Heather Crews's Blog, page 2

LAMENT Soundtrack

It's getting closer to Lament's tentative release date of November 27th! (It could be sooner but most likely not later.) I've decided to share the book soundtrack, as I always do. One of my favorite parts of creating a book is gathering songs that help set the mood (and would be perfect in a movie. Hollywood: Call me).

"When Words Fail" - GOLD ZEBRA
"Who Taught You How To Love" - King Dude
"Vex" - Chelsea Wolfe
"Something to Remember Me By" - The Horrors
"Dark Allies" - Light Asylum
"Friends in the Dark" - Specimen
"Glycerine" - Bush
"Underworld USA" - Cold Cave
"Face Meets Glass" - ACTORS
"Never Tear Us Apart" - INXS
"Burn My Name" - Shotgun Babies, Lydia Lunch
"Little Sister" - Queens of the Stone Age
"Come My Sunshine" - The Comas
"Kissing the Ground" - Drab Majesty
"Hemorrhage (In My Hands)" - Fuel
"Dance Macabre" - Ghost
"Mouthful" - Rule of Thirds
"Take Her Down" - Ruben Young

I feel a wave of despair, regret, and sexiness crushing me now.

Here's the link to the Spotify playlist!

Thanks to my good friend Nenia for suggesting the Ruben Young song! It goes perfectly with one of the scenes.

Add Lament on Goodreads!

LAMENT Cover

I haven't written a synopsis for my upcoming book yet, but you're damn right I made a cover. So here it is! Trying to make the right cover for this book was a journey, and I'm proud of the result.


I plan to publish mid to late November, as soon as my last beta reader finishes and I give the book another read-through myself to correct any lingering mistakes. For now, you can add it on Goodreads! (Also, the synopsis will arrive soon, I hope.)

New Projects!!!

It's been so long since I last posted! That's mostly because my WIP, tentatively titled LAMENT, was being very difficult for quite some time. I had difficulties bringing the story together, and I didn't want to jinx it by doing too many updates. But I've written the last line and done the first round of editing on the complete draft, so I'm ready to talk about it a little.

LAMENT is a story about a girl who ran away from home nine years ago after a terrible experience. Now she's back, but she's not quite ready to revisit her past or face her first and only love. Will she overcome the trauma that's slowly taking her over?

My wonderful friends Nenia and Karly are currenty beta-reading for me! I hope to have the book out by the end of November. Here's the aesthetic I made for it:


This book includes teenage angst and wonder, bad memories, trauma, arson, and spooky woods. Oh yeah, and plenty of smut.

I'm planning to devote much of October to drawing and other artistic pursuits besides writing, but I do have a super secret project that I'm planning to release before Halloween. Stay tuned!

GIRLS LIKE YOU: Free for three days!

It's been two years since I wrote GIRLS LIKE YOU! In honor of its anniversary, I've made it free for three days! From Feb. 12th to the 14th, you can download it from Amazon for zero dollars!!!

GIRLS LIKE YOU is about two unlikely lovers—a happy-go-lucky rich girl and an angsty poor boy—who find their lives entwined in unexpected ways. Add in an irreverent best friend, a couple of parties (for sneaking in romantic tension, of course), a kidnapping, and smexy times, and that about sums up the book. Hope you enjoy it!


Add GIRLS LIKE YOU on Goodreads!

Buy GIRLS LIKE YOU on Amazon!

Happy reading!

This is my most badass soundtrack yet.

I just published my newest release, DEAD HEART, a prequel to my vampire book DREAMS FOR THE DEAD that tells Branek's story (links go to Amazon). Naturally, I had to put together a soundtrack JUST IN CASE my book ever becomes a movie (don't laugh).

Since this is Branek we're talking about—a psychotic vampire who loves corpses just a little too much—I had to make this soundtrack special. With some help from my friend Nenia, who suggested Depeche Mode's "In Your Room" as one of the songs, I managed to put one together and I LOVE IT.

So here it is, my shortest and yet most badass soundtrack to date!

"Detention Home" - Dead Boys
"Dead" - Pixies
"Goo Goo Muck" - The Cramps
"Blitz" - Red Lorry Yellow Lorry
"Ring Me, Elise" - Dag för Dag
"In Your Room" - Depeche Mode (thanks, Nenia!)
"Down to This" - Wire
"Gonna Raise Hell" - Cheap Trick
"Again and Again" - Lowlife
"The Sky Is A Poisonous Garden" - Concrete Blonde
"These Evil Things" - Meteors
"Animal" - Def Leppard
"Xiola Blue" - The Priests

Note: "Xiola Blue" is such a dark and sexy song, but it isn't available to listen to online anywhere that I can find. If you like punk and/or psychobilly, you'll have to hunt down a hard copy of The Priests' self-titled album, which isn't on Amazon! (I inherited a digital copy from my brother-in-law.) This album is, however. Just don't get this band confused with the actual priests who sing, or The Priests with a female singer.

You can buy DEAD HEART for 99 cents on Amazon, where it's also available on KU. Be sure to check it out on Goodreads as well!

SEA AND SKY Cover + Soundtrack

I'm happy to announce that my upcoming fantasy romance, SEA AND SKY, finally has a cover! I had a lot more trouble than usual deciding on a design and then making my ideas actually work, and I'm pleased with the result.

