This podcast is a proud affiliate of Libro.fm. By clicking on this banner, we may earn a proceed of any purchases you make, in which case, we thank you very much!
Anastasia Hayward Samples Sophia White and Her Seven Promises
[00:00:00]
Katherine Grant: Welcome to the historical romance sampler podcast. I'm your host, Katherine Grant, and each week I introduce you to another amazing historical romance author. My guest reads a little sample of their work, and then we move into a free ranging interview. If you like these episodes, don't forget to subscribe to the historical romance sampler, wherever you listen to podcasts and follow us on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube.
Now let's get into this week's episode. I am super excited to be joined today by Anastasia Hayward. Anastasia lives in the Midwest with her husband and two little monsters, as well as her pets. She has been reading historical romance, especially Regency era romances, since the sixth grade. When she decided to get her degree in psychology, her husband mentioned that maybe it would be helpful for her characters and writing.
And now here she is, a [00:01:00] bachelor's degree, two sons, and a lot of words later, happy to be writing again. Anastasia, thank you so much for coming on the podcast.
Anastasia Hayward: Thank you. Thank you for having me.
Katherine Grant: Yeah, I'm really excited to hear a little bit of your work and then talk to you. So you're reading for us, something that I'm guessing is fairy tale inspired, Sophia White and Her Seven Promises.
Anastasia Hayward: Yeah. I will be reading from that. So the premise behind it is Sophia White and her seven promises, Snow White and the seven dwarves. And I, just as a little hint, I tried to match up the promises with a dwarf.
So I literally have a scene where like she's in a dusty area and trying to make a promise, but she sneezes.
Katherine Grant: Delightful.
Anastasia Hayward: So, Snow White inspired but also kind of its own story. To Kind of prep you, the doctor finds her in the forest, she's completely unconscious and he brings her back.
And then this [00:02:00] next chapter then is her waking up and kind of coming out of a bad nightmare and trying to fumble all of her thoughts together. Something fundamental teased her memory. Something more than her nightmare. She could not quite put her finger on what it was she had forgotten. Whatever it was, she would not get to it with the state of her head.
She couldn't even move to find out what else was in the room. Clean and white. The walls and ceiling were clean and white and that felt safe. She should probably know where this clean place was. That was something she should remember. Was that the thing teasing her memory? Why couldn't she remember where she was?
The wool blanket over her felt real. She rubbed her fingers against the fuzzy material and tried to think about being in a bed under a white ceiling with a wool blanket. These things must add up to [00:03:00] remembering something. Her head hurt, and there was nothing else there except for confusion and pain. She tilted her out over so she could see a wooden stand and a chair. There was a washbasin and rolled linen. Something else was missing, though. A chamber pot? Daylight danced through white curtains.
The room was not bright, but light enough that she could tell the sun was out. Another thought drifted in. Just as her dream had left and little wisps, more questions filtered into her mind. Who is taking care of her? Was she with family, friends? Was there a physician, an apothecary? Had she ever felt so alone before?
She couldn't remember. Eventually, someone would check on her. Someone would come in, probably in clean clothes, and maybe they would be surprised she was awake. And that someone would say things. It would probably hurt to process any sound, but she wanted the comforting presence of another human being more than she worried about noises [00:04:00] feeling like nails in her skull.
She was done staring at the washbasin. Closing her eyes, she used her ears to listen for any sounds. Outside, a bird tweeted. That sounded normal. There was not any bustle of a city street, so she was not anywhere busy. Warmth seeped around her heart along with a sweet sort of relief that she was recuperating in the quiet countryside.
For someone with excruciating head pain, there were still little things to be grateful for. The sun was shining, the birds were chirping, her room was clean. There was the soft click of a door latch and she felt the room's atmosphere change as someone came in. It might have been a small deception, but she kept her eyes closed.
