Playlist | SUCH SHELTERED LIVES by Alyssa Sheinmel

Music plays a large part in SUCH SHELTERED LIVES—music the characters make, hear, and overhear; songs they love and hate.  So it was inevitable that some of my favorite music and musicians would be a major piece of inspiration for the story. 

I rarely listen to music while I write—the musicians’ voices inevitably get stuck in my head, when I need to keep my characters’ voices in my head.  But I made an exception as I worked on some of the chapters in SUCH SHELTERED LIVES.

Here’s a peek at a few of the songs that played in the background as I worked on SUCH SHELTERED LIVES.

90’s Era Classic Rock

90s-era hits loom large in the novel: one of the main characters, Amelia Blue Harris, is the daughter of a GenX rockstar, and another, Florence Bloom, still idealizes the music of the 1990s.  Florence and Amelia’s favorite songs include: Violet by Hole, Little Earthquakes by Tori Amos, Heart Shaped Box by Nirvana, I’m Only Happy When it Rains by Garbage, Criminal by Fiona Apple.

Taylor Swift

I’m a big Taylor Swift fan, so I can’t possibly make a playlist for SUCH SHELTERED LIVES without including some of her music.  Each of these songs fits with a different part of the book—though I can’t quite explain why without giving too much away.  Just trust me—these will all make sense eventually: Better than Revenge (Taylor’s Version), Mad Woman, Bigger Than the Whole Sky, The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived, The Life of a Showgirl.

Gypsy by Fleetwood Mac

Stevie Nicks is one of my all-time favorite songwriters.  My interpretation of this song could be all wrong, but to me, it captures a longing for life before both fame and loss.  And yet there’s something so joyful and resilient about it—that even with the challenges of fame and the grief of loss, Stevie will dance and sing, embracing the self of the past, present, and future. 

Aurora by Daisy Jones & the Six

When I got the idea for SUCH SHELTERED LIVES, I knew music would be a big part of the book, but I wasn’t quite sure how I would write it into the story.  I almost felt like I needed permission to put music in my book, since I’m not a poet or lyricist.  Luckily, it was around that time that I read Taylor Jenkins Reid’s Daisy Jones & the Six.  Reid’s wonderful book showed me that novelists are allowed to write lyrics, too.

Fear by Sarah McLachlan

Another nineties throwback, this one about fearing the vulnerability that comes with falling in love.  Each of the main characters in SUCH SHELTERED LIVES has a difficult history with vulnerability: Florence wrote songs that were honest and raw, and saw them rejected by critics and fans.  Now, it’s been years since she’s written something true.  Both Amelia and Edward were let down by their families as children, when they had no choice but to be vulnerable—to their parents’ whims, to society’s expectations, to their occasionally cruel peers.  All three characters have built walls around themselves to stay safe—but as so often happens, they’ve turned to dangerous coping mechanisms to deal with the terrible loneliness that comes when you resist vulnerability.  During their time at Rush’s Recovery, each lets someone in—for better, or for worse.

SUCH SHELTERED LIVES by Alyssa Sheinmel

Narrator: Emily Lawrence, James Meunier, Gabra Zackman

For fans of Nine Perfect Strangers and The Midnight Feast, a moody, atmospheric psychological suspense set in the secretive world of celebrity rehab centers, from New York Times bestselling author Alyssa Sheinmel.

Rush’s Recovery promises its wealthy guests the utmost discretion. But when a body is discovered, how long can the center’s secrets stay buried?

Tucked among the pristine beaches and lavish manors of the Hamptons sits Rush’s Recovery, a rehabilitation center where ultra-high net worth clients can seek treatment away from prying eyes and paparazzi. The center’s latest guests have just arrived: Lord Edward of Essex, a British aristocrat fighting his black-sheep status and a painful addiction; Amelia Blue Harris, the daughter of a 90s rock legend struggling with an eating disorder; and Florence Bloom, a pop star trying to lay low after her latest tabloid scandal. Each has been promised the highest standard of care, from daily therapy and a live-in chef to acupuncture sessions and a personal care manager, available 24/7. Just so long as they stay in their private cottages and never interact with the center’s other guests.

But these three self-destructive B-listers have no intention of playing by the rules. No amount of cold plunges and talk-therapy can prevent Florence’s illicit flirtation with a staff member, or keep Amelia Blue and Lord Edward from sneaking out to wander the snow-covered grounds at night. Celebrities check in to Rush’s Recovery to protect their privacy, but the darkest secrets may lie in the center’s own history—and not every guest will be checking out alive.

Thriller Psychological [ Atria/Emily Bestler Books, On Sale: January 20, 2026, Hardcover / e-Book / audiobook, ISBN: 9781668084007 / eISBN: 9781668084021 ]

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About Alyssa Sheinmel

ALYSSA SHEINMEL is the New York Times bestselling author of several novelsfor young adults, including A Danger to Herself and Others and Faceless.Such Sheltered Lives is her adult debut. Alyssa grew up in California and New York and currently lives and writes in New York.

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