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Full Transcript: Daria Vernon Samples The Rogue's Last Letter
Katherine Grant: [00:00:00] Welcome to the Historical Romance Sampler Podcast. The place for you to find new historical romance books and authors to fan over. I'm award winning historical romance author Katherine Grant, and each week I'm inviting fellow authors to come on and share a little bit of their work and themselves.
They'll read a sample of one of their books, and then I'm going to ask them a bunch of questions. By the end of the episode, you'll have a sense of what they write and who they are. Hopefully, you and I both will have something new to read. So what are we waiting for? Let's get into this week's episode.
Well, I am super excited to have with me today Daria Vernon, author of Romance that Flirts with Adventure. Daria's debut book about a cockatiel named Popcorn was published in first grade by Mrs. Sawyer's imprint, a feisty independent press consisting of a lamination [00:01:00] machine in the janitor's closet next to, next door to the classroom.
In second grade, she declared to her mother that she would win the statewide "day in the Classroom" Essay Contest. Her mom taught her the word cocky in the context of don't be, but she went on to win the essay contest and a $100 bill. By the end of third grade, she had penned and illustrated more than half a dozen spiral bound books, had attended multiple young authors conventions, and had been awarded the school district's highest honor for a poem about chess that strained the limitations of metaphor.
It was downhill from there. Today, Daria sweats over the computer keys in the hopes of bringing adventurous historical romances to life for her readers. Sometimes swashbuckling, sometimes gothic, always sensually steamy. Welcome, Daria.
Daria Vernon: Thank you so much for having me, Katherine.
Katherine Grant: I'm super excited to have you here, and I've got questions about your bio.
But [00:02:00] first, let's get to the sample. What are you reading for us today?
Daria Vernon: Okay, so today I'm reading from my last full length novel, The Rogue's Last Letter, which is the second book in my main series, The Rewards of Ruin. And all of these center on characters that that, that experience societal ruin in some way or another, and and how they end up flourishing within that context that, that they'd always been told was like ruin.
Katherine Grant: Awesome. Well, I'm excited to hear it.
Daria Vernon: So this excerpt, so this book is about a Bow Street runner who has he has kind of unintentionally strung this young woman along named Allison. She, she's a part of Baton. She's in love with him. And they, they already had this flirtation by mail with each other and she was so excited to get back to London and finally see him [00:03:00] again, and that's at the start of the book.
But he has not responded to her letters for, for months. He, like, dropped off the face of the earth. And what she doesn't know is it's because someone appears to want him dead and has been hunting him. And he doesn't want her connected to that at all, and that's why he's dropped off. But they do reconnect in London, she finds him, and most, the majority of the book is her insisting that she can help him, and them kind of teaming up to solve this mystery, and and free themselves of this cloud that's hanging over what they could potentially have.
So, in this excerpt she is waiting at a ball for the Bow Street runner, Harry, to arrive and to arrive in disguise, in particular.
The Duke of Montague's manse was triple the width of the Weldon's, yet there was a stifling atmosphere [00:04:00] as nearly every member of the tonne squeezed onto the Duke's urban premises that evening. Allison, for her part, was wedged onto the seat of a bay window beside a pair of seasoned fledglings. They sang their songbird gossip at such speed it was a wonder they could breathe.
The girl nearest her was topped with a concoction of ostrich plumes that tickled Allison in the face with each dramatic whiff of the girl's head. Allison wriggled, trying to retake territory, but alas, her side hoops remained winged up to her elbows. Allison's ear was clipped by the edge of a wayward fan, as the girl beside her excitedly shared the story of how a baron's son bought her a cape.
I have stories too, thought Allison. I have stories of carts crashing in the woods, of bad men setting fire to my lover's home, of hiding in his embrace on the rooftops, of the handsomest man you saw in your life Eating me like strawberries beneath explosions in the sky. I have some stories. [00:05:00] Allison folded her hands in her lap to keep herself from retaliating against the errant fan.
The chaste posture sent familiar feelings rippling through her. Just the barest warmth and pressure of her hands resting in her lap was now all it took to stoke fires in her belly. She tightened her interlaced fingers. The impulse to let them wander was a mighty thing. If only she could conjure Harry, and his magical mouth, with the mere snap of her fingers.
