Why hello lovelies! Incredibly excited for today’s post as I’ll be sharing my part of the blog tour for Not In The Script, a newly released YA Contemporary from Bloomsbury’s If Only series! I’m so thrilled to have debut author, Amy Finnegan, here on the blog to talk about the soundtrack behind her book! Please give her a warm welcome and make sure to listen to the awesome playlist she’s put together!

The Story

Not In The Script
by Amy Finnegan

Published October 7th, 2014 by Bloomsbury Children’s

Synopsis:

Millions of people witnessed Emma Taylor’s first kiss — a kiss that needed twelve takes and four camera angles to get right. After spending nearly all of her teen years performing on cue, Emma wonders if any part of her life is real anymore…particularly her relationships.

Jake Elliott’s face is on magazine ads around the world, but his lucrative modeling deals were a poor substitute for what he had to leave behind. Now acting is offering Jake everything he wants: close proximity to home; an opportunity to finally start school; and plenty of time with the smart and irresistible Emma Taylor…if she would just give him a chance.

When Jake takes Emma behind the scenes of his real life, she begins to see how genuine he is, but on-set relationships always end badly. Don’t they? Toss in Hollywood’s most notorious heartthrob and a resident diva who may or may not be as evil as she seems, and the production of Coyote Hills heats up in unexpected — and romantic — ways.

The Soundtrack

I finished a first draft of NOT IN THE SCRIPT over seven years ago and revised it many times until it was finally how I wanted it, so there has been a lot of music involved in its creation. But the songs that follow in this list are the ones I most often think of in relation to certain scenes. A few of the songs are older (and one is truly old-school), but since they’re some of my favorites and I listen to them often, they helped inspire a certain mood. There are also a few songs that are too new to have been a part of my actual writing process but have since made me think, “This song is perfect for this or that scene.” I love music almost as much as I love books, so it’s a pleasure to present this playlist. I hope you like it!

SOMEBODY TOLD ME by The Killers: Imagine this song playing when Jake and Emma walk into The Cage on page 128. There are a lot of rumors flying around in NOT IN THE SCRIPT—often on a worldwide scale—and it’s often difficult for Jake and Emma to know what’s true and what isn’t. They have to learn to trust one another. But the #1 reason I chose this song is because I love The Killers (isn’t that enough of a reason?). Coincidentally, Jake and Emma also love The Killers. ;)

EVERYTHING HAS CHANGED by Taylor Swift and Ed Sheeran: I saw Taylor and Ed perform this together at a concert, and I’m pretty sure I was hovering ten feet off the ground. The words of this song describe how I imagine both Jake and Emma’s thoughts in the first paragraph of page 135 (even though they are in two different locations). The song opens with, “All I knew this morning when I woke, is I know something now, know something now I didn’t before. And I’ll I’ve seen since eighteen hours ago, is green eyes, and freckles and your smile, in the back of my mind making me feel like, I just want to know you better . . . ” Yep.

TREACHEROUS by Taylor Swift: I know, two TaySwi songs in a row, but I couldn’t help but fall hard for this song when it first came out. It mirrors Emma’s thoughts for much of the novel. Sometimes you can already be in the middle of a relationship and not even know it, which can be sort of scary; but those are the sort of relationships that are worth the risk. The most significant line in this song: “I’d be smart to walk away, but you’re quicksand.”

HANGING BY A MOMENT by Lifehouse: This song is one of just two that, from when I first started writing this novel, have influenced the mood of certain scenes—especially the scene that starts on page 216. I love the playful nature of this song and the way it so expertly portrays how you can truly fall for someone, even when you don’t mean to. There’s a line in this song that’s pretty much Jake’s mantra when it comes to Emma: “I’m standing here until you make me move; I’m falling even more in love with you.”

SOMEDAY by Rob Thomas: This song is filled with some pretty powerful longing, which is why I’ve continued to love it year after year. Throughout the novel Emma expresses a desire to get past her sensitivity to the public’s intrusion into her personal life. She longs to be free of the judgment and expectation that rules her choices—her dating choices, in particular—but doesn’t yet know how to block it out. There’s a point in the novel where she thinks, “We have a future together, I can feel it. We just have to make it through the space between here and there.” And that’s the sentiment that this song reminds me of.

TERRIFIED by Katharine McPhee and Zachary Levi: First and foremost, it’s CHUCK! (And also Flynn Rider!!) And Katharine McPhee’s voice is beyond amazing, so put them together and this song won me over in less than a measure. In fact I like it so much that I’ve attached it to the chapter I rewrote more than any other because it was so important for me to get it right. That chapter starts on page 260. (Side note: I’ve included a Spotify playlist, but they don’t have the Zachary Levi version of this song, which I like so much more than the one Spotify has access to. You can hear the version I love on iTunes, or here on YouTube.)

ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST by Queen: This song is dedicated to the tabloid “journalists” who I imagine eagerly strutting down the street to the beat of this song, hoping with their cold, cold hearts that they will find a celebrity in the lowest moment of their life . . . and exploit them for the sake of entertainment. Just listen to this song as if it were sung by a tabloid journalist (“There are plenty of ways that you can hurt a man, and bring him to the ground . . . ”) and you’ll get a really good sense of how Emma feels about them. And I can totally imagine Emma, after they’ve dragged her through the dirt, screaming back (just like Freddie Mercury), “Are you happy? Are you satisfied?”

AMNESIA by 5 Seconds of Summer: This is a very new song that caught my attention immediately because parts of it remind me of how Jake feels when, during a particular point in the story, he sort of disappears and no one is sure where he is. The funny thing about heartwrenching loves songs is that the majority of the best of them (in my opinion) are written and performed by men! So I definitely think guys are more sensitive and romantic than the world at large gives them credit for. #swoon

IRIS by the Goo Goo Dolls: This is the second song (along with HANGING BY A MOMENT) that has been a part of NOT IN THE SCRIPT from the very beginning. It’s the song I’ve always imagined Jake and Emma dancing to right before they leave The Cage. I’ve been around enough celebrities to know that many of them wear a mask, and even a different personality, in public. It’s only the people who are closest to them who know who they really are—their fears, insecurities, and what and who means the most to them. But it’s hard to trust new people in your life . . . not when they could so easily make a lot of money selling your secrets, or when there’s a strong possibility that they’re only nice so they can namedrop and be seen with you. There’s a line in this song that says, “When everything feels like the movies, yeah, you bleed just to know you’re alive,” and I imagine that as a celebrity, it is indeed difficult to know what’s real and what isn’t when everything that glitters is not gold. But Jake and Emma both want a life, not just a lifestyle, so that’s why this is their song. The last line sums up their story in a nutshell: “I just want you to know who I am.”

Thank you for sharing all about your wonderful book, Amy! Never imagined I could be even more excited than I already was- love all the songs you shared as well as how they relate to your book! I seriously can’t wait to read Not In The Script! Everyone, if you enjoyed Amy’s post as I did, I hope you’ll add Not In The Script to your to-read list and consider grabbing a copy! :D

Now, here’s an awesome giveaway for you:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The Author