Confession: I am a book playlist nerd. I’ve been a music nut since I was a teenager, and it’s playlists that get me through all my nitty gritty manuscript revisions. Further Confession: Playlists are my ultimate procrastination tool. Because some days, instead of rewriting 10K of text, I really just need to arrange every song in my playlist so that it perfectly syncs with the timeline of the story—wait, deadline, WHAT DEADLINE?

Given all these strong feelings about my writing music, you may well imagine the enthusiasm with which I now present to you the Tash Hearts Tolstoy Official Playlist. No shuffling here—these songs are in chronological order, from start to finish of the book. (You thought I was joking about that part? Ha!) For the ultimate experience, read along as you listen (Tash Hearts Tolstoy is available as an extended excerpt here on Riveted until June 19th)!

Tash’s playlist is all about pep, pop, and pizazz, to match the tone of the novel. You’ll find music by Tash Zelenka’s favorite artist, St. Vincent, and by CHVRCHES, the band that the Unhappy Families crew travels to see in concert. Some songs touch on Tash’s struggle with sudden fame (“Daydream,” “Twilight Galaxy,” “What Am I Becoming?”) while others capture different aspects of her self-discovery and growth (“The Listening,” “Little White Lies,” “Caught in the Middle,” “Soap”). If you want tunes included for the ships and #feels in the book, check out “Take It Back” and “American Appetite.” And then there are the anthems for Tash’s web series crew: “Hang It Up,” “We Are the Kids,” and “A World Alone.” Maybe the internet raised us / Or maybe people are jerks. Preach, Lorde.

Happy Listening!

Kathryn