Review: DRIVE by Stephanie Fournet
I have loved everything I’ve read from Stephanie Fournet, and DRIVE did not disa[...]
I’m thrilled to have Sarah Bromley as a guest again today, as part of her blog tour for A MURDER OF MAGPIES! Check out her debut YA novel and its playlist below, and then be sure to enter the giveaway!
A MURDER OF MAGPIES by Sarah Bromley
October 28, 2014 | Month9Books
Winter in Black Orchard, Wisconsin, is long and dark, and sixteen-year-old Vayda Silver prays the snow will keep the truth and secrecy of the last two years buried. Hiding from the past with her father and twin brother, Vayda knows the rules: never return to the town of her mother’s murder, and never work a Mind Game where someone might see.
No one can know the toll emotions take on Vayda, how emotion becomes energy in her hands, or how she can’t control the destruction she causes. But it’s not long before her powers can no longer be contained. The truth is dangerously close to being exposed, placing Vayda and her family at risk.
Until someone quiets the chaos inside her.
Unwanted. That’s all Ward Ravenscroft has ever been. To cope, he numbs the pain of rejection by denying himself emotions of any kind. Yet Vayda stirs something in him. He can’t explain the hold she has on him–inspiring him with both hope and fear. He claims not to scare easily, except he doesn’t know what her powers can do. Yet.
Just as Vayda and Ward draw closer, she finds the past isn’t so easily buried. And when it follows the Silvers to Black Orchard, it has murder in mind.
Playlist – A MURDER OF MAGPIES
by Sarah Bromley
A MURDER OF MAGPIES has a huge playlist. Seriously. Part of it is because I’m from a family of musicians and music is just as important to me as words. Also, in the book, Ward is the son of a musician and able to play in his own right, so his eclectic taste in music also found its way into the playlist. I’ve picked fifteen of the songs from my Spotify playlist for A MURDER OF MAGPIES and the rest can be found there where I’m SarahBromleyAuthor.
- “Sleepwalk” by Santo & Johnny. It’s a haunting, old instrumental with a hint of mourning, very much like Vayda.
- “Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)” by Arcade Fire. The setting of Black Orchard covered in snow came from this song.
- “Pictures of You” by The Cure. It’s a song about missing someone who is gone, and Vayda and Jonah’s father Emory only has a picture of his wife, Lorna, anymore.
- “Breakthrough” by Modest Mouse. Isaac Brock has such a sneering, sarcastic delivery of his vocals, and this is very much Jonah’s theme song.
- “Linger, Let Me Linger” by The Handsome Family. This band plays a lot of southern Gothic alt-country, and there’s an old-timeyness to the song with really beautiful lyrics that I found replaying in my head while working on this book.
- “I’ll Be Your Mirror” by the Velvet Underground & Nico. This is a pretty old song, and it’s definitely one that Ward knows how to play on the guitar. It’s tender and yet there’s an underlying darkness to the romance in the song.
- “I’ll Believe in Anything” by Wolf Parade. What a crazy song. I love it, and again it’s a Ward song, especially when he’s confronted by things that should seem impossible.
- “Around My Smile” by Hope Sandoval & the Warm Inventions. Hope Sandoval has such a pretty, hushed voice, very much like how Vayda speaks in my head. And again it’s slow and dreamy with a hint of that old-fashioned guitar style that you hear in “Sleepwalk” and “Linger, Let Me Linger.”
- “Candle Song 3” by Mojave 3. Mojave 3 were one of my favorite bands when I was younger, and this song has stuck with me for years. Again, it’s wintry and there’s deep love spoken of. The male-female voices cause every hair on my neck to rise during the chorus of “Chained to my lover as she’s chained to me.”
- “Sleepwalkin’” by Modest Mouse. This is a version of “Sleepwalk” by Santo and Johnny with lyrics that only Modest Mouse can put to the music. It’s gorgeous and so, so very Ward.
- “Shock Me” by Red House Painters. Red House Painters were fronted by Mark Kozelek who now also performs as Sun Kil Moon. Their cover of this song by KISS takes it from being bawdy to a simmering electrical current, which is perfect for A MURDER OF MAGPIES.
- “Is She Weird?” by The Pixies. I love the Pixies. My husband took me to see them live, and they blew me away. And this song is exactly what goes through Ward’s head when he meets Vayda.
- “Words” by Low. Such a pretty song. Understated. Sad guitar. You want to know how much Ward hurts inside? This is it.
- “Satin in a Coffin” by Modest Mouse. It’s got that Southern twang, and it’s very angry. It’s Jonah.
- “One For Sorrow, Two for Joy” by Innocence Mission. The Magpie rhyme from the book’s beginning is actually the basis of this song, and it’s sweet and mournful yet hopeful, and it’s all the things Vayda is.
About Sarah Bromley
Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads
Sarah Bromley lives near St. Louis with her husband, three children, and two dogs. She likes the quiet hours of morning when she can drink coffee in peace, stare into the woods behind her house, and wonder what monsters live there. When she’s not writing or wrangling small children, she can be found volunteering at a stable for disabled riders.
Many thanks to Sarah Bromley for stopping by to answer my questions, and Month9Books for having me as part of the A MURDER OF MAGPIES Blog Tour! Readers, be sure to enter the giveaway below, and follow the tour HERE.