She'd expected her counterfeit baronet to have arrived by now. Her eyes raked the room for a hundredth time. She laughed audibly over the thought that, only days ago, a fashionable ball had been a thrill that worked on even her most reluctant senses. No more. The air here was hot and loud, the people, hollow.
All she wished was to be in a serene meadow with Harry's head resting in her lap, preferably face down. She laughed again. [00:06:00] Perhaps she had never truly loved these functions, but merely quaked in awe before their perceived authority. Perhaps it was why her heart so often raced till she was ill. Perhaps it explained her anxieties during introductions to those like the marchioness, those mysterious luminaries of the ton.
She had so long tied herself in knots to be deemed worthy of these places. But for the first time wondered, were they worthy of her? The epiphany elicited only a passing chuff of recognition. She flicked a speck from the rosy swag of her gown, marveling at the way the weft shone blue at some angles. At least she did not dislike the frocks, of that she was certain.
"My jewel!" Lady Merton had found her, and was already out stretching her arms in delighted discovery. Allison smiled. "Oracle!" She stood to deliver a proper curtsy to Beatrice, ensuring that her bottom intruded into the orbit of the well themed [00:07:00] storyteller. "Such a change in you tonight, Allison. You must wear shot silk more often.
I'm not certain I have seen you in aught but gold." Allison gave the marchioness a twirl, relieved at the praise. She loved her shimmering golds and sunny yellows, but had realized of late that she more often wore them despite her mother, who seemed suddenly not to care. Tonight she stepped outside her customs, with only a hint of yellow in the buttery silk primroses pinned to her breast.
Lady Merton scrunched her shoulders up in glee. "You are the brightest of stars, my girl. I love how you do it." "Do what?" Lady Myrton took a long sip of wine, assessing Allison over the brim before answering. "Shine!" The compliment did not embarrass Allison's cheeks with color. Not this time. She threaded her hand into the great lady's proffered arm.
"Tell me, Oracle, any news of the future?" "Well," Lady Myrton patted Allison's hand as they [00:08:00] serpentined through the crowd. "I foresee that Faulkner will not wed the best woman present." "Your ladyship, we have discussed this." "So we have, and I can tell by your wielding of ladyship that you are not to be trifled with.
However, I claim my right to flatter you, even if it is by way of passive jabs at your rejection of my son." "You must love him very much, for you forget he is your godson." The marchioness inhaled sharply, and her eyes flashed large before settling into a pouty droop. "I suppose I do. I love him very much, but..." she directed her pout into her wineglass.
"I propose the blunder has more to do with my being foxed." Indeed, Allison had hardly known the woman without a bit of wine in her. "I marvel at you," said Allison. "Oh?" "Tell me, how many present tonight know of your adventures to that little theater we patronized?" Lady Merton blocked her lips with gloved fingers, preventing herself from losing any [00:09:00] wine.
"Do not play shocked with me," said Allison. "Tis you who brought me there." "Yes, to enjoy my corruption of you, not to make you the corrupter." Allison took a more serious tone. "Tell me." Lady Merton shrugged and examined the crowd. "There are faces that were there that day here. Faces which are always there." "And surely the whispers get out to those who would never be seen in such a place.
What then?" Lady Merton stopped walking. "What is this about? And be honest. It is all I ask as a friend." The word friend seduced the explanation from Allison like a stolen kiss. "Beatrice, I am not certain. I much love the taunt and the power it controls over my life. You seem to have unlocked its secrets, living as you do by your own rules.
Yet, your name is never besmirched in the weekly satires. How?" "Allison, my dear, you were merely born too late. Illustrations of [00:10:00] my naked, rotting body have not made the journals for thirty years. I am old. My scandals are mummified. That is all." Allison was dissatisfied, and the all knowing Oracle read it plain on her face.
Lady Merton put a hand on her cheek. "My scandals are many, some I delight in, many I regret. I am true to myself purely because I cannot help it. I would not see you follow entirely in my steps. There is nothing to learn here." Lady Merton withdrew her hand, becoming oddly fiddly for the woman Allison thought she knew.
