Book Tour: Promising Light

I know you wanted to see this one! The Promising Light Book Tour finally made its way to Stories of my life, and I'm super excited about it! There's going to be prizes (check them out at the end of the post) and a lot of other hosts, and I'm having Emily Ann Ward herself over as a guest to share something very special with you! But wait, first you want a reminder of the awesome book we're talking about, right? Here it is!

Grace began a secret courtship with Dar for the thrill of doing something against her father, the king’s general. She hadn’t planned on falling in love with him. When Dar suddenly leaves her, she searches for answers, reluctant to let him go.

Everyone seems determined to keep the truth from her—until she’s kidnapped by Dar’s family. They’re shape changers who claim she can break a curse set on them ten years ago by the Protectors, a group of noblemen determined to stifle magic in the name of safety.

Torn between two worlds, Grace isn’t sure who to trust. If the curse endures, Dar’s family could die out forever. But to help them, she’ll have to leave behind everything she knows.

And now, without further ado, I'll leave you with the author!

Promising Light Blog Tour: Book Soundtrack

Hey, everyone! I’m Emily, and I’m so happy to be on Ron’s blog as part of the tour for my fantasy novel, Promising Light.

In Promising Light, Dar suddenly leaves Grace, breaking off their secret relationship, and she searches for answers, reluctant to let him go. Then she’s kidnapped by Dar’s family, who are shape changers who claim she can break a curse set on their family. If the curse endures, Dar’s family could die out forever. But to help them, she’ll have to leave behind everything she knows.

I’ve had a lot of fun with this post. I have a collection of songs from various artists that I feel make up a great soundtrack of the song, capturing different themes or characters. Here we go!

“Marchin’ On” by OneRepublic
For those days we felt like a mistake,
Those times when love’s what you hate,
Somehow,
We keep marching on.

For those nights when I couldn't be there,
I've made it harder to know that you know,
That somehow,
We'll keep moving on.

There's so many wars we fought,
There's so many things were not,
But with what we have,
I promise you that,
We're marching on

Okay, I’m going to be honest. I think this song could fit pretty much every book (or movie or whatever) with high stakes and drama. But that’s because it’s so great and transcendent. It speaks about people who persevere in the face of anything.

“Fly Away” by Poe
Fly away
Sweet bird of prey
Fly, fly away
Nothing can stand in your way
Sweet bird
If you knew the words
I know that you'd say fly
Fly away

This reminded me of the time Grace made her decision about whether to help the Avialies or not. It’s kind of the turning point of her journey.

“Body of Love” by Typhoon
there's a small word
and it comes in through your ear
and it conceives
l-o-v-e has taken hold of me

I think this song adequately describes Grace and Dar’s relationship. Though they may try to fight their affection for each other, for very different reasons, it’s something they can’t deny. (This is a band from my area, and they are so great. I think more people should know about them!)

“Safe and Sound” by Taylor Swift
Just close your eyes
The sun is going down
You'll be alright
No one can hurt you now
Come morning light
You and I'll be safe and sound

This song is so haunting, and I think it could apply to various situations in Promising Light. I think it most strongly fits with Sierra and Evan, or Grace and Dar near the end.

“The Cave” by Mumford and Sons
It's empty in the valley of your heart
The sun, it rises slowly as you walk
Away from all the fears
And all the faults you've left behind

But I will hold on hope
And I won't let you choke
On the noose around your neck

This is another song that fits Sierra and Evan so well. I love how it speaks about the sorrow in life and the relationships that keep us afloat.

“Run” by Snow Patrol
I'll sing it one last time for you
Then we really have to go
You've been the only thing that's right
In all I've done

Light up, light up
As if you have a choice
Even if you cannot hear my voice
I'll be right beside you dear

Louder louder
And we'll run for our lives
I can hardly speak I understand
Why you can't raise your voice to say

Another song for Dar and Grace. I just think this song describes them well, especially from Dar’s POV.

“Shake It Out” by Florence + The Machine
And every demon wants his pound of flesh
But I like to keep some things to myself
I like to keep my issues strong
It's always darkest before the dawn

And I've been a fool and I've been blind
I can never leave the past behind

This song could speak to various characters. A lot of them are hiding something from their past, unable to let it go or forgive themselves. I also like the line, “It’s always darkest before the dawn” because the Avialies are holding out hope for a better future.

Note: I got most of these lyrics from http://azlyrics.com and a few from http://lyricstosongs.org and http://lyricsmania.com.

That’s the Promising Light soundtrack! There is of course tons of instrumental music that I feel fits the mood of the book, like Olafur Arnalds, Chaz Knapp, Hans Zimmer movie soundtracks, and more.

What do you think? Let me know in the comments any thoughts! Any comments are entries to the $20 Gift Card giveaway for Barnes and Noble or Amazon (winner’s choice!). You can also win an ebook (http://emilyannward.com/giveaways-galore) or a paperback (http://riteshkala.wordpress.com/2012/01/30/giveaway-of-2-paperback-copies-of-emily-ann-wards-promising-light/).

Check out Promising Light and its blog tour here (http://wordsofeward.blogspot.com/p/promising-light-blog-tour.html).

Thanks to Ron for having me and thank you for reading!


Thank you for sharing this wonderful soundtrack, Emily! It was great to have you on board today. 

Now, folks, I hope you noticed the awesome prizes she's generous enough to be offering! Do you want an e-book? Head over to her site. A paperback? If you're lucky enough to be stateside, do visit Ritesh's blog. Want to win the Gift Card? Leave me a comment... and then visit the other stops for more entries (and more info about this book). 

I'm going to leave you with a little bit more about Emily Ann Ward before wrapping up the post, just so you get to know her a little better: 

Emily Ward is the author of Passages, Finding Fiona, and The Protectors series. One of her first stories featured a young girl whose doll came to life. The rest is history. She spent years writing mainly fanfiction (thank you, J.K. Rowling!), but has since ventured into originality. When it comes to fiction, she writes mainly young adult, contemporary, and fantasy. She also writes nonfiction, ranging from stories of her travels to thoughts on the Bible. Aside from writing, she loves reading, traveling, learning about God, sociology, religion, and Reeses sticks. Currently, she lives in Salem, Oregon with her husband Chris and their cats. Visit her website at http://emilyannward.com.