SEA AND SKY is a romance story between a mermaid princess and a human prince (who is super beta, FYI). This is the culmination of yet another of those ideas I've had in my head for like 15 years, so it's really satisfying to finally have it completed. I'll be making some adjustments in the coming days, but I hope to have it released this month. In the meantime, you can add it on Goodreads!


She was mer, one of the ghastly creatures that lurked beneath the waves. He was human, brilliant as the sun. Forced into an unwanted marriage, they never expected to find passion in each other's arms.

Isolde knows she must murder her new husband to fulfill her father's hunger for revenge. She has every intention of doing so, even if her husband is painfully beautiful. Even if he's the only one who ever made her feel something approaching happiness.

Nishad knows never to trust a mer, but he is arrogant enough to believe his docile wife incapable of betrayal. He allows himself to succumb to forbidden desire with her, never suspecting that any moment could be his last.

With illusions shattered and long-held secrets laid bare, the unlikely lovers struggle with truth as tensions rise between their realms. Their fragile bond will never survive unless they come to see that love is more important than duty, and that magic can happen when sea meets sky.


The soundtrack was a little difficult to compile, since this is fantasy and not a modern setting, but I managed to gather some songs I love that I think represent the story well.

"Heavy Water/I'd Rather Be Sleeping" - Grouper
"Crystalised" - The xx
"Into the Depths" - Soft Moon
"Write in Water" - Love Spirals Downwards
"Absolution" - Gary Numan
"Low Red Moon" - Belly
"Possession" - Sarah McLachlan
"Tether Beat" - Twin Shadow
"Human Desire" - Gypsy & the Cat
"Because The Night" - Patti Smith
"Live For Today" - Lords of the New Church
"The Water" - Wild Cub
"All Eyes On Me" - Goo Goo Dolls
"King" - The Romanovs
"My Love Paramour" - Cocteau Twins
"The Blue Dress" - Wild Nothing
"Love Never Dies" - Theatres Des Vampires
"I Will Not Eat the Darkness" - Over the Rhine
"Awake" - Finch




Happy reading/listening!

Current projects

Hello! I thought I'd do a post about my current WIPs since I haven't said anything about them. I'm actually working on two at once, which I never do, because then I would never finish anything. But only one of them is novel-length, so I figured I could pull it off. And if I tell people about them, I really have to finish.

First, I'm writing a romance novel with a mermaid heroine. She can shift to have legs, which is convenient as most of the story takes place on land. She's a princess who has to marry a human prince in order to secure an alliance between their two realms, but everyone has a hidden agenda... And, of course, the two leads don't expect to fall in love, but they clearly don't know they're in a romance novel.

I haven't read any mermaid books that I truly enjoyed, so I decided to write the one I want. And the one I want turned out to have a sharp-toothed mermaid suffering from possible depression who desires her aloof prince husband even though she's supposed to kill him. You know, the usual things.


(Source)

Second, I'm working on a prequel to Dreams for the Dead. It doesn't have a title yet, but it will tell Branek's back story. I've been thinking about this ever since my friend Nenia asked for (well, demanded) it, and today I got a burst of inspiration. I just have to make sure I write Branek as the sadistic asshole he is while still making him somewhat likeable.

Whatever happens, he's hot.

Back to writing!

GIRLS LIKE YOU is live!

FINALLY. Amazon pulled a fast one on me and now the time to go live is longer than 10 hours—up to 72 hours they say! I should have listened to my instinct and made this available for pre-order. Oh well. As it went live at 10:41 p.m., technically this was still a Valentine's Day release!


I really love the soundtrack I made for this book. Basically all the songs make me feel like a girl in an indie music video. When listening to these songs, suddenly everything you do becomes super cool and film-worthy.


Bonus song: "Defeatist" by Cameras, which is not on Spotify. You can listen to it (and watch the weird but interesting video) on Youtube though. And thanks to Karly for "I Found" by Amber Run! <3

Happy reading! (And listening.)

Buy GIRLS LIKE YOU on Amazon!
Add GIRLS LIKE YOU on Goodreads!

GIRLS LIKE YOU Cover + Release Date

She wore her heart on her sleeve…
Eighteen-year-old Allison has never had to worry about anything in her easy, privileged life. But when an ordinary summer night spirals out of control, nothing will ever be the same for her again. She finds herself hiding out with the two men who saved her life and wants only to forget the pain of her recent past.
He had dangerous secrets…
Allison is everything Fox has always despised—rich, shallow, pretty—and yet he finds himself reluctantly drawn to her bright personality. Their growing attraction is powerful, but a normal relationship isn’t an option. There are people who want Allison dead, and Fox isn’t telling her the truth about why he saved her.
Together, they face a perilously uncertain future, and their love might not be enough to save them…

I had a lot of fun writing about Fox and Allison (and Hugh too). This story was inspired by some casino gossip I heard from my mom when I was a teenager. Allegedly, a janitor found thirty thousand dollars in a bathroom. However, my mom doesn't even remember telling me this so I have no idea what actually happened or if I just made it up. Anyway, although this story has undergone quite the transformation since then (can you believe it was originally going to have vampires? Oh wait, you probably can), certain things remained the same: Hugh's contentiousness, Allison being a shallow rich girl, and Fox's red hair. I plan to release this on Valentine's Day (because that's adorable and I'm a nerd).

Add GIRLS LIKE YOU on Goodreads!

Author Interview at Chaotic Array

So I did my third ever author interview today with the awesome @JinxMyRide! I talked about my research, inspiration, my earliest attempts at writing, AND my next book, among other things.

Check it out at Chaotic Array!