It wasn't that she didn't want to know who entered the room. She wanted to know what they would do if they thought she was still asleep. Feet shuffled forward, slow and deliberate. The steps sounded purposeful. There was a warm, smooth touch on her wrist and a small metal click. A minute later, a masculine whisper muttered, "About one hundred."
The touch moved to her head, [00:05:00] and smooth skin delicately brushed hair away from her neck. Another quiet mutter. "Bandages are fine." Why hadn't she noticed the bandages on her head? Why had she not felt those sooner? Her eyes opened to see a tall man hovering over her. His crisp white shirt and dark waistcoat covered a broad chest.
Her gaze traveled up a clean shaven neck, a chiseled jawline, and a masculine face. The green golden brown of his eyes blended into a mesmerizing hazel and dark brown eyebrows scrunched together. His eyebrows perfectly matched the color of his short hair and she focused on how soft it looked with the dull sunlight behind the fine strands.
" You are awake." He left her side to drag over the wooden chair. His voice, deep and calming, blanketed her mind in comfort. If only she could remember who he was. How long had she been sleeping? His lips, a healthy shade of rosewood, smiled at her. She found his every movement far too intriguing and swallowed, self conscious of her unhealthy state.
This was the man [00:06:00] taking care of her while she was stuck in bed, wrapped in bandages? He had touched her a moment ago and suddenly the gesture felt much more personal than it probably had been for him. His voice warm, low, and blessedly quiet. He said, "Hello." She parted her lips. The simple statement, reassuring her she wanted to say something back, anything.
Her throat did know how to make sounds. Did it not? He went on. "Perhaps I should say good morning. If you are up to it, I will have breakfast brought up." She didn't have to respond to him with words. Her rumbling stomach did that for her while warm embarrassment traveled up her neck. He laughed, a sound she could listen to all day, far better than the chirping of the birds.
Now that she knew it was morning, her mind latched onto that tidbit and found a soothing amount of normalcy in knowing the time of day. Finally, she found her voice. "Good morning?" He immediately stood, and she winced at how scratchy her voice sounded even in her own ears. He brought her a sip of water and the clear taste of it washed some of the wool feeling out of her mouth.
He asked, [00:07:00] "how does your head feel?" "Excruciating." He nodded as if he knew the extent of her injuries and understood them. His every action made her feel validated. He held her finger up in front of her face. "Can you follow the movement of my finger with your eyes?" He moved his finger back and forth and she tried to follow it.
A sear of pain behind her eyes made her whimper. He nodded and withdrew his finger. "What is your name?" He asked it as if he had a list for a routine inspection. How is your head? Follow my finger. What is your name? She opened her mouth because that is what one did when one started to answer a question.
She closed her mouth because that is what one did when they realized they did not know what to say. She tried again. "I..." He prompted her softly. "Your name?" "I..." He pressed his lips together in a line, the simple gesture slicing her with doubt and worry.
She tried to pull [00:08:00] letters or sounds into her head, anything that sounded familiar, but nothing came. After stuttering over a few of the common consonant sounds, she sobbed, "I don't know." She didn't know who she was. She didn't know where she was, what happened to her, who he was, how long she had been here.
She didn't know her name. What was wrong with her? What kind of a person didn't know their name? The truly broken kind. And that was it. That was the thing teasing her head. The thing she had been avoiding since having woken. She had no memory, none at all. She could speak, and she knew things about the countryside and the birds, but when she thought about herself, there was nothing.
She was a featureless shadow in a world of sunshine. He thumped into the chair and clasped her hand in his, his grip encompassing and gentle. She watched his hazel eyes as they settled on her face. He was the epitome of calm, and he must somehow be sharing some of it with her. She took a deep breath, sniffled, and waited for him to say anything.
When he was quiet, she [00:09:00] latched onto an idea of hope. "You must know who I am. It is my head wound, is it not? It has affected my memory, but you can tell me my name." He shook his head and she realized how much she had put into that quick thought of hope. Her body felt as if it were plummeting back into the shadows, despair leeching away everything, her eyes closing.
