Guest Post

Ophelia London

My soundtrack to DEFINITELY, MAYBE IN LOVE

Music plays a very important role in the stories I write. If it isn’t a central theme (like in my book ABBY ROAD where the main characters is a rock star chick), there is always a major musical presence. One of my favorite parts of starting on a new story is coming up with its official “soundtrack”—which I always do, sometimes before I’ve even written one word. I find that songs help move the plot along and even help with character development. Music allows me to get into a character’s skin. It says a lot about a character if we know they’re a hardcore Beatles fan, or if they love punk.

In my book, DEFINITELY, MAYBE IN LOVE, the story isn’t about the music industry, but the two main characters—Spring and Henry—are really into music. Their tastes, however, are as different as night and day. Because of this, I ended up making two separate playlists for each of them. Spring’s songs of choice lean toward female singers, sometimes angry chick rock (because it feels good to be ticked off!) and other times she’s all about cool coffeehouse songbirds. I got loads of Spring’s personality from listening to Alanis Morissette and Sara Bareilles.

What’s even more fun is the playlist I made for Henry is actually a playlist he makes for Spring in the book. The songs are pretty…well…they’re specifically chosen by Henry, so I’m not going to spill right now—I don’t want to spoil it for readers—but I will say that Henry knows Spring has a weakness for sexy singers like Bruno Mars. Hee-hee.

DEFINITELY, MAYBE IN LOVE is also a modern retelling of Pride & Prejudice, so I had almost too much fun listening to a lot of “opposites attract” songs, too. One of my favorites is “Hate That I Love You” by Rihanna and Ne-Yo. It really tells their story!

To check out Henry’s playlist, clicky-click here: http://www.ophelialondon.com/p/blog-page.html.

Do you have a favorite song from a book’s soundtrack?

Spring Honeycutt wants two things: to ace her sustainable living thesis and to save the environment. Both seem hopelessly unobtainable until her college professor suggests that with a new angle, her paper could be published. Spring swears she’ll do whatever it takes to ensure that happens.

“Whatever it takes,” however, means forming a partnership with the very hot, very privileged, very conceited Henry Knightly.

Henry is Spring's only hope at publication, but he's also the über-rich son of a land developer and cash-strapped Spring’s polar opposite. Too bad she can't help being attracted to the way he pushes her buttons, both politically and physically. As they work on her thesis, Spring finds there's more to Henry than his old money and argyle sweaters…but can she drop the loud-and-proud act long enough to let him in? Suddenly, choosing between what she wants and what she needs puts Spring at odds with everything she believes in.

Definitely, Maybe in Love is a modern take on Pride and Prejudice that proves true love is worth risking a little pride.

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