Playlist Link: https://open.spotify.com/user/22b2utdzsqzwv7gdazknp3dki/playlist/6yHrnC4prgwMoNKEPc4wwS
Playlist Story:
This is such a fun playlist because there are so many factors at work. First we had five different authors writing in five different worlds – from ancient China to the Wild West. Second, in each of the books one of the characters is gambled away (my very favorite historical romance trope). And finally like any good play list – there’s a fabulous mix of songs and genres! Including – of course – some Kenny Rogers.
Enjoy!
Joanna Bourne
Bill Leslie – “Pungo Gumbo”
Three Days Grace – “Get Out Alive”
The Highwaymen – “Highwaymen”
Isabel Cooper
Al Bowlly – “Midnight, The Stars and You”Duke Ellington “Stardust”Alison Krauss – “Down To The River To Pray”
Rose Lerner
Click Five - "The Flipside". Waiting for the day when I'm complete/without you, doing what I can to let you be. A rather passive-aggressive but genuinely sad song about a breakup is for my hero Simon and his ex-boyfriend Clement.
The Pretenders - "Don't Get Me Wrong." I'm thinking about the fireworks that go off when you smile. This feels really right for the crush Maggie has on Simon at the beginning of the story: uncomplicated, sexy, eager and exhilarating.
Selena Gomez - "Good for You." Gonna wear that dress you like, skin-tight/Do my hair up real, real nice/And syncopate my skin to how you're breathing. This song is so hot, and the combination of confidence, longing, and dressing to impress feels really right for Maggie.
Molly O’Keefe
Johnny Cash – “Hurt” Oh, this is just one of the most painfully stark and beautiful covers ever. It’s a visceral description of addiction and loathing. It fits both James and Helen.
Kenny Rogers – “The Gambler” Too easy? Too much? Too totally on the nose? Yes. Probably. But I guarantee you will be singing this for the rest of the day.
Lesley Gore – “You Don’t Own Me.” I feel like this is Helen’s mantra as she’s forced to sing suspended in that birdcage.
Excerpt from All or Nothing by Rose Lerner:
Thought I'd post a teaser from one of my favorite scenes in my story...they've just arrived at Simon's ex-boyfriend's house party where Maggie is pretending to be Simon's mistress. (Maggie's gambling den has a 1790s theme so her clothes are a little poofier and more frou-frou than contemporary ones: http://regencyfashion.org/images/i-heid/nh5-6.jpeg)*
She’d brought two enormous trunks of clothes with her, insisting they were necessary both for the charade and to prevent them from being stolen in her absence. “I’m sorry, I know I’m disgustingly particular,” she told the maid who’d come up with the trunks. “But all these petticoats have got to be hung up, and not pressed all together either.” Maggie darted a ruthless smile at Simon. “If you’ve got to squash something, squash HIS things.”
The maid smiled hesitantly, unwilling to risk annoying Simon.
The threat to his clothes did not annoy him. Nor did it annoy him that it looked as if a muslin factory had exploded over half the bed. Spangles, embroidery, stripes...all of which Maggie ignored to set out her hairpins on the dressing table, and her hairbrush and jewelry. Unwinding a shawl from around a little painted cut-glass perfume bottle, she set the bottle by the mirror as carefully as if it were a Crown Jewel. Simon felt dizzy, remembering the scent of tuberoses.
Men were SUPPOSED to be annoyed at being surrounded by a froth of femininity, weren’t they? But he wasn’t sure why. In this case 'froth' was not a strong enough word—the room was rapidly becoming a whipped custard, a meringue, or perhaps a many-layered trifle of femininity—and Simon just wanted to roll her into that cloud of muslin and kiss her.
But he had resolved with himself not to. THAT was what annoyed him.
Molly's Links:
http://www.molly-okeefe.com/https://twitter.com/MollyOKwriteshttps://www.facebook.com/MollyOKeefeBookshttps://instagram.com/mokeefeauthor/Gambled Away on Amazon: http://amzn.to/1WpLZenGambled Away on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26147072-redeemed
