It’s so exciting for me to be back on Fresh Fiction’s blog—and back in the world of contemporary romance writing (it’s been a hot minute with the Crave series, Star Bringer, and Sweet Nightmare) and I couldn’t be more thrilled. And since my newest book, It Happened on a Sunday, is a pop star/football player romance, I just had to do a quick playlist for this post. So hang on while we explore songs by some of the strongest, most kickass female singers around.
Wrecking Ball from Miley Cyrus
I had to put this song on the list, partly because I played it over and over while I was writing It Happened on a Sunday and partly because no song captures Sloane’s raw vulnerability better than this one. She’s spent years under a not so kind spotlight, her every mistake and heartbreak amplified for the world to see. Wrecking Ball mirrors her fear of loving too hard and too openly, only to be shattered—but it’s also about the strength it takes to rise from the wreckage and keep singing even when everything hurts.
Landslide from Stevie Nicks and Fleetwood Mac
This is another song I listened to over and over again because it just feels like Sloane and Sly to me. Landslide is all about change and the courage it takes to face it, even when you’re hurting. Both Sloane and Sly carry a lot of scars from their pasts, and this song feels like hope for something better. It’s about acknowledging the past and what broke you, but choosing to believe in love and hope again anyway.
Texas Hold ’Em – Beyoncé
I had to pick this song, because falling in love when you’re in the spotlight is always a gamble. Plus Beyonce does such an amazing job here of mirroring the push-and-pull that comes when two powerful personalities fall in love, especially when that love feels like you’re risking everything. Like Texas Hold ‘Em itself, love under the glare of the spotlight means laying your heart on the table and daring the other person to call your bluff while the whole world watches.
Hold My Hand – Lady Gaga
This song is another one I listened to on repeat as I wrote the second half of this book. It’s a promise, a reminder that sometimes the bravest thing you can do is let someone hold you up when you can’t stand on your own. Sly’s quiet tenderness with Sloane, his refusal to let her face the chaos of fame and fear alone, is one of the things I love most about him. He knows that loving Sloane doesn’t erase her pain, but he wants to be there to hold her through it and this song feels like the musical version of him saying, “I’ve got you.” It’s love as steady ground, even when everything else is chaos.
Three Little Birds, the Jasmine Wesley cover
I picked this song for two reasons—one it plays an important role in the story and two because I wanted to end this list (and my book) with hope. Sloane’s world is full of noise and sharp edges, but this song is a soft reminder that maybe—just maybe—things can be okay. The message in this song is fragile and defiant all at once, and it’s exactly what Sloane and Sly need to finally let themselves fall.
Thanks so much for having me, Fresh Fiction! And thanks for letting me take this little musical side trip. It’s been a blast.
From #1 New York Times bestselling author Tracy Wolff comes a fierce, emotional romance about surviving the spotlight, outrunning your past, and choosing love when everything says you shouldn’t.
They call her the Black Widow. A pop star. A tabloid tragedy. A girl who set the world on fire—and got burned in return.
But Sloane Walker doesn’t care what they say. Not anymore. The headlines, the hashtags, the rumors that never die? Let them come. She’s survived worse—like the ex who tried to kill her and the fans who blamed her for surviving. These days, she’s armor and eyeliner, singing songs that hurt and pretending they don’t.
She’s halfway through a sold-out tour and dangerously close to unraveling when a meet-and-greet throws her into the path of Mateo Sylvester—a rising star quarterback with a devastating smile and a grandmother who’s Sloane’s biggest fan. He’s got stadiums at his feet and the press eating from his hand. She’s got a flask full of sweet tea, a voice full of ghosts, and no patience for golden boys with good intentions.
She tells herself it’s just a photo op. Just another handshake. Just another charming fan with perfect cheekbones and no idea what it means to bleed for your art.
But Mateo sees more than the stage persona. He sees the cracks in her smile. The songs she’s too scared to write. The girl underneath the glitter, still fighting to stay.
They weren’t supposed to fall. Not in the spotlight. Not when the world is watching. And definitely not when the people closest to them would do anything to keep them apart.
This isn’t a fairy tale. It’s a slow-motion car crash. And if they’re not careful, it might just cost them everything.
Romance [Entangled: Amara, On Sale: September 2, 2025, Trade Paperback / e-Book, ISBN: 9781649379177 / eISBN: 9781649379184]
Sexy Men. Bold Women. Wicked Romance.
Tracy Wolff is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of over sixty novels that run the gamut from young adult action adventures to new adult romance and from women’s fiction to erotica. A long-time lover of vampires, dragons and all things that go bump in the night, Tracy loves nothing more than combining her affection for paranormal creatures with her love of writing tortured heroes and kick-butt heroines.
When she’s not writing (which is a rare occurrence), she can be found trying out new recipes, offering make-up tips online, wandering comic book/gaming stores with her sons, and watching movies or plotting stories with her besties. A one time English professor, she now writes full-time from her home in Austin, Texas, which she shares with her family. Her most recent work, the young adult vampire novel, CRAVE, “is about to become fandom’s new favorite vampire romance obsession” (Hypable).
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