Every story comes with it’s own soundtrack (at least, it does when I write it) and Bona Fide Fake was no different. This month, I invite you to listen to the music that inspired the various parts of Toni and Ned’s story. I had such a great time developing this list, and loved how the differences in Toni and Ned’s personalities came through in the songs we chose. I know using the term ‘we’ might seem a little weird, but it really does feel like the characters themselves voice their opinions on the song choices, so I’d hate to take all the credit.

You can join me by clicking on the YouTube links below and watching the film clips (where they’re available) as you listen. Or you can listen to the list through my Spotify account, which you can find here!

Let’s get started…

Don’t You Know by Jaymes Young – Every book needs a theme song and this one was perfect for Bona Fide Fake. It nailed the tone of the book with every note.

I’m So Tired by Lauv ft. Troye Sivan – Everything about this song screams Toni right at the start of the book. I can practically hear him complaining in the lyrics, “I’m so damned tired of love songs. Everyone around me is falling in love. I just want to go home!” Yep, there’s my boy.

Dangerous by Hands Like Houses – If you’ve listened to any of my other soundtracks you may have noticed my love for Aussie band, Hands Like Houses. When I heard this song on their new album I knew it perfectly represented Ned’s worldview at the start of the book.

Bite by Troye Sivan – How fabulously Toni is this? It doesn’t hurt that Troye looks a little like our cocktail-loving, dimpled darling.

Power by Isak Danielson – (This film clip is more explicit than the rest.) If I could only give you one song to represent Bona Fide Fake, it would be this one. All Ned’s deepest desires are right here, and Isak Danielson’s voice brings them to life so beautifully.

My My My! by Troye Sivan – (Trigger for photosensitivity) Here’s a tidbit I haven’t mentioned elsewhere. I once had a flash of inspiration for a short story that would have involved a club dancer and a police officer who happened to be in the audience. The flash happened while I was listening to this song. While that story never ended up going anywhere, one of the conversations I wrote out between the two characters inspired the conversation Ned and Toni have while Ned’s tending bar soon after they meet. For those of you who have read the book it involves four little words Toni would rather not say that manage to render Ned speechless. 😉

Vasoline by Stone Temple Pilots – “One time a thing occurred to me, what’s real and what’s for sale… Think I’d be safer all alone…” In my head Ned wrote this song for his band, Fifth Circle (with Johnny’s help, of course) based on his experiences with both Zac and Toni.

Tied Down by Jaymes Young – No prizes for knowing which character this song belongs to. It’s Toni alllllllll over.

Black Sheep by Jacob Lee – This song makes me a little sad, because this is who Ned might have become… if he’d never met Zac.

I Like Me Better by Lauv – Aaand back to the fun stuff. This is Toni’s worldview after he falls in love with Ned. Because life is better when you’re with the one who sees you from fabulous to furious and back again… and loves you anyway.

Would? by Alice in Chains – This is me channeling Fifth Circle’s performance at the Autumn Skies Music Festival in Byron Bay. I wish I could go and hang out with the boys!

Stuck with Me by The Neighbourhood – For me this song represents Ned’s time in Sydney when he was desperately trying to make a living as a musician. “I got caught up in the forest, hangin’ with the trees. Realised I’m less important, than I thought I’d be.”

Find My Way Back by Eric Arjes – I always like to end with a love song and when I tossed this one onto the list, it stuck. Toni and Ned have reached their happily ever after. Squee!


I hope you enjoyed listening to the soundtrack for Bona Fide Fake! If you’d like to hear any of my other soundtracks, you can find them on Spotify.

Music has always played a big part in my life and every book I write comes with its own soundtrack. Book soundtracks are invaluable as they keep me focused on the current book, even when I’m not writing. I listen to them when I’m driving in the car, cooking bacon and eggs for a big Sunday breakfast, even when I’m doing the ironing. Often little snippets of lyric will spark an idea that will turn out to be just the thing I need to solve a plot problem or figure out why a character is insisting on doing whatever it is they’re doing (rather than what I want them to do). Today, I wanted to share the music that inspired me while I was writing The Experiment.

The whole soundtrack is available through my Spotify Profile, or you can go straight to the playlist itself here.

To check out the individual songs on YouTube, just follow the links below. Happy listening!

• Through Glass – Hands Like Houses (Theme Song Alert! From one of my favourite Australian bands)
• Scattered Parts – Emptyself (Patrick’s self-awareness obsession – in song form!)
• Don’t Mind Me – Walking on Cars (“We’ve got nothing to lose, except everything we have.” A song for Logan)
• Comedown – Bush (An older song, this was the first one to be added to the soundtrack back when I originally had the idea for the book.)
• Gravity (Stripped) – Wage War (We have to let go of the past before we can embrace a better kind of future)
• Born (Part 2) – Dead Letter Circus (Another awesome Aussie band)
• Say It First – Sam Smith (This song is 100% Logan.)
• Momentary – Hands Like Houses (Yeah. I listened to a lot of Hands Like Houses while I wrote TE. It was a whole thing.)
• Trouble I’m In – Twinbed (Set after the dinner with Patrick’s family)
• Throw It All Away – Staind (I’m a huge Staind fan and I’ve waited years for a character that matched this song. Logan is that character. Perfection.)
• Someone You Loved – Lewis Capaldi (This song breaks my heart every time. Logan’s low point.)
• To Myself – Alfie Arcuri (Who doesn’t love a Patrick epiphany?)
• No Parallels – Hands Like Houses (Every great romance has a happy ending and so should the soundtrack. “This is happiness. To be everything at once. Be unblinded and unlearned. Be unbridled and unburned.”)

