Indie Support Sunday: Anya Elizabeth

Aug 30

7 min read

They do say ‘write what you know’ and Anya Elizabeth took that seriously when she started her debut series—The Summer Hearts. Inspired by events in her own life, Anya crafted a three-book series that takes couples across Europe as they navigate the paths she once did—including the South of France, Greece and Italy.

Her writing started at a young age. First with diary entries, then poetry and finally writing full stories. While she’s working on completing her debut series—The Summer Hearts—she’s got so much planned for the future. Including a five-book sports series that starts next year! But that’s not all, she’s been planning a romantasy and might even dive into cowboy romance one day!

Six Summers Apart and One Summer Before are out now and available in Kindle Unlimited.

BEING AN AUTHOR

Who or what inspired you to write?

I have always written from a very young age. Initially, it was diary entries and then poetry, before eventually writing stories. I wouldn’t necessarily say one person inspired me to write, it was more something I did to find my place in the world (as cliche as that sounds!).

What’s the best and worst part about being an indie author?

The best part about being an indie author is that you’re immediately connected to your readers and you’re in charge of everything you do from the writing process, to edits, to handling ARCs, graphics etc and there’s so much freedom and creativity in that. The worst part for me is that you have to pay for everything and this can hinder your reach with new readers as you don’t have the same reach as traditionally published authors.

Why did you choose to self-publish instead of going the traditional route?

I wanted to write a few books for myself first and then slowly build up a small community of people. Although every book I have written I have loved and I’m entirely proud of, they have felt quite personal to me. I haven’t felt ready yet to let go of my work and allow other people to be in charge of it (yet!)

When you’re not writing, what do you do to get the creative juices flowing?

I listen to music and I read—a lot! Music and going for long walks in the forest, near where I live, have been great for inspiring me.

If you were to recommend books to me (in any genre), what would they be?

OMG, I love this question! But also panicking as there are so many wonderful books. I would recommend One Golden Summer by Carley Fortune as it just gives off old school romance that makes you kick your feet. As the romance genre is so saturated there are many books that merge together (they’re still amazing) but this one really stuck with me.

Other book recs include: ANYTHING Elsie Silver, Liz Tomforde, I adored The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah, The Things We Leave Unfinished by Rebecca Yarros, The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller, The Ravenhood Series by Kate Stewart, Please Don’t Go by E.Salvador, Dire Bound/Fury Bound by Sable Sorenson, Just For The Summer by Abby Jimenz. Honestly, the list could go on!

What are your top 5 tips or pieces of advice for aspiring authors?

Believe in yourself and what you write.
Edit your work way more than you think you need to edit it. If you think you’ve finished editing, leave it for a week and then edit it again, you’ll be surprised how many mistakes you find!
Engage with your readers, other authors and the entire book community.
Be unique—yes, people and sounds trend, but it’s because they’re different and people like that, so don’t try to be anyone but yourself.
Read other books for research and write tropes that you generally love reading. If you wouldn’t read your book, don’t write it!

ROMANCE AS A GENRE

Why did you choose romance as the genre to write in? What is your favorite thing about the genre?

I love, love. Everything about it is beautiful. The yearning, the hidden glances, the Darcy hand thing (us ladies know), men written by women, women exploring their fantasies and desires, all of us kicking our feet and grinning at ink on trees. There’s something wonderful about it. I’ve always loved love in books, in the world itself.

If not romance/subgenres of romance, what genre would you like to write in?

I would love to write a fantasy/romantasy and have begun planning for the future, but honestly the amount of research and time it would take to really nail it will definitely take a while!

What are your most and least favorite tropes?

Okay, I love enemies to lovers, forced proximity, one bed, who hurt you, brother’s best friend, forbidden romance, plus so many more!

My least favourite is probably, love at first sight (I need the slow burn, build up, we want to rip each other’s clothes off but I don’t want to be the one to say it first—not, OMG look at you, I want to marry you), amnesia, secret baby, ugly duckling (it’s giving you took your glasses off and now you’re hot, like? Glasses are hot, be for real!).

