This week we welcome author Angela Schroeder to the blog to share her musical crushes with us as well as the musical influences that got her through some difficult times. I love this essay on how music can help us through those tough times. Read on to learn how music helped her.

In celebration of Krysten’s newest release In Over Her Head; Lights, Camera, Anxiety I’m here to discuss my childhood musical crush. I had several musical crushes. Ranging from Mark Miller (the lead singer of Sawyer Brown) who I saw in concert with my best friend to Joey Lawrence to George Michael; those were all short-lived crushes. My biggest musical crush, I still have today. There is something about his sort of gravelly voice that always makes me smile, that voice is Bryan Adams. *Sigh*
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In my younger years, I was severely depressed. I went through a period in my life when I lost several family members, I felt unwanted, unloved, and alone. I didn’t know how to cope with my grief. I harmed myself, I truly believed that nobody would notice if I wasn’t around. Though I was loved, I didn’t feel like I was.

In that time when I felt like nobody could see me, when I felt nobody loved me. I had Bryan Adams. His music spoke to my soul. I would put his CDs on repeat while I sat in my room and wrote. His words soothed my troubled soul. When songs like “Everything I Do”, “Run To You”, “Heaven”, “Please Forgive Me”, and “Do I Have To Say the Words” came on I felt loved. In those moments it felt like there might be someone who cared. Wouldn’t it have been wonderful to be serenaded by Bryan Adams? To have this incredibly gorgeous man whisk me away.  Declaring “ I don’t wanna let you go so I’m standin in your way. I never needed anyone like I’m needin’ you today.” His songs helped me through such a difficult time in my life. Making me feel loved.

I still listen to his music. Now I listen to it while I’m writing. When one of my characters are feeling lost and alone, I can find a way to help them when I have one of Bryan’s songs playing in the background. It still helps me to find a way out of a dark spot, only these days those dark places belong to my characters and not to me.

Who was your musical crush in your younger years? Do you still listen to their music?
 
About the author

Angela Schroeder is a single mother of three who constantly keep her in stitches, three cats (one who thinks he’s a dog), and several outdoor creatures. She creates young adult fantasy novels, clean contemporary romance, and fun children’s books.

 Being from an Iowa river town known for its pearl buttons she spent a lot of her childhood outdoors in the summer running barefoot whenever she could. While the winter months kept her mostly indoors she spent even more time writing and reading. With four siblings and an active imagination she never lacked for something to do or stories to tell.  As she grew older, she found herself pulled into books and writing more and more. Her parents are her heroes, her siblings her confidants and tormentors, her children a wonderful blessing, and church a sanctuary.

Social Media Links for Angela Schroeder:

FB : https://www.facebook.com/AngelaSchroederAuthor
Amazon author page http://www.amazon.com/Angela-Schroeder/e/B00OVLC1T2
Newsletter  http://eepurl.com/cGS6_v
Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/8286447.Angela_Schroeder
Twitter https://twitter.com/A_L_Schroeder
Pinterest https://www.pinterest.com/alschro/
Four Foxes One Hound blog https://fourfoxesonehound.wordpress.com/

This month has been flying by and I want to say a big thank you for all your support during the release of In Over Her Head: Lights, Camera, Anxiety. It was amazing to hit number one on Amazon's Hot New Releases for teen and young adult humor books.

There is another giveaway that ends this weekend that I wanted to let you know about so you can enter. YA Book Bound organized a tour with an Amazon gift card giveaway. You can find the giveaway along with this great review from My Devotional Thoughts--a great blog I love because I'm obsessed with all the Hallmark stars she interviews. I love Hallmark movies!

You can find the review and the giveaway here: http://mydevotionalthoughts.net/2019/09/ya-bound-book-tours-in-over-her-head-lights-camera-anxiety-by-krysten-lindsay-hager-review-tour.html But hurry because the giveaway ends soon! 
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I'm continuing my blog guest post series with other writers sharing who their teen and preteen music crushes were to celebrate the release of my music crush rom-com, In Over Her Head: Lights, Camera, Anxiety. I'm excited to have YA author, Jane McGarry on to talk about her band crush on Duran Duran. Such a fun post! Check it out below!