She averted her eyes as she summoned her next words. "Having not been blessed with children of my own by Lord Merton, I tend to gravitate toward the youth. I fawn, I meddle. That is how it is with Faulkner and yourself." She raised her eyes, shimmering with emotion. "Pray do not tell your mother, but I think of you as a daughter."
Allison herself had felt the same, yet the sentiment felt suddenly too [00:11:00] large, too overwhelming to acknowledge. "We have only known one another for days, Beatrice." "Sometimes days is all it takes." Lady Merton put an end to the conversation by turning to snatch a fresh glass of sherry from a passing tray. A figure beyond her shoulder drew Allison's eye.
It was Harry. He searched the room keenly from behind brass rimmed spectacles. His unruly cue was slicked back more tidily than usual, but rebellious hanks were still loosening over his ears. His done waistcoat was paired with a darker coat over top, some marriage between burgundy and brown. Allison had never seen him in such an ominous shade.
Hayden had chosen well for him. She often teased Harry with the name of Rogue, but tonight, even from behind his bookish lenses, he fair looked the part. He'd flawlessly adopted the posture of the tongue, back straight, one hand at his hip. He looked ready to [00:12:00] tip his head at various introductions, but none would be forthcoming without someone to introduce him.
Allison took a step toward rescuing him, but Lady Merton turned back around at the same time, nearly dousing her in wine. "Oh, I nearly ruined your gown just then." Allison heard her, but hardly turned to look. Lady Merton sucked a droplet of wine from her fingered glove, and her alarm settled. Wisely, she craned her neck to follow Allison's line of sight.
"Ah, is he your man?" The question was packed with her usual playfulness. But theAllisonon saw the corners of Beatrice's lips turn starkly downward. What was it? What was wrong? Did she recognize him from the Gossingtons? "I am no oracle, for I did not foresee the spectacles," she pouted. She turned her skeptical gaze on Allison.
"I do hope his vision is well enough to see what a beauty you are." Allison untensed. Perhaps it would be best to divert the foxed marchioness before going to Harry. [00:13:00] She was about to recommend they progress to the ballroom, but Too late. Harry's eyes found her, and an unschooled, boyish smile cracked through his baronet's veneer.
He got it under control, and approached them, calm and confident, radiating charm and wisdom, and the intent to be introduced. Allison swept toward him just as he closed the gap, on the chance he had not researched yet how such introductions were made among her set. "Lady Merton, may I introduce Sir H-" "No, wait."
The marchioness raised her hand between them and brought them to a standstill. "Do not tell me. He is your mystery guest." Her eyes flicked up and down his body, and what she saw reversed her pout. "Perhaps he should remain mysterious." "All for the better, for I have no name anyway." Harry's left eyebrow arched up over the rim of his glasses in a way that was positively knee melting.
His swift repartee caused an [00:14:00] astonished hand to fly to the marchioness's breast. All the better to draw Harry's attentions there, Allison supposed. The Marchioness offered her hand to Harry and he took it. To anyone else in the room, his bow would appear no different from those of the best red men in the country, but Allison was near enough to catch the eye contact he made with Lady Merton and recognize it as anything but courtly.
She was near enough to note how his thumb purposefully stroked the back of Lady Merton's glove before releasing her. Near enough to be equally affected when Harry's eyes flicked briefly to hers with a sly smile. A flush of pride warmed Allison's cheeks. The man was good at his profession. "Lady Merton, I understand it is to you I owe my invitation.
I have neglected these circles for too long." The marchioness batted away his gratitude with a folded fan. "I am very close with the family, but his grace, heaven help him, is not the best [00:15:00] at keeping up with the rigorous social demands of a duke. I frequently impose my services on him to rectify this. Fresh blood at parties is always a boon."
Harry took a step back, and his eyes flicked up and down the marchioness in a way that, Judging by the laughter that trilled from between her smiling teeth, Utterly delighted her. "Graceful, sharp, fashionable, any nobleman worth his salt would be wise to have you as coordinator of his social calendar. Your charms must draw every interesting person in the country to your door."
