Blog Tour: A DARKNESS STRANGE AND LOVELY bu Susan Dennard and a Giveaway!!!

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.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsy9k3Z-CiY  

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.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Z-NbQvhzKM

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. ;)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RD3WwM6l1J0

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. ;)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pgz6PnHkmpY&feature=share&list=TLWMxK5qedB2U

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.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekCvBztYs_A

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?

 

Goodreads/Amazon/Barnes & Noble/The Book Depository

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.

Website/Blog/Twitter/Facebook/Goodreads

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

a Rafflecopter giveaway


 

Make sure to go to Rockstar Book Tours to check out the full schedule!