Dear Lia

The author has a new novel next door, She Is the Protagonist of an Otome Game. The blurb is at the bottom. Feel free to take a look if you're interested.

/

A small-town story with a light ensemble cast

*

Leah Rose is a regular on the New York Times bestseller list. The worlds she writes are filled with the warmth of smoke curling from small-town chimneys and the fairy-tale whispers of breezes by the lake.

But when it comes to love, her first thought is rain.

She remembers three rains: when she was eighteen, twenty, and twenty-five.

It was the 1980s in America, an era defined by Madonna's pop hits and the glittering dreams of yuppies. The big cities brimmed with desire and ambition. The whole country seemed to be at one grand party, chasing dreams that were louder and more dazzling.

It seemed that an entire era of noise and upheaval stood between them.

Yet three quiet rains connected them.

*

Oakwood, a small town on the fringes of the American South. Moon Lake rests in the embrace of maple and elm trees, and the summer of their eighteenth year stretches on as if it will never end.

Leah and Leo are like two trees growing side by side, their roots entwined beneath the soil, their branches brushing in the wind.

Reader notes:

1v1, childhood friends

The background details are based on online sources. Please go easy on me if anything is inaccurate.

/Coming soon: She Is the Protagonist of an Otome Game

The Tale of the Camellia is a Japanese-style otome game set in the Taisho Romantic era.

In a dazzling age where Western civilization mingles with Japanese culture, it tells the story of the heroine, Tsubaki Naruse, and her tangled relationships with several men.

Tsubaki Naruse is the only daughter of the historic Naruse-ya kabuki family.

Yet her life is trapped in a strange cycle. Time always rewinds at a certain point, and the same life plays out again and again: once, twice, three times...

After so many loops, she can hardly remember when she first noticed something was wrong.

On that rainy day, the mansion was damp and gloomy, like an ancient scroll soaked through.

When she was fourteen, she spoke coldly to her half-brother through the thin paper door of a closet: "Get out. I hate you more than anyone."

"I hate you more than anyone in the world."

In an instant, the world froze.

The sound of rain, breathing, light... Everything faded like ink wash.

That was when time began to rewind.

Eventually, she discovered that she wasn't trapped in time by chance. She was inside a romance game that had yet to be completed.

She wasn't a bystander. She was the protagonist.

To return to a normal life, she has to complete every male lead's route. Each playthrough has the main route for one male lead, as well as side routes for the others.

For instance, the rejected-girl route... and the homewrecker route.

Reader notes:

* An alternate-history Japanese Taisho-era setting. Related details are based on online sources.

* The female lead has previous sexual experience, while the male leads do not. No official pairing. The extras include alternate routes.

Theme: Study hard and improve yourself every day.