Allison would have turned away and cringed at the escalation of flattery, if not for the fact that Beatrice still basked in his attentions, uncharacteristically coquettish. "You had not told me your guest was a poet, Lady Allison." Allison had, in fact, once told Beatrice exactly that. As the marchioness cooed on about his finest qualities, Harry stole another sideways glance [00:16:00] at Allison.
The twinkle in his eye, enough to strike her dead and buried. There was something about watching him wear his ruse so deftly, about watching his talents at work. Something that severed any chance at a chaste thought. She would do best to keep her mouth shut till the itch ebbed, lest she cry, touch me at a crowded ball.
Katherine Grant: Ooh, what an interesting, fascinating scene that just, you know, I want to cry, touch me too now. Right? Thank you so much. I have questions, but first we're going to take a quick break for our sponsors.
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Katherine Grant: I am back with Daria Vernon, who just read us a very intriguing scene from her latest book, The Rogue's Last Letter. Which, if you're watching this on YouTube, you can see the cover right behind her. And it is a gorgeous cover. I have, the first thing that I wanted to ask you, I think it's evident in your bio, it's in the book
the visual branding that you use. I think it's also in what we just heard. You have a very specific tone that you bring to historical romance [00:18:00] that's kind of like winking at the audience. And so I'm really curious, is that just how you are? And you're like, why does everyone keep telling me that? Or did you do that on purpose?
And what went into that thought?
Daria Vernon: I think, I, I think it's probably just kind of natural to me. I was initially like, the thing that led me to historical romance was, All the first thing, all the first romances I was ever exposed to were 80s and 90s bodice rippers. And those always had a really interesting mix of, you know, their problems, right?
They always had tonally a very interesting mix of sometimes like angst and cheekiness. And I don't know how intentionally I'm inspired by that. But like, I'm sure that I, absorbed some of that through, through my affection for those books, but I also yeah, I also just think that, [00:19:00] that that, that winking and that kind of like subliminal humor between people who have a spark between each other is very, like, fun to explore and very, like, a very organic thing that exists between, between a lot of couples.
Thanks.
Katherine Grant: Yeah. Well, also not just couples. I mean, in the scene you just read, a fair amount of it is the humor that Allison shares with Beatrice and it almost feels like they are having a platonic romance going on where they're a little unsure of each other. Like when Beatrice declares that she feels like a mother to Allison, Allison's like, I do feel that way, but let's not talk about it, which could easily be the hero saying, I love you.
And then her being like, get away from me. So I love that that's on the page. How do you think about balancing the romance and then there's this plot with subplots that are about, you know, other types of relationships, like these female friendships?
Daria Vernon: I try to explore female friendships as much as [00:20:00] I can.
Like, I, I love, like, that's a dynamic that I love exploring. I mean, there's not a relationship I don't love exploring. But, because I think family stuff is very interesting too. But As far as balancing things, this was one of the more challenging books to do that because I have almost a secondary like sub genre going with, I had never written mystery, but I started injecting a lot more than I expected into this.
And yeah, this was a harder one to to balance kind of those plot points, but as far as like the characters that's just always been really natural. Like I just want to know about, you know, everyone that's involved in someone's life. And I think, I think these peripheral people can be very very critical to a love story that's playing out alongside them.
Katherine Grant: Yeah, I know what you mean about the mystery. I love reading mysteries. And so for one of my books, I was like, I'm going to try doing a mystery subplot. [00:21:00] And first of all, it was very hard because I had to know what was going to happen, which I didn't know as I was writing it.
But then also I kept being like, but I just want to explore this romance or I just want to explore this other relationship. Like, I was like, this must be why I write romance . I saw that you actually write a wide variety of romance. Like, This is Georgian. I know you have Sailor's Song, which you describe as a dark fairy tale fantasy romance. And you also have A Bavarian Clockmaker, which takes us to a different time culture. So how do you decide which story you're writing and what the setting is going to be?
