When I’m writing, I need to have music playing in the background. I curate playlists for each of my novels with songs that either the song fits one of my characters, or it gives a feeling that fits a scene. My playlist for A HAPPY BEGINNING goes from Taylor Swift to Twenty One Pilots, new releases to songs back from the birth of jazz music.
- So Beautiful, Darren Hayes: Raz comes from a background that has put him down in so many ways—a topic to be looked at closer if I get to write a sequel—that he needs to behave while out in society. Yet, meeting Alard throws away any idea of normal out the proverbial window. It’s this stanza that stands out for him:
I have lost my illusions / I have drowned in your words / I have left my confusion to a cynical world / I am throwing myself at things I don't understand / Discover enlightenment holding your hand. He tries to stay realistic, but when he finally lets himself believe in Alard’s world, he finds himself.
- Something Just Like This, Coldplay and the Chainsmokers: For almost his entire life, Alard has been told who he is going to marry and had both his and Meyda’s parents forcing a love connection between him and his best friend. His time in New Orleans is, in some ways, him “sowing his royal oats” before resigning to his rule and not having a romantic love with a partner. When Raz meets him, he’s just a local lawyer, not a fairy prince to sweep him off his feet. This gives Alard that glimpse of what that relationship could be like…and he wants it badly.
- Love Song, Sara Bareilles: There are so many Meyda anthems out there, it was hard to choose just one for this list. I went with “Love Song” because Meyda’s sexuality gives her strength in a realm that her parents are defining for her, and she wants nothing to do with. She isn’t going to change herself just because her parents and the kingdom want to see their new rulers in an epic love story. That conviction of being true to herself doesn’t mean she loves her kingdoms any less, just that she wants them to love her for who she is.
- All for Love, Bryan Adams, Sting, & Rod Stewart: there are many “threes” in the novel, including my three main characters. However, the book is not a love triangle. Wanting to focus on friendship as well as the love story, I read about other famous trios in literature. I was introduced to “All for Love” through The Three Musketeers movie from Disney in 1993 (when I should have been reading the novel), and my teenage brain held up the relationships between Athos, Porthos, and Aramis as an ideal friendship of love and protection. Alard, Raz, and Meyda are a team who work together to make a love story happen, each with their own roles. The main anthem for the movie gives those roles and their importance to showing platonic and romantic love.
- Louisiana Fairytale, Leon Redbone: This is a pure mood setting song. There’s a scene where Alard and Raz are dancing in front of the cathedral on Chartres Street while a jazz band is playing. If this book ever became a movie, this would be the song I’d like to play in the background. This song was written in 1935, and I highly suggest you listen to Redbone’s version for a more romantic style, as others tend to be more upbeat and follow the orchestration made famous by Fats Waller.
Bonus: True Colors, Cyndi Lauper—covered by Greek Fire: As I’ve personally allowed myself to embrace who I truly am inside, I’ve rediscovered this song and it has more meaning now. I see the song as a person embracing their gender and sexuality outside of society’s norms and being true to themselves. My novel is about three characters embracing who they are and sticking to their choices that will lead them to that happily ever after we all expect at the end of a romance novel. But for them, it’s just the beginning…A Happy Beginning.
You can see the entire playlist on Spotify here.
Link: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1CT7isgA0KxIovg14ahAzu?si=e27d48bb4f0e4f74
Step into the heart of New Orleans, where legends of vampires, witches, spells, and curses are as alive as the city itself. But what if there's a nugget of truth to the stories?
Alard Fairchild isn't your average man—he's a fairy prince from the Kingdoms of Earth and Sky, hiding in plain sight as a poverty lawyer in the French Quarter. All he wants is a normal, human life. That is, until he meets Razi Miller, a hot tourist with a wild side who's looking for a little adventure—and ends up entangled in something far more dangerous than he ever expected.
After one unforgettable night together, Raz wakes up to find himself magically bonded to Alard by an ancient marriage tattoo. Neither of them knows how it happened or why, but one thing's for sure: the consequences are far-reaching—and deadly.
As Raz is dragged into a hidden world of legendary creatures and mystical portals between realms, he faces a terrifying new reality: Alard is already betrothed to Meyda, the ruthless Princess of Fire and Ice. Their accidental marriage could ignite a brutal war between the kingdoms, and Raz is now a pawn in a deadly political game.
With danger closing in, Alard and Raz must work together to undo the chaos they've unwittingly unleashed. But the more time they spend together, the more they realize the one thing neither of them can control… is love.
Packed with sizzling romance, high-stakes adventure, and dark magic, A Happy Beginning will keep you hooked until the very last page.
Fantasy | LGBTQ Romance [City Owl Press, On Sale: January 21, 2025, Hardcover / e-Book , ISBN: 9781648985089 / ]
B.A. Richards is a transmasc author who spends their time writing fictional romances that allude them in real life. Living in Lebanon, TN with their partner and a small pride of cats, their aim is to introduce readers to interesting characters and fantastical worlds they can get lost in when the real world sucks. When not writing, they can be found teaching others to write, reading the newest romantasy, or practicing their sword fighting in the backyard.
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