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Hello everyone. All of my Reviews, that I have yet to write, will be posted sporadically during the summer. After the end of this summer, I will not be posting on here anymore, as you will see the info on the right side of the blog.
Thanks for your understanding.

Saturday, October 13, 2012

My Favorite Mistake By: Chelsea M. Cameron *Music/Band Influences In The Book, Review & Giveaway*

(Click Tour Banner To Check Out Other Stops!)

Hey, thank you for stopping by! I'm very glad to be a part of Chelsea M. Cameron's Blog Tour, for her New Adult Novel: My Favorite Mistake. I want to thank her for writing and sharing with you all, an awesome Post, where she shares what Music/Bands Influenced while writing this book, and if you have read the book, you definitely see how music plays a role in this story, and if you have not read it, well you're in for a lovely ride, so besides her wonderful post, she has an Awesome Giveaway, so be sure to check that out, and I have my Review down below as well :)



About This Book

Taylor Caldwell can't decide if she wants to kiss her new college roommate or punch him.

On the one hand, Hunter Zaccadelli is a handsome, blue-eyed bundle of charm. On the other, he's a tattooed, guitar-playing bundle of bad boy. Maybe that's why Taylor's afraid of falling in love with him, or anyone else. She doesn't want to get burned, and even though her other roommates adore him, she wants him gone before it's too late.

Hunter himself has been been burned before, but the fact that Taylor calls him out on his crap and has the sexiest laugh ever make him decide maybe love isn't a lost cause. They make a bet: if she can convince him she truly loves or hates him, he'll leave the apartment--and leave her alone. The problem is, the more time they spend together, the less she hates him, and the more she moves toward love.

But when the man who holds the key to Taylor's fear of giving up her heart resurfaces and threatens to wreck everything, she has to decide: trust Hunter with her greatest secret, or do everything in her power to win that bet and drive him away forever.





Music/Band Influences In My Favorite Mistake
By: Chelsea M. Cameron



I know a lot of writers need absolute silence when they work. I am not one of these writers. I thrive on complete chaos. Silence drives me nuts. My idea writing environment is one with a television on something mindless, volume on low, with my iPod playing some really good music. I know this sounds insane, but it’s like my brain needs something to tune out in order to focus. I can’t explain it, but it works for me. With that said, it means I need A LOT of good tunes to keep me going.

I also have to listen to music that inspires me, and fits the story. When I first had the idea for My Favorite Mistake, I pictured the luscious Hunter with a beat-up black guitar. There is something unbearably sexy about a guy who is musically talented. But what kind of music did he like? What would he listen to? What would Taylor, my main character, listen to? I started searching.

Basically, I started with a cool group, The Decemberists, and searched for bands that were like them. I knew Hunter would want something more than pop or rap. He’d be into deep melodies and meaningful lyrics. He went through a trauma and music was one of the things that helped him through it. After some Googling, I came upon The Head and the Heart. I got myself to YouTube and started listening. I’m pretty sure the world stopped. When I clicked on Honey, Come Home, I knew I had a new favorite song. Here are the lyrics:

Honey, come home
My stubborn ways are behind me now
They're behind me now

And there's nothing here
That will not break down
Like you never did

The kids say hello
To us in our separate homes

Darlin' please come home
I've cleaned out the fridge
Wiped the counters off
And put away my clothes

Do you remember every block
Every minute of every walk we used to take
We were young, so many years ago

And I think of all this time
That we've wasted with all our fighting
And I cry
Just wanna die with the one I love
Beside me

"Someday," you said
Someday you will miss my head
Lyin' next to yours
In our marriage bed

Do you remember every block
Every minute of every walk we used to take
We were young, so many years ago

Oh God, I love my vices
But they've taken me to places
That I never thought I'd go
And I am ready to be home

And I think of every spark
Every whisper in the dark
Now it's time
Just wanna die with the one I love
Just wanna die with the one I love
Just wanna die with the one I love
Just wanna die with the one I love
Beside me

Honey, come home
My stubborn ways are behind me now 

*sigh* Here’s the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4w6TRCwSC64
I knew this song was going on the playlist, but I didn’t know how integral a part it would play in the book until I pictured Hunter singing it to Taylor. Then I had to figure out why he was singing it, and there it was. The rest of the story came tumbling into my head after that, and I listened to that song over and over and over during the writing of my book.

I’ve been a Civil Wars fan for quite a while (even before The Hunger Games). Their song Poison and Wine is the theme song for my series, The Noctalis Chronicles. So it was only natural that I’d have at least one Civil Wars song on the playlist for this book. I ended up with two.