I hope you enjoy checking out my soundtrack for The Experiment. Don’t forget, the soundtracks for all my other books are also available on Spotify.

Music has always played a big part in my life and every book I write comes with its own soundtrack. Book soundtracks are invaluable as they keep me focused on the current book even when I’m not writing. I listen to them when I’m driving in the car, cooking bacon and eggs for a big Sunday breakfast, even when I’m doing the ironing. Often little snippets of lyric will spark an idea that will turn out to be just the thing I need to solve a plot problem or figure out why a character is insisting on doing whatever it is they’re doing (rather than what I want them to do). Today, I wanted to share some of the music that inspired me while I was writing Becoming Us.

• Wise Enough – Lamb (this was the Becoming Us theme song!)
• Ten Feet Tall – Wrabel (Lawrence’s theme)
• False Confidence – Noah Kahan (Connor’s theme)
• Halsey – Not Afraid Anymoe (Gabi’s theme)
• Without A Blush – Hatchie
• Not Angry Anymore – Thelma Plum
• Heaven – Troye Sivan
• What You Do – James Gillespie
• Half Light – Banners
• Do You Remember – Jarryd James
• Be Mine – Offenbach
• Waking Up Slow (Piano Version) – Gabrielle Aplin

I hope you enjoyed this sample of songs from the Becoming Us soundtrack. If you’d like to see the complete soundtrack you can find it here.

Music is one of my great passions in life and I think it’s safe to say I could never finish a book that didn’t have its own soundtrack. That was certainly the case for Finding Grey. It was a rock star romance, after all. So, today I’d like to reveal some of my favourite songs from the completely and totally unofficial soundtrack for the book. Click on the links to listen to the songs on YouTube.

Madness – Muse – Theme songs can be a difficult choice for a book. Not so this time. Madness was Dante and Sean’s theme song from day one.

Never Tear Us Apart – INXS – The song that started it all. Michael Hutchence (lead singer of INXS) was the inspiration for my rock legend, Dante Sinclair. This song in particular, inspired the opening scenes of the book.

Dazed and Confused – Ruel – The other side of that ‘first kiss’ scene, this is the song I associate with the young Sean after his encounter with Dante.

Don’t Tell Me – Ruel – Another song by Ruel. This young Aussie singer rose to fame at the age of 15 due to his incredible voice. When I was writing the book and talking about the voice Dante credits with his success, it was Ruel’s voice that I heard in my head.

Legends are Made – Sam Tinnesz – Dante Sinclair in all his arrogant glory.

Reach – The Butterfly Effect – You can’t have a rock star romance without some great rock music. My ideal choice for the voice of the adult Dante, Brisbane rock legend, Clint Boge.

Fools – Troye Sivan – Sean’s song. Because only a fool falls in love with a rock star. Right?

Legendary – Welshly Arms – This song was a representation of Dante’s growing determination to live life on his own terms.

Silence – Dead Letter Circus – Dante’s song for his father. And wholly hell has Roger caused a stir among readers. One reviewer said they hated him “with the fire of a thousand suns.” Yikes!

Brave – Zayde Wolf – One of the songs from Dante’s new album.

James Morrison – Better Man – At the end of the book Dante writes a song for Sean, as a gift. When I was writing the scene, this was the song I imagined Dante singing.

I hope you enjoyed this taste of the Finding Grey soundtrack. The full list of songs can be found at my Spotify profile (rrainewriter).

Soundtracks! If you’ve been on my newsletter list for a while you’ll know about my love of book soundtracks. Every book in the Finding Forever series has it’s own soundtrack, which I’ve shared in the past. I’ve enjoyed them all but I have to say, the soundtrack for All the Broken Pieces is my absolute favourite. It’s shorter than the rest but, as I was writing the book, every song on the list was so thoroughly connected to it that simply listening to any one of them was like a shortcut for getting into book-mode. Today I’m going to share the list with you, including handy-dandy links to the songs on YouTube. Here they are:

• Pieces – Red (This was the theme song for the book. I loved it from first listen. A fabulous match for Harrison at the start of the book.)
• Chasing Cars – Snow Patrol (Because we all need someone who will lay down with us and just forget the world.)
• Pieces – Rob Thomas
• Demons – Imagine Dragons (We all have at least a few demons scampering about in our heads. Harrison’s head was a little more crowded than most.)
• Open Your Eyes – Snow Patrol
• I Want Everything – The Dollar Bill Murrays (I love to add at least some Australian music to every list and this band is from my very own city of BrisVegas, a.k.a. Brisbane. This song was perfect for the moment when Jeremy realises he’s gotten more than he bargained for in Harrison.)
• Start A Riot – Banners (Despite Jeremy’s early reluctance, he fought to hold on to Harrison. This song was a great match.)
• Clarity – Matthew Koma (This song is AMAZING! I don’t want to say which scene it fits in the book (it would be a spoiler!) but if you’ve read it, you’ll probably know.)
• Hold On Forever – Rob Thomas (If you only listen to one song off the whole list, make it this one. This song represented Jeremy and Harrison’s relationship at the end of the book. It’s happy and boppy, so Harrison would hate it, but I love it!)

