With Hands to Hold | ✔

|Fun Facts|

As customary of all my stories... Here's a little fun fact section!!

1) Spiraea and Vincents story was already decided before they even made an appearance in With Eyes to See, as well as one other couple! 😉

2) Spiraea's name was inspired by the flowers, Spiraea Vanhouttei. The aesthetic were so beautiful but still small and fragile and I felt like it fit the character so well.

3) I actually have a tree in my garden that grows these flowers which is where the idea first came from... I had a lot of frustration trying to find the name of the plant.

4) I went through about 4 different names before finally settling on Spiraea. All were flower names, something about the delicacy and growth of flowers resonated with me when designing Spiraea's characters.

5) Vincents last name changed a gazillion times before I stuck with Russo. I wanted it to be evident that his family were of Italian decent.

6) Vincents name was actually Vincenzo but I was reading a book with the same name at the time and the characters were so different I could no longer picture my character with that name.

7) Larissa is mixed race, her mother Anika was of Russian decent. So baby Larissa is Italian, English and Russian. Since Anika is dead, and Ellis doesn't have such a big part in the story I didn't see it fitting in anywhere.

8) There were some references to Trinidadian folklore, because well I am from that part of the world. Papa Bois and Mama D'Leau who run 'forest fittings and things' are actually figures of Trini folklore.

Papa Bois is the guardian of the forest and animals and Mama D'Leau (or Dlo) is a protector if river animals. In folklore  She's a beautiful humanoid snake like creature (think medusa from clash of the titans) and Papa Bois is often depicted something like saytr, with hooves for feet and horns, and he's also incredibly muscular.

9) Spiraea was supposed to have a kind of trial, like Leora had a challenge, to become Luna but I couldn't think of anything that she would actually win at. The character she was at the start of the book was not made to be a Luna, she kind of grows into it nearer to the end but she is not the kind of Luna like my previous female leads who choose to be involved in the work that the Alpha does. Her Luna role comes more about her nurturing role within the pack community.

10) Vincent was meant to be a hot-head and incredibly impatient. We do see him like that sometimes but never with Spiraea. I think the reason I made him extra careful around her was that if he fucked up with her, there would be no second chance for him. I knew it and I think he knew it too.

11) Marianne was supposed to have a bigger role!! I'm kind of upset she faded into he background, but at the same time I'm glad that Raya made connections within the pack that she could rely on instead of just having to rely on Marianne all the time.

12) I admit this story was supposed to be far more darker, just because of all the things that Spiraea went through. But it's kind of better that it's not as dark as I was tempted to make it, because the story is about Spiraea finding a kind of healing with Vincent, and realising the world isn't as cruel as she was made to believe.

13) Max is always referred to as THEIR son, from the very start when they meet him both Vincent and Spiraea have a connection to him. I think that to be a real parent, it doesn't necessarily mean a child has to have your genes. I wanted to make it clear that they were always meant to be a family, call it another part of fate. But Max is their son.

14) Vincent and Spiraea were never supposed to get married in any sense of the word. I felt like Spiraeas background meant that she didn't like the idea and Vincent didn't really mind just staying as life partners but as the story evolved it never really suited the characters. Their closeness as a couple is special. It's something  that has basically been a lifeline to them through difficulty, and it doesn't make sense that they wouldn't want to celebrate that.