Keep your friends close. Keep your nemesis closer.…in this adorable YA regency romance from author Erica George. Available now. Order your copy here.
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Whenever I sit down to work on a new novel, creating a playlist on Spotify is always at the top of my to-do list! Playlists help me get into characters’ thoughts, different scenes, and just get an overall sense of the vibe of my new story. Here’s a Top 5 playlist of the songs that helped shape Witty in Pink, and the quotes they inspired.
- There’s No Way (Lauv feat. Julia Michaels)
“Well, pluck my feathers and shove me in the oven,” Briggs says, one hand on his hip and the other gripping his riding crop. “Miss Blythe Rowley, all grown up. And not all together difficult to look at.”
I cluck my tongue. “Oh, good, there you are. I was afraid you had gained manners and grace in my absence. Happy to see you’re as reliable as ever.”
- Quietly Yours (Birdie)
I will myself not to admire her. I clamp my mouth shut, trying to hold my breath, but it’s soon too overwhelming a task to maintain. I tilt my head to the side, allowing myself a deep breath of her scent, and I’m dizzy with her sweetness. I should have walked away when I had the chance—I shouldn’t have allowed myself this intimacy with Blythe Rowley, because I know she will be the only thing on my mind tonight as I pray for sleep.
- Kiss Me (Dermot Kennedy)
“I was so mad at you when we kissed in the garden the night of your dinner,” I finally murmur.
He smiles, his eyes soft and drowsy. “I know.”
“But all summer long, I kept thinking of how I wished I had savored it. I wished I had taken the time to remember how you felt. How you tasted.
He nods, then swallows, and I notice the curve of his upper lip, and it’s all I want.
“May I kiss you again, Briggs Goswick?” I whisper, smiling and tucking a lock of hair behind my ear.
He reaches down, grabbing the leg of my chair, and pulls me closer. I giggle, practically in his lap as he says, “You never have to ask me that.”
- Daylight (Taylor Swift)
“I’ve known enough girls. What they feel like, what they taste like, and for brief moments of stolen time in dark rooms, they made me feel like I was the only thing that mattered to them. But this. This is the most intimate thing I’ve ever done with a woman. I pull at the cravat at my neck, my throat too dry and this balcony too close. It’s like standing naked in the middle of the stage, her gaze is so raw and discerning. An ache lurks in my chest, expanding with every breath. She’s always seen me clearly, and I’ve always tried to hide myself. But now? There’s no hiding from her now. No hiding from myself.”
- Waking Up Slow (Gabrielle Aplin)
“…while my mind wanders through the many scenarios where I’ve tried to prove to a girl just how ardent my feelings actually were, I realize that I will have absolutely no problem at all picking one to act out with Blythe Rowley. But God, why Blythe Rowley? This is the girl who makes me feel like ripping myself apart with all the thorny words I’d like to launch in her direction, and yet I cannot tear my eyes away from her mouth…”
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After nearly five years of avoiding him, Briggs Goswick may have appeared at my feet on horseback like a handsome white knight but, in fact, he is a certified man-child.
Briggs may be many things—a society darling (annoying), attractive (so unfair), and heir to an elite family (helpful)—but after humiliating me at a ball several years ago, he is primarily my archnemesis.
His presence has made this summer go from bad to…complicated. I have the weight of saving my family’s name and finances solely on my shoulders, while I endure an endless parade of dreary balls and insufferable suitors to make a favorable match. But I have another idea—a business venture—to save my family. All I need are investors.
And as for Briggs? He’s hiding a secret as well: he’s flat broke.
Now the person I loathe the most in this world is just as trapped as I am—both penniless and our households depending on us to save them. And I think I know how. All I have to do is play nice with the very devil I’ve sworn to hate…
His society connections can boost me from near obscurity to help me win over investors for my business. And perhaps I can help him woo an aloof heiress with deep pockets. It’s a long shot. It might even work…but do I want it to?
Erica George is the author of Words Composed of Sea and Sky and The Edge of Summer. She is a graduate of The College of New Jersey with degrees in both English and education, and holds an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts. While she resides in New Jersey most of the year, she spends her summers soaking up the salty sea air on Cape Cod.
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