Ah, the 80’s—the fashion, the decadence, the music. I was there when MTV signed on the air in back in 1981 (please feel free not to do the age math) and, wow, was that a game changer. Now, you had faces to go along with the voices for all your favorite songs. The music video became a crucial marketing piece for a song’s success. Singers and bands soon upped their game from the boring old concert style video to miniature movies with excitement, chills and, most importantly, their beautiful selves front and center. Into this new craze stepped Duran Duran.

I remember the first time I saw them—the centerfold of a teen magazine. My bestie opened to it and pointed to bassist, John Taylor. “He is mine,” she announced. Not wanting to break the unspoken rule of “no crush stealing”, I chose drummer, Roger Taylor (no relation—and I mean really, three dudes in the band with the same last name all not related? what are the odds?). Not that you could go wrong, like the formulaic boy bands that followed, whatever your type was, there was a guy for you.

For a few years, these five guys were the virtual center of our world. The sheer excitement of listening to their albums, of papering every inch of wall space with their photos, and of course, of watching their videos over and over, dominated our existence. Back then, if you can imagine it, MTV actually played music videos most of the time. We waited with bated breath for every DD world premiere video, the next few hours spent rewinding and pausing the VHS tape for every squeal worthy moment.

It was fun to come across fellow Duranies , others who clearly understood the importance of Duran Duran in the universe. They, too, always had their band crushes divided considerately amongst themselves. We would ask them, “Are you a Simon? Or a John?; once in a blue moon, you would even find an “Andy”.  But at the end of the day, my friend and I knew no one could possibly know them and love them as much as we did.
The highlight of the worship came when we saw them in concert. That night, in a crowd filled Madison Square Garden, we screamed our hearts out along with 30,000 other crazed fans. The rush of just knowing you were actually in the same place at the same time as your idols was like nothing I had experienced in my young life and remains one of my most vivid memories.

And then, somewhere along the way, we grew up. Life marched on. Boy band crushes were replaced with real boy crushes, teen magazines with college applications and the looming reality of grownup life just around the corner. The carefree days of early teendom were left in the rearview mirror, along with frivolous devotions.  Still, every once in a while, one of their songs will come on the radio (the oldies station now) and I am transported back to that faraway time with my bestie, days we thought our love for Duran Duran would last forever, and I have to smile.
 

Jane's Bio: Reading was always a big part of Jane’s life. Over the years, creating stories developed out of this love. Finally, she decided to try her hand at writing a novel and that was when Not Every Girl was conceived.

She lives in New Jersey in a house full of boys, including one over-indulged cat. When she is not running around with her family or writing, she can be found curled up with said cat and a good book.

You can visit her online at: www.janemcgarrybooks.com .

Author website:
http://www.janemcgarrybooks.com/
Facebook link:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Jane-McGarry-Author/712005068914626
Twitter link:
https://twitter.com/JMcGarryauthor
Instagram link:
https://instagram.com/janemcgarryauthor/
Pinterest link:
https://www.pinterest.com/janem0378/
 

Many years ago, while my husband and I were driving home one evening, he was entertaining himself in typical fashion, pushing buttons on the car radio and grumbling about the music selection. I was in my own world (also typical), thinking about my first manuscript, which was in its earliest stages of development. Suddenly something broke through my musings. It was a Voice on the radio – an unfamiliar Voice that didn’t sound like anything else. Like gold dust in the air, it filled the car with beauty for two seconds, then it was gone as my husband continued to scan the stations.

“Go back,” I said, pointing frantically at the radio. “Go back!”

My husband looked at me strangely and did as I demanded, cycling back through the stations until he landed on the Voice. Josh Groban’s voice.

That was the beginning. I have been a Josh Groban fan ever since.

I went to my first Josh Groban concert a year later in Tucson, which is a funny story I blogged about in 2011, the year my debut novel, Dream of Me, was released. As I explained then: it’s not just Josh’s voice that I love. Through his lyrics and song selection, he has inspired me as a writer. After that first concert, I put his inspiration to good use:
I finished my novel.  And when I couldn’t find a publisher for it, Josh had another song for me:  “Don’t give up,” he said.  So I kept trying and several years later, I signed a book contract.  And when my publisher flaked on me and went out of business just before it went to press, I cried.  But then Josh sang to me again, reminding me that my words shouldn't be held in silence. "Please don't keep them Hidden Away," he sang.

