But I Smile Anyway…

Busy week with my Book & A Brew posts!

Today, I am thrilled to welcome back a special friend and romance author, Bettina Hunt, to my blog for a cuppa and a bit of a chat about all things writerly, especially her latest release, Sing For Me.

Hello, and welcome to But I Smile Anyway, Bettina! Let’s get you set with a drink, first. Tea, coffee, hot chocolate, or maybe a masala chai? Though, seeing as your female main character like them, maybe a Hazelnut Latte?

Ha ha, and hello! I am delighted to be back, so thank you for having me 🙂

I would absolutely love a rich hot chocolate with lashings of whipped cream – perfect for a cold and wet January.

I have a glut of chocolate left over from Christmas, as well as mince pies but I whipped up some shortbread, too. What would you like?

Mmm, they all sound like great options but you know, I’m going to go for a mince pie, something to enjoy before they disappear and the hot cross buns take over…

True! Though I do love a hot Cross Bun toasted and smothered with butter! Here we are, and there is some cream on case you fancy being even more decadent!

Right, let’s get started!

Last time you visited, we talked about your journey to becoming an author. Since then, you have added another string to your bow as a podcaster with the lovely Lucys, Keeling and Mitchell on the Love at First Write podcast! How did that come about?

Gosh, yes! We launched Love at First Write in September 2023, but we’d been meeting up for a while to get used to the format and to practise! So Lucy M and I started chatting during lockdown and would ‘meet’ online weekly. We’d have a good laugh and keep each other motivated through those, quite frankly, awful times, and then early last year, we decided it might be fun to extend this and launch a podcast. We invited Lucy K to join us as we were all at different stages of our writing careers and had different perspectives to offer. Plus, we all get along, so we hoped that this would translate to great podcast episodes…

Have you enjoyed recording the podcast so far? I have enjoyed all the episodes so far!

I love recording the podcast. We really do have a lot of fun planning and then recording the episodes for our listeners, plus we all learn from each other, which is great. I can honestly say that doing the podcast has helped my own writing journey and motivated me to start and finish writing this book – Sing For Me. I am so impressed with you you got this one finished so fast!

Hearing yourself on there, would you consider narrating your own books into audio?

Oh my gosh, sometimes I really don’t like listening back to my voice, and I do wonder if I talk too fast, BUT I am getting used to hearing my voice now. I have considered narrating my books as I know how the characters would talk, etc, and I’m naturally quite animated when I read aloud. I can’t help it! My two boys always loved me reading to them, and now my 7-year-old also reads with an animated tone, which is a pleasure to listen to. However, there is a real skill to the narration of so many words, so I’m not sure if I would be up to it. We shall see! I always have the same thoughts, myself, about the idea of self-narration!

I know you managed to write this one pretty much on speed, with the help of NaNo. I was mind-blown by how fast you got this together. Is that a first for you?

Ha ha! Honestly, I don’t know what happened. One minute, I was editing a planned release; the next minute, this idea came into my head, and I just ran with it as it’s obviously easier to write a first draft; well, for me, it is! I kept going until I had finished writing the entire story. It is a first for me to write a full, just under 80k, story that quickly. But now that I know I can do it … Exactly!

So, let’s chat about Sing With Me. (My review is below.) I know you were having a moment with a WIP you had been struggling to finish. Where did the inspiration come for this one?

It is true; I was having a bit of an editing nightmare with one of my stories when a shiny new idea popped into my head (like a cute new boyfriend!) I ditched the nasty old boyfriend and went with the frankly nicer one who was treating me well. Am I making any sense?

As I mentioned above, writing a first draft is quite an exciting prospect because it’s all-new, and you can have some real fun with it. Also, my writing process, as discussed in the podcast, is that I just get the words down and then read the story as a whole. When finished, the momentum is there. I honestly don’t know where the idea came from as it literally popped into my head, pushing itself to the front of the queue of all the other ideas I have for books. It did stem from my love of singing and the idea of a singing app bringing two people together. It was a what-if scenario that I found had wings.

I know I already told you, but as soon as I finished reading, I wanted to open a singing app on my phone and belt out a number! (Some of my blog readers already know I like to do a bit of a sing-along occasionally!) How about you, do you love to sing?

Ooh, I love to sing! Always have. I was in the school choir, love musicals too. I even had a singing teacher at one point – she said I did angsty songs really well, lol. I am partial to Karaoke, but my timing is not great, and I still have to master the old breathing… I’m not selling this well, am I! Anyway some of my followers will know that I did use to do lip-syncing to songs on Instagram, this was to practice my timing and I was improving. So practising can definitely help 😊

I love how music can bring people together, especially romantically! Ella and Dan’s stories mingled so well, and the element of ‘will they/won’t they’ always brings a bit of suspense to keep the pages turning! And, teamed with the Bridal shop, well, there is romance all over the place! I know you enjoy your lip-syncs to songs, but have you ever dreamed of working in a bridal shop?

Aww, I love the romance of music. I love that when you date someone you share songs that you like with them, almost like sharing a part of you. Certainly, my husband and I have very different tastes in music but I would still send him songs I liked back then (actually I still do, all these years later), hoping he’d listen to the words and understand me, my character and also what I might be going through at the time that a song spoke to me. Songs are very much linked to feelings, memories and moments in time. I should also say that despite having differing tastes in music, we have found many that we both like, without him turning the radio off when one of my favourites comes on, haha.

I feel this so much! Lyrics take on a huge importance to me, and half the time the others people listening don’t even think about it! I can cry at certain songs, because they mean so much! Big softie!

As for working in a bridal shop, just like Ella, I like looking in the windows at the dresses, but I’m not sure I ever dreamt of working in one. I love looking at Instagram bridal accounts and watching programmes like Say Yes To The Dress. I do love a good wedding and all things wedding-related though!