I hope you enjoy the All the Broken Pieces soundtrack. You can also hear it, and all the other soundtracks, at my Spotify profile (rrainewriter).

At the end of every year Spotify (the music streaming service I use) sends me a list of my Top Songs of the Year (that is, the songs I’ve listened to most throughout the year). My list is always heavily dependent on the books I’ve written that year, due to my great love of book soundtracks. So it was no surprise that all the songs I had on my completely unofficial soundtrack for Everything We Need, Book Four of my Finding Forever series, topped my Top Songs list for 2017. Although they did have some competition this year from a Norwegian pop song (5 Fine Frokner was part of my obsession with the Norwegian TV show SKAM.)

Today I thought I’d share with you some of the songs from the Everything We Need soundtrack, just as I’ve done for the other books in the Finding Forever series (Our Little Secret, Lost in Amber, This Time Forever). Only this time I thought I’d add links to the songs through YouTube for your easy listening pleasure.

Without further ado, here is a list of about half the songs that helped me bring life to Trina, Brady and Jeremy while writing Everything We Need:

• Mad About You – Hooverphonic (This was the Everything We Need theme song. I’ve loved this quirky song for years and this book seemed like the perfect place to use it. Check out the film clip for a bizarre but fun story about a woman who falls in love with… a giant plant?)
• Slow Devour – Emptyself
• Oceandust – Hands Like Houses (This was Jeremy’s song every step of the way.)
• Wicked Game – David Cook (Brady’s song for Trina. I love David Cook’s deep, crooning voice.)
• Whataya Want from Me – Adam Lambert
• All You Wanted – Sounds Under Radio
• Breathe Me – Sia (This was Trina’s song. She was so in need of TLC from a good man – or two 😉
• Way Down We Go – Kaleo
• Too Close – Alex Clare (Another one for Jeremy)
• Bloodstream – Stateless
• Bad Habit – The Kooks (I got a really clear picture of Trina as she was at the start of the book every time I listened to this song.)

If you have a Spotify account, and would like to listen to the whole soundtrack, you can go to my profile (rrainewriter) to listen. To find out more about Everything We Need, click here. To buy a copy of the book, visit your local Amazon store (US, UK, AUS).

On the odd occasion my love of music takes over and pretty much ruins whatever else I might be doing at the time. I won’t confirm this is the reason why dinner was a little on the over-cooked side tonight, but I will claim the glass of red wine I enjoyed along with singing and dancing around the kitchen had nothing to with it. I’m not sure anyone in my house believes me. Anyway, when I sat down to write this month’s newsletter, I knew I had to share another book soundtrack.

For those of you who don’t already know this, I always put together an unofficial soundtrack when I start a new book and then listen to it – ad nauseam – as I write. I’ve shared the soundtracks for Our Little Secret and Lost in Amber. That leaves the third book in the Finding Forever series, This Time Forever.

The story for This Time Forever floated about in my head for quite a few years before I found the right place to use it. That means I was developing this soundtrack for longer than the others. Many of the songs changed over time. Some, however, lasted right to the end of the book’s development. I hope you enjoy the list.

• Fight Song – Rachel Platten (This was Kelly’s theme song. I imagined her listening to it whenever she needed an extra shot of confidence.)
• Believe – Clint Boge (Clint is from my home town of Brisbane and I’ve been in love with his voice for well over a decade now. This light-hearted track always make me smile.)
• 20 Good Reasons – Thirsty Merc
• Good For You – Selena Gomez, A$AP Rocky
• Shut Up and Dance – Walk The Moon (This is the theme song for This Time Forever. “This woman is my destiny” – Hell, yes, she is Jake!)
• I Knew You Were Trouble – Taylor Swift
• Torn – Natalie Imbruglia (This one was on the list from day one. This song represents how Kelly felt when Jake walked out the first time. I’m sure we’ve all been there at one time or another.)
• Perfect Lonely – John Mayer
• Drops of Jupiter – Train
• SexyBack – Justin Timberlake, Timbaland (This is the other one that’s been attached to this book from the beginning. Love it or hate it, it makes you want to dance.)
• I Try – Macy Gray
• Say Something – A Great Big World, Christina Aguileria (Isn’t this song perfection? *happy sigh*)

If you would like to listen to the This Time Forever soundtrack you can find all the songs on Spotify (feel free to follow me, my profile name is rrainewriter, and all my soundtracks are available for listening there). If you don’t use Spotify, you’ll be able to find the songs on YouTube, or your preferred music service.