He squeezed her fingers. She wasn't sure if the gesture was meant to reassure her or remind her that he was still there. He said, "You are safe here. It is not unexpected to forget some things. You are correct that you are healing from a head wound and we will focus on that healing one step at a time."
Safe. She did feel safe. She felt lonely, useless, full of despair, and pain circulated through her entire body. But she did feel safe. He went on, "We will focus on the small things for now. Rest is a must. It is the best thing for you and I know many things must hurt right now." Even though she had no memory, she was certain [00:10:00] that was the most understated comment she had ever heard.
Everything hurt. A lot. "But together we will make it better. Your body is healing and it is my hope that in time your mind will as well. One step at a time. You have cuts and bruises, many of which are already looking better. Your head wound is healing. That simple fact that you are awake now brings immense relief to me.
It shows me that we will continue to move forward with this process." He spoke of hope when she had so little. Then he split his hand from hers, gave her fingers a little pat, and she heard him stand. He had hope, but he wasn't the one lying in bed, bandaged, bruised, and broken. Tired, her eyes were already closed, but a heaviness tugged on the rest of her, pulling her down into the deep spiral of sleep.
She managed to blink her eyes a moment, expecting to see him standing there. She hadn't heard him move away. He was gone and she realized, belatedly, that not only did she not know her name, but she didn't know his. Adding it to the pile of things she didn't know, she felt the weight of [00:11:00] all the things she didn't even know she didn't know.
No, that was the weight of her sleepiness tugging her deeper down the spiral. There was probably another nightmare waiting for her at the bottom, but she was too tired to stay awake.
Katherine Grant: Wow, what a exciting and scary kind of excerpt. I mean, not scary spooky, but there are a lot of big emotions there.
Anastasia Hayward: Yeah that's why I chose it. I had one of my ARC readers kind of point it out is she really liked, She kind of privately messaged me to say she liked my approach to just handling all those big emotions.
I know Snow White is a fairy tale and a lot of people think like, oh, a Disney princess. But I, for me, I also feel like there's the Grimm fairy tales then that like, Those are not fairytale Disney princesses. So some of my story is a little bit more of that fairytale feel, but some of it is also just exploring some of those darker concepts because I feel like stories [00:12:00] are a safe place to do that.
Katherine Grant: Yeah. Well, I have a lot of questions for you, but first we're going to take a quick break for our sponsors.
Audio Only - All Participants-1: Do you love to find historical romance book deals? Or are you an author who would like to boost a new release or discount to readers who love historical romance? Historical Romance Book Deals was made for you. Historical Romance Book Deals is a daily newsletter that showcases free books, discounts, and new releases.
It's great for readers to find new books and for authors to spread the word about their books. Authors, while HRBD grows their list, you can submit your books for free. Simply visit historicalromancebookdeals. com and use the coupon code HRBDFREE.
Speaker View: Hey, audiobook listeners! Have you checked out the official Historical Romance Sampler Season 1 playlist on Libro. fm? On the playlist, you'll find historical romances you heard here first that are available to listen to on Libro. fm. Plus, if you're not yet a Libro. fm subscriber, use code [00:13:00] HISTORICAL to get extra credits in your first month.
Head on over to the Historical Romance Sampler link tree to learn more.
Katherine Grant: All right, well, I am back with Anastasia Hayward, who just read Sophia White and Her Seven Promises. And as you were saying, this is a Snow White story, but also you're taking inspiration from the Grimm fairy tale as well as the Disney. So what is it about the Snow White story that made you want to tackle it?
Anastasia Hayward: You know, of everything, I kind of came up with the title first, I was just, I like playing around with words, and I was like, I, I just kind of came up with this title but Snow White I kind of had a funky childhood, I spent a lot of time with my grandma growing up, and she had the original Disney Snow White VHS tape. So I, every time I visited her, like, that's, was the movie she had, so that's what I would watch. So, I guess kind of rooted into my childhood, I, you know, I loved Cinderella, I [00:14:00] loved Sleeping Beauty and all the classics, but Snow White kind of has a special place, cause I connect it to connecting with my family.
