I
am so happy to have Susan Dennard on the blog today I love this series with a
fierce zombie loving passion! And we get music woot! Check out Susan’s playlist
and make sure to enter the giveaway below!
5 Songs to
Get You in the Parisian Mood
Since I’ve shared my official playlist for A Darkness Strange and Lovely over on the Epic Reads site, I
thought I’d give you guys some different sorts of songs—music that’s aimed at
really giving you that Parisian vibe Eleanor experiences in the book.
So let’s get started, shall we?
1) Paris holds the key to
your heart!
Okay, okay, don’t laugh. I can
never resist the temptation to include something from Anastasia, and it just fits so well here! After going through all
sorts of misery and almost dying way too many times, Eleanor finally straggles into Paris—and it’s so
beautiful! Anyone who has ever visited this city knows that it really DOES hold
the key to your heart. So just as Anastasia is moved by the City of Light ;), so to is
Eleanor in A Darkness Strange and Lovely.
Also, Dimitri and Daniel could be
brothers. SO MUCH ANGST.
2) La Seine
Eleanor’s first glimpses of Paris
send her into raptures, but it’s her first sight of the River Seine that really
guts her. She has grown up beside the wild Delaware River in Philadelphia, but
it is nothing like the tamed River
Seine with its stone banks and the busy riverside avenues.
Also, I just love this song. I first
heard it while in Paris researching A
Darkness Strange and Lovely, so it will ALWAYS hold a special place in my
heart.
3) La Valse d’Amélie
So this list wouldn’t be complete
without an oh-so-stereotypically-Parisian piece off the Amelie soundtrack. (Brilliant film, by the way.) I just love the
gradual growth of this song and all the emotion that seems to ooze out of it. I think it would fit
very well with a certain love scene in A
Darkness Strange and Lovely—and that is ALL I’ll say about that. ;)
4) The Phantom of the
Opera
Not only does this song evoke that
dark but gorgeous vibe I want readers
to feel as they read A Darkness Strange
and Lovely, but the actual story of the Phantom of the Opera happens in
(and below) the Palais Garnier…which is ALSO somewhere Eleanor and the
Spirit-Hunters explore. ;)
5) Nature Boy
So there are a thousand renditions
of this song, but the version that I think really
evokes that vibe of Paris and A Darkness
Strange and Lovely is the one that starts Moulin Rouge. First of all, I LOVE THAT MOVIE. It never fails to
make me ugly cry.
Second of all, I just love the aching sadness in this song as
well as the beautiful, STUNNING lyrics: “The greatest thing you’ll ever learn,
is just to love and be loved in return.” I feel like this whole song—but
especially that one line—could summarize Eleanor’s emotional journey in the
Something Strange and Deadly series.
So there you have it, my friends. Are you feeling particularly
Parisian? And do YOU have any musical numbers you suggest for inspiring that
joie de vivre?
Following an all-out battle with the walking Dead, the Spirit
Hunters have fled Philadelphia, leaving Eleanor alone to cope with the
devastating aftermath. But there’s more trouble ahead—the evil necromancer
Marcus has returned, and his diabolical advances have Eleanor escaping to Paris
to seek the help of Joseph, Jie, and the infuriatingly handsome Daniel once
again. When she arrives, however, she finds a whole new darkness lurking in
this City of Light. As harrowing events unfold, Eleanor is forced to make a
deadly decision that will mean life or death for everyone.
About
Susan:
Susan Dennard is a writer, reader, lover of animals, and eater
of cookies. She used to be a marine biologist, but now she writes novels. And
not novels about fish either, but novels about kick-butt heroines and
swoon-worthy rogues (she really likes swoon-worthy rogues).
She lives in the Midwest with her French husband and Irish
setter, and her debut, SOMETHING STRANGE AND DEADLY, is now available from
HarperTeen.
Giveaway Details:
There will be 10 winners total and the prizes are…..
5 Winners will receive A Hardcovers of A DARKNESS STRANGE AND
LOVELY and a paperback of SOMETHING STRANGE AND DEADLY, and signed swag US
ONLY.
5 winners will
receive an e-novella of A DAWN MOST WICKED and signed swag INTERNATIONAL
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