Now, I look for those words of inspiration in every album Josh releases – and I am never disappointed. When Josh’s latest album, Bridges, came out, the first track, “Granted,” was that song. In part, he sings:

If you have a dream, go chase it
If you feel hope, don't waste it
If you find love, embrace it
And never take a single breath for granted
The story's yours, go write it
Tomorrow's undecided
Our days are counted on this planet
Never take a single breath
Take a single breath for granted

Last weekend, I went to my sixth Josh Groban concert, this time taking a bunch of family members with me (my sisters joined me in my love for Josh years ago!) Like always, Josh put on a brilliant performance, setting up each song with a funny or interesting story about why he sings, why he wrote it, or what it means to people he meets on the road. Josh is funny and dorky and charming, but he is also driven and courageous, trying new things with each album rather than being content with the faux-opera easy-listening rut where some would like to park him. More than that, he’s a down-to-earth, relatable guy who uses his God-given gift to inspire others to go out and use theirs too.

So what do I do with all that inspiration? I write! After finally publishing Dream of Me, I wrote A Place Between Breaths, which won an award from Writer’s Digest. Then I signed a contract with Clean Reads, Inc. for a young adult trilogy called Stealing Liberty. The first book in that trilogy was released in 2017. The second, Weeping Justice, comes out on October 1.

The thing about musicians – whether they’re celebrity crushes (like Krysten’s love for George Michael) or just flat-out inspiration, (like my love for Josh) – they are artists, releasing part of their souls into the void, hoping that those pieces of themselves find a home to grow in another artist. The greatest thrill I can imagine is that one of my readers will be similarly inspired, whether to pick up a pen, pick up a paintbrush, or break into song. If there is one thing we sorely need in this world, it is a little more inspiration.

Jennifer's website:
jenniferfroelich.wordpress.com

Check out this funny story from Jennifer's first concert:
wakeofechoes.blogspot.com/2011/03/muse-and-mesquite-tree.html

Bridges-- A Review of Josh Groban's Eighth Studio Album 
​wakeofechoes.blogspot.com/2018/09/bridges-review-of-josh-grobans-eighth.html

Pre-order her new book here:
www.amazon.com/dp/B07X9WX638/

As we celebrate the release of In Over Her Head: Lights, Camera, Anxiety, I've asked some authors to share their own music crushes. Today author Karin Biggs shares her music crush. Read on to learn more.  

From Karin:
My music crush wasn’t the typical boy band crush you might expect from a girl in high school in the early 2000’s. Yes, I swooned over NSYNC, Backstreet Boys and 98 Degrees like the rest of them but there was only one BOY at the front of a big BAND for me - Michael Bublé.

I saw Michael Bublé in concert in 2003 and instantly fell for his flirtatious personality and swinging baritone voice, reminiscent of good Ol’ Blue Eyes. (that’s Frank Sinatra for you kids out there) As a high school student, I found his music to be extremely romantic - and a cute guy singing in a tux? Yes, please! As a hopeless (and dateless) romantic, I would listen to his first album over and over and over again every night in my bedroom while doing my homework. Our relationship was solid, though at times I would stray for a visit with Josh Groban and his velvet-vibrato or Jason Mraz and his wordy-woos.

But it was Michael who was there by my side when I needed a romantic pick-me-up or the perfect song for longing for my real-life crush. And I guess it was no surprise that the entrance song for my husband and me at our wedding reception was “For Once in My Life” by Michael Bublé and EVERY SONG thereafter during dinner was - you guessed it - Michael Buble. I think now is a good time to apologize to our 200+ wedding guests for drowning their ears in nothing-but-Michael, but...I’m not really sorry. Even now, in my world of never-ending commitments, play-dates and household chores, Michael’s there for me when I need to escape and be swooned by someone who loves me just the way I look that night or wants me to put my head on his shoulder.

Sigh.

 Wait, was this post supposed to be about music crushes we used to have? 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKpNL2Nm9SM

About Karin Biggs:
Karin is a university event planner turned stay-at-home-mom in the middle of Ohio. Her debut YA novel, The King’s 100, will be released in July of 2020 by Immortal Works Press. When not writing or chasing her active toddler, she can be found singing with her local acapella group, being lazy with her husband or reading a YA novel with a fantastic romantic plot.

Where to connect with Karin:
Website: karinbiggs.com
Twitter: @BiggsWrites
Instagram: @AuthorKarinBiggs

As we kick off the release of my rock star romantic comedy, In Over Her Head: Lights, Camera, Anxiety, I'm having authors come on to share their own music favorites. Today we have young adult author, Kadee Carder on sharing her favorite with us. Read on...