Yeah. So I wanted to write something that I felt like also has some Family explorations and feelings about what makes a family and, you know, why do we connect with people?
Katherine Grant: Right, well, yeah, in the story of Snow White, it's as much about her connecting with the dwarves as it is a romance.
Anastasia Hayward: Mm hmm.
Katherine Grant: And the amnesia trope is a really fun, like, historical romance.
trope, that we don't see that much these days, I think because it's kind of so big that it's like, what do we do with this? So what inspired you to take that on and how did you think about it as you were writing it?
Anastasia Hayward: Yeah, I I guess I kind of saw the amnesia trope as also a second chance. You know, like, it's a way [00:15:00] to, if you're not sure, because in, in chapter one, my main character, she really just isn't happy with her life.
And she's kind of feel stuck where she is so through a series of unfortunate circumstances, she finds herself with amnesia, but I also saw it connecting with the doctor character It was a second chance for her to kind of explore who do I want to be. If I'm starting from zero, if I have nothing, who do I get to be now?
And just following those little personality decisions that you know, what am I doing because it's rooted in who I am? What am I doing because that's the environment I'm in? And just kind of getting to be who you think you want to be when you're given a second chance to do it.
Katherine Grant: Yeah. Do you feel that you approach your characters from a framework of psychology principles since you do have this [00:16:00] degree in psychology?
Anastasia Hayward: Probably. I don't know if I think about it, like, like, oh, I, I studied this and now I'm applying these, like, traits. I don't know. I don't think about it quite that far, but probably. I think I was drawn to getting my degree in psychology because I just like thinking that way. And I wanted more of a foundation on it.
And I guess my husband was right. I really do pull it in more than I thought I would.
Katherine Grant: Yeah. Well, the idea of like, okay, let's strip away the environment and see, is her personality different? I think that's. That's a fun psychology experiment that you're playing. So you mentioned in your bio that you're a big Regency romance fan.
Is this story centered in Regency Britain, or is it more of like a fairy tale world where it could be any historical era?
Anastasia Hayward: Yeah. It's Regency Britain. The story starts in London and then travels a little bit out to the country [00:17:00] it takes place in. And I am always nervous to say British things. You know, like, I look up so many things on, like, Google and I click the, like, say this for me button.
I think it's called Painswick. It's a little town outside of London. far outside of London. But I guess it's known for having really great, just beautiful rolling hills. So I was like, if I wanna set my fairytale ish story somewhere, maybe these beautiful rolling hills kind of in a, Potentially forested area might be a nice place to do it.
Katherine Grant: Yeah. And what is your approach to researching the Regency period? How does it fit into your creative process?
Anastasia Hayward: Yeah I definitely research more as I'm writing.
I am the kind of person, some authors are told, you know, just put something in brackets and come to it later. I cannot. If I come to something and I'm writing it and I'm like, how did they do that? And I stop and I [00:18:00] research it and I'm pulling stuff up online and I'm looking at this now and I definitely go down that research rabbit hole.
So, but that's, I, I like it though. I like. I don't know. A little exploration of history that I get to kind of pull myself along for this little historical adventure now.
Katherine Grant: Yeah. I always say like I'm a nerd for two things. I'm a nerd for romance and I'm a nerd for history. And so it's like so fun to be able to combine them.
Yeah. Yeah. Who are some of your biggest influences in terms of Regency or historical romance authors?
Anastasia Hayward: You know, I think she's maybe underrated. I don't feel like I hear about her a lot, but one of my favorite authors that I've been reading, like, since I've been reading romance is I have one of her books here.
