The Love, Lucy Playlist by April Lindner (an awesome guest post!!!)

Hello, readers,

Today is going to be dedicated to Love, Lucy playlist, and read what the creator, author April Lindner, has to say about it!

The following is written by April Lindner (YAY!!!):

When I graduated from college, my parents gave me the gift of a lifetime: two months backpacking solo through Europe.  I climbed an Alp in Switzerland, took the Sound of Music Tour in Austria, rode a Bateau Mouche in Paris, and ate fish and chips in the general vicinity of John Cleese in London—but nothing thrilled me as much as my time in Italy.  Maybe my abiding love of all things Italian can be explained by the fact that I’m half Italian.  Maybe it’s because I studied the language in college and can bluff my way through conversations with cabdrivers and waiters.  Or maybe it’s the art, the architecture, the amazing food, the warmhearted Italians, or the rolling hills of Tuscany.

Whatever the reason, I go back to Italy whenever I can (not often enough!) and, the rest of the time, I rely on music to transport me back to the land of my dreams. I can shut my eyes and listen, and suddenly I’m riding an overnight train into Florence, wandering through a sun-drenched piazza, hearing a street musician’s guitar, and falling in love all over again.

In putting together a playlist for my new novel, Love, Lucy, I chose songs with the power to jolt me back into Lucy’s world.  Here’s what you need to know about the plot of Love, Lucy: the summer before Lucy Sommersworth goes off to college, her parents send her on her very own backpacking trip of a lifetime to Europe, but there’s one little catch—she has to give up her dreams of an acting career and enroll as a business major at Forsythe University, her father’s alma mater.  In Florence, Lucy finds herself falling in love with the culture, the architecture, the food—and with Jesse Palladino, a footloose street musician.  Lucy returns home, determined to move on from her “vacation flirtation.”  But just because summer is over doesn’t mean Lucy and Jesse are over—or does it?

For Lucy’s playlist, I’ve chosen a mix of American rock and European pop. Here are some highlights:

• The first song, Check In by Fiamma Fumana perfectly captures the buzz of an airport’s busy international terminal, the sheer excitement of being about to hop on a plane to Europe for the very first time.

•  Lucy and her friend Charlene land in Paris, then backpack on to Salzberg, Vienna, and Munich, so I have tossed in some of Lucy’s favorite songs in German and French: Ne Me Quitte Pas by Regina Spektor; Elle Me Dit by Mika (a British pop star I first discovered in a café in Rome); and Madchen Mit Plan by 2raumwohnung.

• Italy is meant to be the trip’s grand finale for Lucy, and it’s the place where she meets and falls for Jesse. Songs like Cosa Hai Messo Nel Caffe by Malika Ayane, Come un Pittore by Moda, and Fammi Dormire by Matteo Beccuci capture the tenderness and excitement of a summer love in romantic Florence, Italy.

• Finally, I’ve tossed in some songs in English for good measure—We are Golden by Mika, Every Single Body Else, by Butch Walker, Whole World With You by Willie Nile—songs that capture the excitement of an American in Europe for the very first time—making new friends, walking through thrilling new landscapes, and saying yes to adventure.

Thank you to April Lindner for an awesome blog post today!!! We appreciate it!!!

Till next time, readers!

XOXO,

Lexi