What are some tropes you want to write in the future?

I would love to try and write a why choose, step sibling romance, something more taboo.

What are some topics (sensitive and otherwise) that you think should exist more in romance?

I think more anxiety, depression, self discovery whether this be sexual orientation or otherwise, I also think men and women’s loss after a child.

If you write open door romance, why did you choose that and what inspires your sex scenes?

I love smut and frankly, I love sex. It’s part of nearly every aspect of life and in my experiences, it’s part of relationships. In terms of what inspires my sex scenes, sometimes it’s personal (insert wink here) and sometimes I feel it’s from conversations with women around me about what they wish they were having in their relationships.

YOUR BOOKS

What inspired your published stories? How and when did you come up with these stories and plots?

My current series—The Summer Hearts—started off as an autobiography. My first book in the series, Six Summers Apart, was written after I had broken up with my complete knob of an ex boyfriend. He’d slept with someone in our bed (ironic) and I wrote down how I had felt, this became the prologue for the book. I then didn’t write anything else for about 6 months. Then my now current boyfriend and I got back in touch (we’d been friends when we were 16-19, before falling out of touch for 6 years and reconnecting and then dating, hence the title Six Summers Apart.)

I also went travelling at the time with an old friend across Europe, my boyfriend is also French, so a lot of my experiences, places I went provided the backdrop for the book and then the fictional elements were added. The second book, One Summer Before, kind of just developed as I wrote the first and I was so inspired to keep the book going.

I spent 3 weeks in Greece and loved an island I visited called Paros, which became the location for book 2. I was going to make it a duet, but again inspiration hit and my final book follows my travels across Italy, specifically the Amalfi Coast and also looks at eating disorders as this was something I struggled with when I was younger.

Can you briefly tell me about your books?

Six Summers Apart is a friends to lovers, second chance romance following Cece and Theo as they collide again in Nice, France after not seeing one another for six years. It follows their reconnection and admitting that sometimes love is closer to home than you realise.

One Summer Before is a friends to enemies to lovers, single dad romance following Siena and Nate (Theo’s brother) as they collide in a workplace based in Paros, Greece. This one is packed with tension and when it explodes…YUMMY.

Summer Hearts book 3 is a billionaire, fake dating romance following Talia (Siena’s sister) and Nico. The pair meet in the Amalfi Coast, Italy and become a tangled web of scandal, tension and let’s face it, hot as hell sex. Coming late 2026/27.

Do you already have a favorite character from the stories you’ve written?

It’s funny because Cece very much feels like me, Siena has aspects of me, but so does Talia (book 3). As I am writing book 3 right now, I will have to say that the quieter sides of myself really identify with Talia.

If you were to cast your book for a movie/television show, who would you cast in the lead roles?

I would have Madeleine Petsch as Siena Blake, Cam Yaman as Nate Finch, Matt Broome as Theo Finch, Amelia May as Cece Hart, Lily Rose Depp as Talia Blake and Leo Suter as Nico.

How much of yourself do you put into these characters?

I would say my female characters definitely have different aspects of myself in them. Whether it be a part of me that was more prominent during the time of writing or a part that maybe I want to explore more in my writing that I haven’t before.

What is a story/stories that you really want to tell?

I would love to do a sports romance series, cowboy romance series and a romantasy series after my current romance series is complete. I would also love to write a queer romance.

Is there one common element that readers can find in all your stories?

I am big on my description and senses, it is something my readers have always picked up and adored and I love bringing places I have been to life! I have all my experiences and pictures and it’s amazing seeing it on paper! Also forced proximity as a trope because I love it haha!

What’s next on the bookshelf for you? Anything you can tell us about a future project?

I will be releasing a sports romance series in 2027, it’s going to be 5 books so it’s likely to take me 2-3 years to finish, if not longer! It’s something I’m really excited about and a sport that I adore, so I can’t wait to start dropping teasing graphics for that!

When you write these stories, what are you hoping your readers will feel?

I just want them to feel unadulterated joy and also I hope they feel satisfied when they get to the end.