When I began writing THE ANTI-CINDERELLA, I began looking for the right songs. It wasn’t easy. For the Love in a Small Town books, I go country without fail. For the football books, it’s usually contemporary alt-rock. For the Perfect Dish romances, Jersey rockers and crooners have been the go-to.
But what kind of music best epitomizes a non-traditional royal romance?
The very first one that jumped to mind was something by Ed Sheeran. He’s not only one of my favorite musicians, but he’s British. I’ve been listening to his latest album for a solid year, and one of my favorite songs is Perfect. When I heard him sing it in concert last August, I knew that I wanted it for this book. It captured the romance and simple beauty of an important scene in the book.
The second song was a gimme. With the battle Kyra wages with the media, Bonnie Raitt’s Something to Talk About was exactly the wry poke at rumors and gossip that I needed.
The ABBA songs were a nod back to the days when I was young and dreaming of what it would be like to be part of a royal romance. I was a huge ABBA fan, and these few songs brought back sweet memories.
While writing this book, I was also binge-watching Grey’s Anatomy, one of my favorite series of all time. The music Shonda Rimes uses on that show lent me a few ideas, including Brandi Carlile’s The Story.
Enjoy all of THE ANTI-CINDERELLA tunes . . . and be sure to follow me on Spotify to keep up with all my bookish music.