Mmm bop, ba duba dop
ba du bop, ba duba dop
ba du bop, ba duba dop
ba du…
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They may not have started off with the most earth-shattering lyrics when they hit the top music charts, but over the years Hanson has evolved into a group who changes lives with their passion, musicianship, and skill.
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I first heard MMMbop on the radio when I was in seventh grade, a pixie-haired fourteen-year old with Devon Sawa and Jonathan Taylor Thomas posters plastered up on my yellow walls. A large poster of Taylor Hanson soon joined them, as I snatched the orange Hanson “Middle of Nowhere” CD from the nearby Hastings and started playing and replaying those unforgettable and fantastically catchy lyrics. Instant fan. I raised my hand as Taylor sang, “Where’s the love?” and pined away while they chorused, “I will come to you, oh, I will come to you.” (Still right here, Taylor. Waves hand.)

I wasn’t the best fan, and I won’t claim to be, but through the years I have always come back to random Hanson hits and added them to my collection. The song “Thinking About Something” has been on my workout playlist, and whenever I suggest amazing music videos to friends, I tell them to watch the video – a cleverly crafted recreation of “Shake A Taile Feather,” from the movie “Blues Brothers.” In an interview with MTV: “They re-created the music-shop set from the "Blues Brothers" film (building it in the offices of their 3GC Records), recruited both fans and professional dancers and got to work. They shot the "Somethin'" video in two days, taking great pains to match the film, frame by frame, right down to the costumes and thoroughly outrageous facial hair of the Blues Brothers Band.” These guys go big and it hits home.

My college roommate, writing buddy, and BFF Amy Cefoldo is a mega Hanson fan. We randomly send links to Hanson videos to each other. When we heard that they were touring their “String Theory” album and would be wrapping up in Tulsa, Oklahoma, (and tickets were super cheap), we hopped on the Christmas money train and grabbed our seats. After a seven-hour road trip up to Tulsa, we definitely fangirled through the entire once-in-a-lifetime concert.

I gotta be honest, guys. “String Theory” is one of my favorite albums of all time. Hanson decided to make their twenty-year album special, by combining their three-person band with a symphony orchestra.
“I was born to do something
No one's ever done,
no one's ever done before
I was born to go somewhere
No one's ever gone,
no one's ever gone before
I was born to be someone
No one's ever been
No one’s ever been before.”

With uplifting, inspirational lyrics throughout every track, and a full-bodied, beautiful sound of the symphony alongside their piano, electric, and bass guitars, it’s a unique and breathtaking album. “I Was Born,” “Battle Cry,” and “Joyful Noise,” are all requests my daughters make as we rock and roll down the highway.
 
One thing I love about Hanson is how authentic and real they are. They’re just three dudes, brothers, who love making music. While Taylor and I are the same age (still waving hand), he and his brothers Isaac and Zac come from a supportive Tulsa family and have other siblings, including brother Joshua who has started his own band.

A recent interview from Entertainment Tonight showed the brothers as they are:
“Taylor, lead singer and keyboardist, is calm, even and friendly, and when he speaks, manages to deliver honest and thoughtful responses in pitch-perfect soundbite form. “He’s the serious brother,” Isaac ribs. 

Isaac’s aura is warm and self-deprecating, with an easy laugh as he admits to being “a little bit OCD” and jokes, “Thank goodness we were in a band because I would have never, ever found a woman.” 

“It’s still amazing that he did,” Zac fires back, clearly still a vivacious kid at heart with a passion for video games and 3D printers. With 12 kids between the three brothers, Zac has proudly taken on Christmas morning toy duty and once, he recalls, taught the younger generation how to “destroy” pumpkins with large replica swords. 

“It’s very safe, actually,” he explains, an oversized, mischievous grin sweeping across his face, “as long as you’re on the right end.”

And if that’s not cool enough, in May 2013, they launched their own beer: Mmmhops. The Hanson brothers partnered with craft beer company Mustang Brewing to create the drink as their way of raising a toast to their 21st anniversary.

They also own their recording studio, 3CG, located in downtown Tulsa.

So if you are feeling like maybe you’ve been needing some great music, definitely go check out Hanson. They’ll bring you up and make you want to jam.
 