Barbara Metzger, she's like a older author. Actually, I think Barbara Metzger passed away a few years ago. So she is no longer [00:19:00] writing, but her books are she just does great. She always has just these wild stories, but her characters feel so. real and she unravels her story in such an interesting way that I, I love her writing and I feel like her writing has aged well.
For example, the book I just held up, Lady Wilton's Wedding the premise is that Lady Wilton is like older, she's been married a couple times, and so the main character is her daughter who has to hide a body because she doesn't want to ruin her mother's wedding. Wow. So she's yeah, so I just, she's probably one of my favorite authors and whenever I think about, like, How can I approach this?
What will make this interesting? How can I let this unravel? I, I think about her and what I like about her books and her writing and how she tells stories.
Katherine Grant: Yeah, that's really cool. I've never heard of her [00:20:00] before, so I'm gonna go download some of her books and see what it's all about. And I know you said that you came to this story partly from the title, but how do Do you always start with just like a title or is it more character based, trope based?
Anastasia Hayward: I think I, it helps me to start with an idea or a theme and then kind of explore what if I was to write that, what does that mean to me? So like, when writing Snow White, like, I had this theme, but I was like, how could I write it my way? How could I turn Snow White into a Regency story? How could I turn it into more of a romance?
How, you know, and I just started asking all these questions, and I start building and I start slowly building a character and a general idea of what a story might look like. But yeah, whenever I start with something, I always try to start with like a, a theme and then [00:21:00] branch out from there.
Katherine Grant: Yeah. Yeah. In your bio, you kind of said that like you're writing again. So when did you start creative writing?
Anastasia Hayward: I guess, I mean, on and off. I tried writing a book years ago, at least ten years ago, and it was such a mess that I just dropped it. I was like, this isn't even worth editing. Was that historical romance as well? No, it was just an Exploration of storytelling and, I don't know, figuring out writing.
It was a time and shift adventure story where someone went back in time to ancient Egypt and then wanted to get back to their own time. Okay. I wrote that a long
Katherine Grant: time ago.
And so then what do you think brought you to writing historical romance?
Anastasia Hayward: I guess, cause I, I didn't get my degree, like, I didn't grow to high school and then get my degree, which I guess is why I bring it up in my bio, like, it was a big accomplishment for me [00:22:00] to, like, graduate and then not immediately go on to that and then later in my adult life be like, I think this is something I want.
Yeah. So I kind of, I, I feel like I had a life before, and then like I paused everything to like throw into finishing my degree, and then that's kind of why like I finally came back to writing. Yeah, and then I came back to Regency Romance I guess then because once I was able to come back to writing I just kind of had to sit myself down and, you know, ask myself, Anna.
If you're going to try to write something, like, what would it be? And obviously, like, write what you know, right? What would you read? And that's it. This is what I know. Yeah.
Katherine Grant: Yeah. Well, that's great. And do you feel like you've have there been any discoveries about the genre as you've transitioned from being a reader?
I mean, obviously you're still a reader, but from now becoming a writer as well, have you discovered anything about the genre?
Anastasia Hayward: I think the [00:23:00] biggest thing I've discovered is that being a reader does not prepare you for the historical intricacies of being a writer. You know, as a reader, you can just enjoy all the little things like Oh, Lord, blah, blah, blah.
And Hello, sir, blah, blah, blah. And but then as a writer, you're like, What are the actual rules for that? I need to know these things. My readers are relying on me knowing these things. It's, it's pressure.
Katherine Grant: Yes. Yeah. And there's so much as a reader that you're just kind of like Oh, I think I know that. But then if you actually have to like, write out the rule or decide for yourself, what is the difference between a barouche and a cabriolet?
I still don't know and I have to look it up every time.
Alright, well, I think it's time for us to play Love It or Leave It.
[Musical [00:24:00] Interlude]
Katherine Grant: Love It or Leave It. Protagonists meet in the first 10 percent of the story. Love it.
Anastasia Hayward: Love it. Like, phase one is fine with me.