The first is C’est La Morte, which is short, but beautiful, and all about love. It plays a part in a scene where Hunter asks Taylor if she has any musical requests for him to play. She wants to stump him, so she asks for that song. Unbeknownst to her, he knows it very well and plays it. Seriously, go listen to it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z50k367WgPs

The other Civil Wars song that really had an impact on this book is Tip of My Tongue. Let’s just say that this song plays during an important scene in Chapter Twenty-Four ;). I have to share these lyrics, because they’re soooo amazing:

You're a red string tied to my finger
A little love letter I carry with me
You're sunlight
Smoke rings and cigarettes
Outlines and kisses from silverscreens

Oh
Dear never saw you comin'
Oh
My
Look what you have done
You're my favorite song
Always on the tip of my tongue

You own me with whispers like poetry
Your mouth is a melody I memorize
Mmm, so sweet
I hear it echo everwhere I go
Day and night

Oh
Dear never saw you comin'
Oh
My
Look what you have done
You're my favourite song
Always on the tip of my tongue
The tip of my tongue

Ooh
Mmm
Mmm

Oh
Dear
Never saw you comin'
Oh
My
Look what you have done
You're my favorite song
Always on
Oh
Oh

Oh
Dear
Never saw you comin'
Oh
My
Look what you've done
Oh
You're my favorite song
Always on the tip of my tongue

Ooh
Ooh
Ooh

And here’s the video for that: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-RtrpwIME0
As the book evolved the mood evolved. It turned into a bluegrassy, folky, country-ish book, and I love that. My other books have felt more rock-heavy, but this story felt different. Maybe because it was with older characters, or because there weren’t supernatural beings involved.

There was one other HUGE musical influence, and that was Taylor Swift. If you read a book by me, more likely than not, her songs are mentioned. There are two Taylor songs that work really well with My Favorite Mistake: Mine, especially the line about falling in love with a careless man’s careful daughter. Ours is the other song that works really well for this book, with the line about tattoos, because Hunter has several J

Other musical influences to the book include Maroon 5, Jason Mraz and Kelly Clarkson. I also had some more country with Miranda Lambert, Pistol Annies and Jace Everett.

Hunter, Taylor’s and their relationship playlists will be also be posted during the tour, so stay tuned for more tunes! 




Author Info
 Chelsea M. Cameron is a YA/NA writer from Maine. Lover of things random and ridiculous, Jane Austen/Charlotte and Emily Bronte Fangirl, red velvet cake enthusiast, obsessive tea drinker, vegetarian, former cheerleader and world's worst video gamer. When not writing, she enjoys watching infomercials, singing in the car and tweeting. She has a degree in journalism from the University of Maine, Orono that she promptly abandoned to write about the people in her own head. More often than not, these people turn out to be just as weird as she is.

She has two books out now, Nocturnal and Nightmare, the first and second books in the Noctalis Chronicles about a girl with a dying mother who meets an immortal boy. The third book, Numb will be out this August, and the fourth in the winter. Her other book, Whisper, about a girl who is alive, a boy who isn't and the complications that go along with their relationship, released June 16 and is the first in a trilogy.

Links :




Review
First I want to say, that I absolutely love New Adult novels! My Favorite Mistake is a New Adult Novel, and it's definitely one to read, and it just fits so well in this genre. Now to the story...I feel there were really good components that made this a page turner, and one component were the characters. I know when I was first reading about Taylor, I just knew that there was something in her past, that made her a little aggressive and more abrupt with her new unwanted roommate, Hunter. She does punch him the first day they meet, and lets say Hunter knows that Taylor is a different type of girl that will not take any BS from anyone, especially from him, so he makes the bet that they will...perhaps forget later on? You'll have to read what happens with that bet.  

I think overall, Taylor was a great character, and I really enjoyed reading from her POV. I really felt, from her dialogue, and her interactions with friends/family, and Hunter, that she was hiding something, as you get hints here and there, from only a few people that know what Taylor went through when she was a pre-teen. I believe she was a strong character, and really did not fall for Hunter...at first, but she sees herself as having flaws due to her past, and I think there were a good amount of scenes that expressed her frustration and pain. I feel I can relate to Taylor in some ways. She had some significant situations happen to her including her parents' divorce, not having a good relationship with one of those parents, and well feeling that the past can never go away, can never let her move on, so I definitely understood her and connected with her, and with the story even more. She also did not have many boyfriends, so Hunter might, let me just say, Might, be her first real one, and I just feel by the end of this story, Taylor finally gets to experience new things/feelings she thought she never could feel, so that's all I'm going to say there.

Hunter is Taylor's new roomie, but an unexpected one, because she was not expecting to live in the same room with a guy that might fit the bad boy look with tattoos (happy sigh) sans a motorcycle, but Taylor has an inkling that this guy is bad news. Hunter learns something living with Taylor, and that she is someone completely different from the other girls he has been with. I really liked Hunter and you'll read that he has some hidden talents and a few include being a mad dancer (you'll read a fun clubbing scene) a really good cook (I definitely want some of those pancakes!) and a very talented musician! (Man, I wish I can here his voice). But, his story is not so sweet, as he himself, like Taylor, had something happen when he was young, and wow, it was extremely sad and just a chilling story that he tells, so I feel he and Taylor were just meant to be roommates, to support each other through their unfortunate past situations, to hopefully find a new light, a new beginning...

As said, this is a New Adult Novel, and the characters are in College, so for me, I just really enjoy reading characters that are my age. The language is more mature at times, and even there, I found that to be relatable, and it just felt normal for me. Living on campus, attending classes, learning interesting subjects made me connect more to the story, because that's the environment I have lived in and sorta live in now, so I just felt it was written really well, so that was a definite big plus, for me, while reading the story, to feel like I can be in this environment. 

All in all, this was a very good novel! Cameron has a wonderfully written story with relatable characters, believable situations, with love and music in between :)

My Rating: 4.3/5
I say Rated-R (Mature Language/Content & Sexual Situations)

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2 comments:

  1. Dating a certain someone. I ended up finding my husband because of it though.

    ReplyDelete

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