Dan was a great character. I certainly felt sympathy for him. Stage fright and anxiety hit many people, but when you are experiencing it in front of the whole world, that is another level of fear. Have you ever felt that?

I have performed on stage as part of the drama club at school, I was also in the University drama society, and I also took drama GCSE, so I had to perform for an outside examiner. Performing to an audience is always nerve-wracking as you wonder if you are going to remember your lines, and I do remember once at secondary school forgetting them and needing a prompt, oops! But that’s what they are there for, right? My English teacher once told me that nerves were normal before you went on stage and made you a better actor… unfortunately, my mind just went blank during that particular performance to all the parents, never mind that during the rehearsals I was absolutely fine.

I’ve never had to perform to a huge audience like Dan, but I think we can all empathise with him. When I was writing the book, I imagined myself in his shoes, and I could feel what he was feeling. Anxiety can manifest in so many ways, I know I can get anxious about things that other people might consider ridiculous but it’s real for me. That said, I really enjoyed writing Dan’s character and seeing him evolve.

Don’t you think Ella, too, was rather special? Yes, she was!

She was a fabulous character for me to write because the story was all about finding your voice, and she gained her strength by letting go of her past and looking to the future. Remembering who she was and who she could be. I also liked how singing certain songs showed her character changing through the story. I liked observing her confidence growing over time.

Here are two people who deserve all the happiness. I hope that my readers connect with the characters and enjoy the story as much as I enjoyed writing it and bringing Ella and Dan to life.

And I’m sure my readers would love to know… what do you have in the pipeline? Is there anything up your sleeves already?

Ah it’s been so lovely chatting with you, is that time already… So I am working on two ideas at the moment and if I can release both this year it will be a miracle, one is a romcom that involves stars… but that’s as much as I’m saying, well except to say it’s an enemies to lovers story. The second one is a Christmas romance story that I have a full synopsis for as it was entered into the Penguin Christmas Story competition and was shortlisted. I’m looking forward to writing about Christmas themes and writing my first Christmas book. I do love all the Christmas movies that are on our screens in December, and now I feel ready to bring my own story to the page and embrace everything I love about the films into the warmth of my book.

How exciting! And, well done for getting gon that Penguin shortlist! Well, I for one, can’t wait to read whatever comes next! And your first Christmas story! That is wonderful. I love a festive romance!

Thank you so much for popping over, Bettina! That hot chocolate really hit the spot, didn’t it? I look forward to you popping over again, to talk about these two, you mentioned above in the near future! 😊

And thank you for inviting me, Ritu.

My pleasure 😊

Peeps, you can read the blurb for A Girl Like Me and my review below!

Purchase links follow.

The Blurb

She vowed never to love again.

He vowed never to sing again.

But then music brought them together.

By day Ella is an assistant in a bridal boutique helping brides-to-be find their dream wedding dresses and Dan is a painter/decorator helping clients to transform their houses into homes. But come evening neither venture out, with Ella living life vicariously through others and Dan only leaving his flat for one of his mum’s famous Sunday roasts. When both are forced to confront their biggest fears, they join a singing app to find their voices. Here their solitary worlds collide, connecting them through their love of songs with lyrics telling a story they daren’t speak.

Can the power of music break the vows they made to themselves? Can you fall in love with someone you’ve never met?

Sing For Me is a heartwarming romantic comedy filled with laughter, love notes and a melody that just might be the soundtrack to Ella and Dan’s happily ever after.

Find Sing With Me HERE and all Bettina’s other books here!

My Review

Sing For Me by Bettina Hunt
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

What a fun read!
When I read the blurb, the premise of ‘love by singing app’ really appealed to me, and I could not wait to get my hands on this book!
Ella is building her confidence after a particularly painful divorce. She finds solace in a bridal shop, which might not be the ideal place for someone so sensitive to romance right now. However, it seems to be the right place for her.
Dan is building his business up as a painter/decorator. Things are going well for him, as he finds a couple of great clients with big jobs to complete that help him gain recognition for the good job he does. However, something in his past is haunting him.
Both find solace in a singing app, Sing With Me, and the effects that the app has on them are wonderful. From building their confidence up to creating a new, anonymous identity online and getting validation, they gain so much from this app.
But that’s where secrecy can sometimes come back and bite you.
I was immersed in the story from the off and whizzed through it. Ella is a lovely person, and I just wanted to hug her and loads of encouragement! Dan is a true sweetheart, too. A gentleman with so much to give but so much anxiety within that he cannot see his true worth.
And I love the ending, but no spoilers here!
I will say that the urge to rush to my phone and open up a certain singing app was strong! Not for the romance but because music and singing are so healing.
Thoroughly enjoyed it!

Author Bio

Bettina Hunt lives in the East of England with her husband and two young sons. She writes uplifting romantic comedies and women’s fiction with fun and relatable heroines.

An avid reader from a very young age, she wrote her first story whilst in primary school and was invited to take it into Reception and read it to the class. The positive feedback she received that day made her aspire to be an author and that childhood dream is now a reality.

Bettina loves comedy, cocktails and afternoon tea. She can’t dance but loves to sing. She does all her own stunts but rarely intentionally. She has Dyspraxia and is on a mission to raise awareness of what it’s like to have this condition, starting with her latest fiction novel – A Girl Like Me.

Findall Bettina’s books, here:

myauthor.to/romanticcomedies 

You will find her on all the usual social media channels where she’d love to hear from you.

Social media links 

Twitter - @BeautySwot 

Facebook - BettinaHuntAuthor

Instagram - @beautyswot 

TikTok - bettinahuntauthor