Daria Vernon: I'm terrible at branding. I have way too many interests and it probably hurts me in the long run, but I can't stop. So like as far as historicals, Georgian is definitely the time period I gravitate. Toward the most, which is why the full length series is that but I, I am guilty of just [00:22:00] chasing like any small plot bunny... the Bavarian clockmaker came from, I was doing an exercise in a workshop that was something about having, I think the challenge we were given was to write
it's like a flirtation scene without using the words, like, looked at, like, she looked at him, she stared, he stared at her, like, to try to avoid those, but still get across this, like, tension. And I wrote the smallest snippet that it was really well received, and I was just like, well, that's just gonna be a thing now.
And I just, you know, if I And I have a great, a great writing group that I work with, and so if there's something that I kind of throw out there with them that they seem to like, then I'll just go for it, but In addition to historical, I do tend, like you mentioned, to gravitate towards, like fantasy a little bit, because [00:23:00] I like the escapism of being removed from the modern day, whatever that looks like.
That's usually, so like, that's just to say probably the least likely for me would be a contemporary because I'm always looking for some way out.
Katherine Grant: Please let me out. Well I, I noticed that like Highwayman's Folly, which I think was your debut is a kidnapping story and Sailor's Song you describe as dark.
So I'm curious, I sometimes struggle with like, I'll see readers be like, this Romance, like I'm really just looking for something really fun and escapist so they don't want anything dark, but then sometimes as I'm writing I'm like, this could go dark. What are your thoughts on darkness in historical romance or in romance in general?
Daria Vernon: It's interesting because I know there's like, I wrote the High Women's Folly probably before I understood that, like, dark romance is a brand and a [00:24:00] genre all its own, so I didn't fully know the conventions of that when I was throwing around the word dark or, or gothic or anything like that.
To me, I was kind of referencing, again, these older gothic books and, and I do like to explore that type of thing. Like I do like the angst. I think something I like to write is I like to, like darkness, I completely understand why not everyone wants to read it. It's it's not something we, like the dark moment.
Or something like that, Dark night of the Soul isn't something we always want in our real life romances, that's hard and sucks. But, it's I'm really inspired by characters that are emotionally brave. So I like to put, you know, obstacles, very personal obstacles and challenges in front of mine in order to like make them do some sort of [00:25:00] work and put, put out there a scenario where they're like, Oh, this could never, you could never get through this.
And I take it almost like a dare to be like, I'm going to earn it. They're going to earn it. And they're gonna, they're going to get to that point. And I think And I, I certainly try to earn it. I, I'm sure I don't with every reader, but I think, I think personally it can lead to really beautiful and rewarding endings.
Katherine Grant: Absolutely. And so when you're writing in all these different sub genres, following little plot bunnies, but then also writing full length novels in British Georgian era, what's your research process for world building?
Daria Vernon: My research process, especially for the first book for the High Women's Folly, I mean, the second book as well, but the the the High Women's Folly, I just went really hard. It was my first time around and I went really hard on a lot of really small stuff that I don't think was ever going to get picked up [00:26:00] on.
Like, I was I'll go to a lot of different sources. Something, something that I, that I find really like regretful about about a lot of concept, conceptions that are out there about historical periods is like people saying that a character would not act a certain way, and it's like, it's like regardless of how rare it was, there was virtually always someone doing it, and I'm writing about the people that are doing it, especially in the context of this series that's about ruin.
I'm like, I'm writing about the people who are gonna be ostracized for the things that they do. And so I will, I will, You know, I will kind of do more of a follow my heart on that. But then Then I try to prop it up a lot with the world building Georgian appealed to me partly because I Used to be and still sort of am obsessed with the clothing of the time period [00:27:00] and so I already had like a basis with a lot of that, but I love a lot of primary sources, especially like paintings and stuff like that, paintings, caricatures from the time.
I reached out at one point for Highwayman's Folly to talk to a side saddle equestrian influencer because I needed to know if this scene that I had with somebody like running. on a horse side saddle, if that was realistic or not.
Katherine Grant: That's amazing. And was it?
Daria Vernon: It was. I got to keep it. So yeah, that was, It's just I'll go anywhere once I'm, like, chasing down that knowledge.
And I'll also write around things, like, I wrote around something that I had already written into the book and felt really married to it, which was in one of my books there's a certain animal that shows up that was not in England in that era, and I was already [00:28:00] incredibly married to the idea, and was like, well.
