I, famously in my friend group, do not process lyrics when listening to music. It’s a bit of a running joke. I’m just not good at auditory processing, for whatever reason. So when I’m putting together playlists, it tends to be very vibes-based and then I have to go back after the fact, and read the lyrics online to make sure that I’m not selecting songs that are totally mismatched with my intention for the characters before sharing them publicly.
That said, I do like to have a playlist for each of my POV characters because I write dual POV romances and I need to be able to switch between those character voices’ pretty quickly when I’m drafting. I find that listening to their playlist can help with that.
I’m gonna share with you a couple of songs from each of the characters' playlists for FAN SERVICE and you can see how they melt together and also how they deviate.
First up for Alex, I have The Grudge by Olivia Rodrigo. This song is in perfect alignment with the prologue which takes place seventeen years before the main events of the story when the characters meet for the first time. Alex, my heroine, goes from idolizing Devin, the hero, who is an actor on her favorite TV show to hating his guts after he does something that ends up shattering this image she had of him as a hero. Even though that incident took place a long time ago during the core of the narrative, it was formative for Alex and she hates how one-sided the interaction was and how despite her best efforts she can’t really let go of what happened that day until Devin shows up unexpectedly in her hometown all these years later.
The next song I picked for Alex is If I’m Honest by Truesdale. This song is about that bubbly crush feeling where you are trying to figure out if someone likes you back. For Alex, the idea of falling for Devin again as an adult—this time really knowing him—is both exciting, but also really scary because of how lasting the hurt was last time she gave him her heart. Alex is trying to decide whether she can work past her idea of Devin and the safety that comes in a fantasy to risk it all for something real where she would be vulnerable in a whole different way. This song speaks to that terror but also the little bit of promise that comes from picking up on signals that someone’s giving you and wondering if the way you’re drawn to them could be mutual.
For Devin, the first song that I picked is Getting Older by Billie Eilish. This might seem like a funny song to pick for a 42-year-old straight man, but I think that the lyrics really speak to where he is emotionally in the beginning of the book. One thing he’s grappling with is aging, because everyone knows Hollywood doesn’t really embrace aging—even if it is kinder to men than women in that regard. He is also dealing with isolation and the fact that strangers are responsible for a lot of his self-worth. Devin really relies on external validation and when he becomes a tabloid laughing stock, he is no longer sure how to get it.
The next song that I picked for Devin is The World‘s Best Kisser by Darwin Deez. It talks about meeting a girl who is not very trusting and how you find yourself trying to figure out how to get close to her. The song also gives this woman a kind of mystical quality. She defies comprehension. And that’s how Alex is for Devin. He is drawn to her with something beyond reason: it’s instinctual and inevitable.
My last pick for Devin is Golden Hour by Champagne Lane. I think this is a really beautiful encapsulation of the happily ever after feeling specifically on Devin’s side where it seems like the world is changing for the better and is suddenly more warm and welcoming. The lyrics talk about getting swept away but also feeling like you’re finally coming home.
Devin’s HEA both individually as well as with Alex is very hard earned so finding the right song as a celebration to wrap up his playlist was important to me and this one fits the bill really nicely.
The truth is stranger than fan fiction in the next sexy paranormal rom-com from the beloved author of The Roommate.
The only place small-town outcast Alex Lawson fits in is the online fan forum she built for The Arcane Files, a long-running werewolf detective show. Her dedication to archiving fictional supernatural lore made her Internet-famous, even if she harbors a secret disdain for the show’s star, Devin Ashwood. (Never meet your heroes—sometimes they turn out to be The Worst.)
Ever since his show went off the air, Devin and his career have spiraled, but waking up naked in the woods outside his LA home with no memory of the night before is a new low. It must have been a coincidence that the once-in-a-century Wolf Blood Moon crested last night. The claws, fangs, and howling are a little more difficult to explain away. Desperate for answers, Devin finds Alex—the closest thing to an expert that exists. If only he could convince her to stop hating his guts long enough to help....
Once he makes her an offer she can’t refuse, these reluctant allies lower their guards trying to wrangle his inner beast. Unfortunately, getting up close and personal quickly comes back to bite them.
Romance Paranormal [Berkley, On Sale: March 11, 2025, Trade Paperback / e-Book , ISBN: 9780593437162 / eISBN: 9780593437179]
Dream Story for Former Supernatural TV Nerds
Rosie Danan is the award-winning, bestselling author of The Roommate, The Intimacy Experiment, and Do Your Worst. Her work has been optioned for film as well as translated into nine different languages and counting. The New York Times describes her writing as "warmly funny and gorgeously sexy."
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