Their philosophy about music and art?
 
From their website: “We are purely there to chase the muse, trying to find new ways to explore and articulate the feelings of being human, the joy, the pain, the love, the hopes, the fun and desire for a better tomorrow.  That is after all what music is, a contained way of telling one another how we feel, what we think, who we are.  And music does not care whether you wrote it, recorded it or are listening to it, in any case the feelings are no less true or real.  That is what makes music so special, it unites us, and even if it is for a brief 3-4 minutes that feeling can stay with us forever.  That is why we do music.  That is what we care about.  The honest power of an emotional and musical connection and the trust that it creates.”
 
Here's to the artists, the seekers, the listeners, the hopefuls, the broken, making a joyful noise as it heals our souls, to a band whose days are only just getting better as they go.
 
 
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Fierce yet sparkly, I rally seekers to thrive in their stories. The goal is magic, the medium is ink, and the fuel is coffee. And sometimes pizza. I teach English on the university level when I'm not dancing around the living room with my family, lifting heavy at the gym, traveling the planet, or binging superhero shows.
 
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It's release day and I'm so excited to bring you the latest book in the Cecily Taylor Series! It's free on Kindle Unlimited and the paperback version will be available soon!

In Over Her Head: Lights, Camera, Anxiety (The Cecily Taylor Series) by Krysten Lindsay Hager
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Young Adult Romantic Comedy from Clean Reads

Blurb: Cecily wants a big life, but can she handle it?

Cecily feels like she has it all: great best friends, the beginnings of a career as a model/actress, and she’s dating her favorite singer, Andrew Holiday. Then Cecily’s best friend Lila begins to ditch her every time Lila’s boyfriend calls. Cecily feels lost, but she and Andrew begin connecting more and she’s never been in a relationship where she felt so understood. Andrew even begins to confide in her about his anxiety. Soon Cecily experiences her own anxiety on a magazine photo shoot, but she manages to impress the magazine staff. Just when it seems like all her dreams are coming true, everything comes crashing down when a photo of Andrew with another girl appears online. He swears nothing happened, but Cecily is crushed. She feels like she’s lost two of the people closest to her.

Was her perfect relationship real or was she in over her head?

Excerpt :
“Good luck at the photo shoot tomorrow,” he said. “You’ll be great.”
I stared out the window on the ride back to the hotel taking in all the sites. As I walked into the hotel, I felt a new air of confidence. Instead of just reading about someone going out with a pop star to some fabulous rooftop hotel restaurant and being in the big city, I was living it. This was my life and not some YA book heroine’s. Tomorrow I was off on a modeling shoot. I was living a dream and proving how I was ready for a big life. This was my destiny. I could do this.

                                                                             ****
My alarm went off and at the same time an alarm went off in my brain saying, no, I could not do this. What was I thinking? Me, model? That’s where people take photos of you for the sole purpose of other people looking at them, which encouraged judgement and evil comments. People don’t just keep those comments to themselves anymore. Oh no, they grab their phone or laptop or whatever device helps them spew out unhelpful and cruel comments on people’s appearances online for all the world to see. 
My stomach felt like spewing all over the nice hotel sheets I was wrapped in.  Why did I ever think I was up for this? Those strangers online would destroy me within seconds. Girls like Harlow who were born with an undeniable beauty could do stuff like this and even then, I had seen strangers criticize her online when she posted selfies.   

Purchase:
Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07VRYS65N/
Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07VRYS65N
Amazon Canada: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B07VRYS65N
Amazon Japan: https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B07VRYS65N
Amazon IN: https://www.amazon.in/dp/B07VRYS65N
Amazon AU:
 www.amazon.com.au/Over-Her-Head-Lights-Anxiety-ebook/dp/B07VRYS65N

Book One: https://www.amazon.com/Dreams-Come-True-Cecily-Taylor-ebook/dp/B079S3KJSH

​Tomorrow is my book release day and the night before is always crazy. So here's how it feels right now: I feel like I'm getting my first grader (me in this photo) ready to go off on her first day of school, except she's going off into the big scary world to like, college or someplace where you're on your own. She's got her little Hello Kitty backpack and look at how her face is full of hope because she doesn't know what might be in store for her. Ah yes, so full of hope before life had beaten you down. I remember it well...and then I turned 7. 🤣😭 Here's to everyone on book release eve. May we all get at least a touch of sleep 😴