Lost in Amber: The Soundtrack
I’ve mentioned before that when I started writing romance novels my love of music naturally became part of my writing process. Every time I start a new book, one of the first things I do is create a soundtrack for the book. Then I listen to it – constantly. In that article I listed the songs that were on my soundtrack for Our Little Secret, the first book in my Finding Forever series (if you missed that article and would like to see the list, you can see it here.)
Now there are three book in the series, I’m pretty sure everyone around me is sick of me announcing, “This song is on my new soundtrack,” every time I put on music, and then singing along at the top of my lungs. Well, my kids are sick of it anyway.
Today I thought I’d share the completely unofficial soundtrack for Lost in Amber. Lincoln and Amber had such opposing personalities and I had a great time finding songs that managed to capture each of them and set the tone for the book. I hope you enjoy the list!
- Heart’s A Mess – Goyte (This is the theme song for Lost in Amber. “It makes no sense, but I’m desperate to connect.” – This was just too perfect for Lincoln.)
- Take Me To Church – Hozier (I loved Hozier’s entire album, despite the fact that every other song is about death.)
- Can’t Touch It – Ricki-Lee
- Crazy – Daniela Andrade
- All I Ever Want is You – Megan Davies (It took a while for Amber to appreciate Lincoln’s view of the world, but I thought this one captured the way she came around in the end)
- Beneath Your Beautiful – Labrinth and Emeli Sande
- Only Love Can Hurt Like This – Paloma Faith
- Burn Your Name – Powderfinger (because Powderfinger was playing on the radio when Lincoln gave Amber a ride home, of course.)
- Lights – Wanderhouse
- On/Off – Barcelona
- Rescue – Yuna (I loved this song because Amber is one of those wonderful women who will happily rescue her own damn self thank you very much)
- You Don’t Own Me – Grace (I loved this song as a kid listening to my mum’s Leslie Gore album. I still love it today.)
If you would like to listen to the Lost in Amber 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’re sure to be able to find the songs on YouTube, or your preferred music service.
Our Little Secret: The Soundtrack
I love music!
All kinds of music. At the piano I usually play classical music. When I’m with my kids we listen to popular music (and various renditions of ‘Let It Go’). When I’m in the car by myself it’s alternative rock all the way.
As a young woman I used to like the idea that there was a soundtrack for my life and I used to think about the songs that would be on it. I was strange and eclectic, so at different times the soundtrack of my life could just as easily include ‘But Not For Me’ by Billie Holiday, ‘Throw Your Arms Around Me’ by Hunters and Collectors, or just lots and lots of Alanis Morissette.
When I first started writing seriously my love of soundtracks naturally spread to my writing and I created soundtracks for my books so I could listen to them while writing. At first I tried to include a different song for each segment of the book. This turned out to be exceedingly difficult. I mean, really? The perfect song for each and every segment of each and every book? Talk about an impossible task.
These days it’s all about finding songs that have the right general theme to them, or even songs that just set the right atmosphere.
The soundtrack for Our Little Secret was always going to be problematic. There aren’t too many love songs out there that involve three people (or if there are I haven’t noticed them). In the end, I decided to make a playlist of Julia’s favourite songs at the time I was writing the book. What would this modern career woman, who was conservative in her daily life but just dying to get her naughty on, be listening to when she was all alone? Below are some of the songs that made it onto the list. I listened to the list on repeat while writing the story. Not just when I was physically at my computer, but also while doing housework, cooking dinner, pretty much anytime I could plug in some headphones. There was much head bopping, singing along, and general having of fun.
- Do I Wanna Know? – Arctic Monkeys (This is the Our Little Secret theme song! It’s so damned sexy and always makes me think of Scott.)
- Free (feat. Emeli Sande) – Rudimental
- Latch – Disclosure, Sam Smith
- Am I Wrong – Nico & Vinz (I think of this one as Derek’s song)
- Best Day of My Life – American Authors
- Burn – Ellie Goulding
- Dear Darlin’ – Olly Murs
- Drop the Game – Flume & Chet Faker
- Read All About It, Pt. III – Emeli Sande (perfect for Julia at the end of the book, ready to stand proud and brave in her new world)
- Stay With Me – Sam Smith
- Stolen Dance – Milky Chance
- Talk is Cheap – Chet Faker
- The Days – Avicii
- The Wire – Haim
- Waves (Robin Schulz Radio Edit) – Mr. Probz
- You’re Nobody Till Somebody Loves You – James Arthur
- I Don’t Wanna Love Somebody Else – A Great Big World
For me, many of these songs have become inextricably linked to Our Little Secret and every time I hear them I remember how much fun I had writing it.
If you would like to listen, you will be able to hear each and every song on Spotify, which is currently my preference for getting my music fix. Or you can head over to YouTube for your listening pleasure. I hope you enjoy the list!
If you haven’t yet read Our Little Secret, you can find it here!