I'm just gonna figure out a way to have this and I figured it out and so like I'll find loopholes too. Sure,
Katherine Grant: yeah. Well, that's fun. All right, well, it is time to find out if you are a romance rule breaker with Love It or Leave
It.
Katherine Grant: Do you love it or leave it protagonists meet in the first 10 percent?
Daria Vernon: Love it.
Katherine Grant: Love it or leave it dual point of view
Daria Vernon: Love it.
Katherine Grant: Love it or leave it third person past tense.
Daria Vernon: Apparently love it because I just wrote like a whole draft in first person present for something and then completely abandoned it and rewrote the whole thing in third person past.
So apparently love it.
Katherine Grant: That's so interesting. That's a big rewrite. [00:29:00] Yeah. Love it or leave it, third act, breakup or dark moment.
Daria Vernon: Love it. At least in literature. Sucks in real life, but I love it.
Katherine Grant: Love it or leave it, always end with an epilogue.
Daria Vernon: I tend to, but I can leave it. Like, it's not critical to me.
Katherine Grant: All right. Love it or leave it. Share research in your author's note.
Daria Vernon: Love it when I read it, often intend to do it, and then I'm too exhausted by the end of the book to actually write it.
Katherine Grant: I know what you mean. By the time that I finish a book, I'm like, and now I have to write acknowledgments? And now I have to write this author's note I don't even know what I researched because this book doesn't make sense to me anymore.
Daria Vernon: Yeah, I feel like my back matter gets really short changed by the time I'm at that point in the process. I'm like, nope, we're not, we're not doing that
Katherine Grant: Alright, well, are there any other romance rules that you break that I didn't ask about?
I
Daria Vernon: think while I [00:30:00] tend to write epilogues in most of my things, I feel like I tend to button things up a little less than is common in a lot of romances. I or a lot of historical romances especially. I think I I like to hint at other external problems, maybe having, like, hope in the future, but I also think it's important to say, like, Here are these characters happy endings.
Life may not be perfect around them, but they're going through it with each other. And I feel like, I feel like that tends to be my route and ends. Yeah, it tends to be a little more open ended.
Katherine Grant: How interesting. I love that. Well, Daria, I have really enjoyed this. I want to say you said you're good at branding, but I actually think you're amazing at branding because I can tell if a book is yours just from the cover because of how specific you are with how your covers look.
[00:31:00] And also you have your graphic for your name, and I just feel like you do have a very strong brand.
Daria Vernon: Oh, thank you. I appreciate
that.
Katherine Grant: Yeah. So I encourage our listeners to go find your books. Where can they find your books?
Daria Vernon: My books are mostly really wide released, so they're on Amazon as well as other platforms.
The Full Lengths and Get Thee Off My Lawn are all available in paperback and ebook. The Fantasies are just in ebook and The Sailor's Song and Get Thee Off My Lawn are currently in Kindle Unlimited, but that may be ending later this year.
So if you want
Katherine Grant: If people are in Kindle Unlimited, they should, or subscribed, they should
hop on that.
Get
themselves off your lawn and onto Kindle Unlimited to get those books.
Yep.
Yep. Awesome. And where can listeners find you?
Daria Vernon: So I can be found on Instagram at Daria. Vernon. Romance. That's probably my most active platform.
Or you [00:32:00] can also subscribe to my newsletter at DariaVernon. com slash newsletter subscribe.
Katherine Grant: Which has a very fun name. Daria Dossier.
Daria Vernon: Daria Dossier. Yeah. Come join Daria Dossier. I made a uh what is that? What's that New York Times game that everyone was playing that was like, like a Wordle, not the Wordle.
It was like a matching game. But anyway, I've been making game romance related games and putting them on there, so Oh my gosh. I love it. I
Katherine Grant: joined
Daria Vernon: our
Katherine Grant: Daria's Dossier. . Yeah. I need to join . Well, thank you so much. I really appreciate it. This has been fantastic.
Daria Vernon: It's been really fun. Thank you so much for having me, Katherine.
Katherine Grant: That's it for this week. Check out the show notes where I put links for my guests, myself, and the podcast. Until next week, happy reading.