Katherine Grant: Love It or Leave It. Dual point of view narration.
Anastasia Hayward: Love it. I like getting both perspectives.
Katherine Grant: Love it or leave it, third person, past tense.
Anastasia Hayward: I love it. And like for all genres, I don't know, it's, I feel weird reading things in first person.
Katherine Grant: You'd like us to bring third person, past tense, dual point of view, across the board, any novel.
Anastasia Hayward: Yeah.
Yeah.
Probably the rare one out for that, but.
Katherine Grant: Alright, love it or leave it, third act, breakup, or dark moment.
Anastasia Hayward: I love it, and I have been watching these because I feel like it's such a split, and I want to say I love it because I think it's [00:25:00] important in a romance to give that moment where each person chooses the other person, and if you're always with them, You don't have a moment on your own to decide, this is what I choose.
So, I know it's like, there's so many reasons, and every time I hear someone give an opinion, I'm like, that's a good point. But, I, I say love it, because I love the opportunity that it presents, even though it's a dark moment, and it's difficult. I love the choice at the end that comes out of that dark moment.
Katherine Grant: Yeah, well said. Love it or leave it always end with an epilogue.
Anastasia Hayward: Leave it? I don't, you know, it's a romance and once we're happily ever after I just assume we're happily ever after now.
Katherine Grant: Fair enough. All right, love it or leave it always share research in the author's note.
Anastasia Hayward: Ambivalent? [00:26:00] I, I like it if there's because sometimes you stumble across things that, like, are just fun to share but I guess I don't feel like it's always necessary. I don't know. Ambivalent. I like reading it, but I don't have to.
Katherine Grant: All right. And are there any other romance rules that I didn't ask about that you break?
Anastasia Hayward: Hmm. That I break.
Katherine Grant: Or play with. Yeah. Then, push those boundaries.
Anastasia Hayward: Yeah, In Sophia White, I wrote kids. There's children in it. And whenever I read children in romance, they're always such like little side characters, if they're in it, or it's like it, he's taking care of the baby, but it's not really his. And like, in my book, like, They're his kids.
There's no question. He loves them to pieces. And like, they're kind of an important part of the story because she makes promises to them. And they help her figure out who she is. And I, [00:27:00] I feel like I broke a little bit of an unwritten rule that You know, children are always background characters, but like, that's not me.
That's my life. I love my kids to pieces and I guess I included that in my story. I couldn't not.
Katherine Grant: I love that. I, I think I think children are very hard to include in a story because they have to be treated as, a character just like an adult is treated like a character and be kind of, you know, a full human.
And sometimes that they're just treated as kind of like, you know, dolls. And sometimes they're just terrors. And there's not a lot of like, complex children who are both good and annoying. Yeah, that's my personal. I'm not a mother.
Anastasia Hayward: No, good. And. Annoying little terrorist. Yeah. Nope. You got it.[00:28:00]
Katherine Grant: Well, thank you so much for playing Love It or Leave It. Before we go, where can readers find your books and you on the internet?
Anastasia Hayward: Yeah, I I am in Kindle Unlimited, so I am only on Amazon. Sophia was, is going to come out in March, so you could find me at my website, which is anastasiahistoricals.com.
You can find my, all of my options there, any freebies that I have or anything. You could sign up and download for those. And then Otherwise, just on Amazon, Anastasia Hayward, and then hopefully I'll have my next in series out soon, so I won't leave you hanging with this story.
Katherine Grant: Awesome. So Sophia White and Her Seven Promises is releasing this month, and so rush on over to Amazon to view some of the first readers, and don't forget to leave a review, because that really helps every author.
Yes. Yeah, well, thank you so much, Anastasia. I really appreciate you coming on and sharing your book with us. Yes, thank you.
Anastasia Hayward: Thank you for having [00:29:00] me.
That's it for this week! Don't forget to subscribe to the Historical Romance Sampler wherever you listen, and follow us on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. Until next week, happy reading!