The ALTF series boys and their music

So, guess what? A LITTLE TOO MUCH goes on sale in just four weeks! FOUR WEEKS! I love that Harper is getting these books out so fast and y'all don't have to wait months and months for the next books in the A Little Too Far series. So, today is a musical celebration of all three A Little Too Far novels. And you all know how I love my men, so they are the focus of my celebration.

Each of my characters has a musical inspiration. There's always one song that is their musical embodiment. And there's also a song that is the overriding theme of the entire novel. My musical tastes tend to be eclectic, so sometimes something blasting out of the car next to me at the stoplight will catch my ear. Or maybe it's actual elevator music. Or something that pops onto the radio while I'm mopping my kitchen floor. Or something emanating from the television during a football game. If it speaks to me, chances are it's going to end up in one of my books in one form or another.

So, my boys. In A LITTLE TOO FAR, we meet Trent and Alessandro, and one of them is the hero in A LITTLE TOO MUCH as well. My hero in A LITTLE TOO HOT (book 3, Jan 2014) is Harrison, and I can't wait for you to meet him. This weekend I was listening to my writing playlist on shuffle, and their three songs came up back to back to back. I laughed out loud as I was listening, because it struck me how different the songs are from one another. It got me thinking about my guys. They couldn't be much more different in nature, personality, and upbringing, and their songs reflect that.

So, let's start with Trent. Trent is a musician, and, as an artist, is sensitive in a more soulful way. He's got a bit of an wild streak, and tends to be a little impulsive, but he's not a "bad boy." Quite the opposite, really. He cares about people (especially Lexie) and, despite his string of women, he's just generally a stand up guy. In the acknowledgements for the book, I tell my readers that the overriding theme of ALTF is Lifehouse's "All In," but the song that shaped Trent is Rob Thomas' "Ever the Same," which really sums up Trent and Lexie's whole relationship. Whenever I watch this Youtube vid, I hear him singing this too her.

Alessandro, my Italian-French-American almost-priest, takes that path because he believes he has a lot to atone for and it's his only route to redemption. He has a huge heart and an enormous capacity for love, but he also believes he doesn't deserve to be loved. He's suffered immeasurable loss at the hands of others, and he's never totally come to terms with that loss. He's a tortured soul and, no matter what he does from here on out, he'll never be able to totally forgive himself for the wrongs he believes he's perpetrated on others. He's bound to forever suffer in silence, and the song that embodies his suffering is "My Sacrifice" by Creed.

And in A LITTLE TOO HOT we meet Harrison. Harrison is that sexy combination of sweet and tough, but he has his own demons. For the most part, he does a decent job of keeping them in check, but they drive him, and his need for revenge boils just below the surface of his cool-as-a-cucumber demeanor. Without giving too much away, I can tell you that things get interesting for Harrison when he meets a certain friend of Lexie's, and what happens from there, neither of them could have ever predicted. The song that shaped Harrision is "Don't Ya" by Brett Eldredge.


So...yeah. Three guys, three different personalities, and embodied by three very different songs. But I love them all, and hopefully, so will you =) Do you have songs you feel embody Trent or Alessandro? I'd love to hear what they are!