(I’ve been listening to a lot of ‘Disco Cowgirl’, can you tell? The key change gets me EVERY TIME.)
Episode 2: The Characters.
Meet Sadie Thomas.
She’s neurotic, lovable, obsessed with finding and living out her own rom-com-worthy love story, but at the same time she’s resistant to the reality. She’s a cynic and a romantic wrapped up into one. She’s an enigma.
Sadie grew up on a diet of ‘90s rom-coms she watched every Friday night with her single dad, Sebastian, and constantly heard about the epic international story of how her parents met. At the same time, her gay aunties were force-feeding her feminism from a young age and that’s left her both fierce and broken, confused and hopeful.
Throughout the span of the book, Sadie moves from her late 20s to her early 30s and we meet a bunch of other characters too. Roll call plz!
Sebastian: Sadie’s dad, born in California, total legend, cries as much as Jude Law in The Holiday
Sarah: Sadie’s cousin, a few years younger but wise beyond her years and Sadie’s rock when she’s heartbroken. When Sarah moves out of home ‘with a mortgage and a man’, Sadie says to her:
‘Does it ever bother you that you were raised by two moon-worshipping lesbians and turned out to be such a basic bitch?’
Lacey and Jo: Sadie’s aunties, chaotic and glorious, their house is a shrine to their shared personal and spiritual history
Then we have Sadie’s best friends Honey and Ted, and her ex’s: the very first love of her life, Mitchell Hancock (she was 11), Nelson – Sadie’s first girlfriend, the model-slash-influencer who now lives in London, and then Blue – the tattooed bartender from Portland, Oregon who swept Sadie off her feet.
And, of course, Chase Anderson. The one who breaks up with Sadie at the beginning of the book, seemingly out of the blue. Chase is a musician-slash-bookseller (hot) and she knows what she wants in life. Maybe she’s sick of waiting around for Sadie to figure her shit out? Maybe she’s going back to her ex?
Sadie’s trying to find out.
If anybody asks, no, these characters are not based on real people. *insert smirky side-eye emoji* If anybody asks at the exact right moment after just the right amount of cheese and vibes have been ingested, I might have a slightly different answer. More to be revealed in a future episode of the countdown! Still to come: the setting, the inspo, and more.
Good news!
If you’re based in Sydney and surrounds, the link is live for my launch at Berkeleouw Paddington on Monday 7 July, 7pm! It’s free, there will be snacks, and the incredible Michaela Kalowski will be hosting me in convo. See you there?
Big love,
Amy x
P.S. I made another video for Instagram introducing the characters of Big Feelings, if you want to check it out.