MY EX & OTHER MONSTERS: The playlist
Yes folks, it’s that time of year again - I’ve got a new YA book out, and that new YA book has its own playlist. If you’re surprised at this point that one begets the other, then you clearly haven’t learned how utterly predictable I am!
My latest book is called MY EX & OTHER MONSTERS - it follows 17 year-old Indie Reynolds, who’s been cursed so that everyone she falls in love with turns into a monster. Obviously this complicates her love life slightly. But with the help of her unwitting arch nemesis Max, she’s determined to break the curse once and for all so that she can have the rom-com life she’s always dreamed of. It’s jam packed with monsters, sarcasm, fraught relationships, dark secrets, shady behaviour and a love for love. As with all my previous novels, it has its own personal soundtrack, one whose songs represent scenes, relationships and/or characters. Below, I’ll break down how each song fits into the mix (with hopefully as few spoilers as possible!).
Lovesong by the Cure - This was my top-played song of 2025 on Spotify, so it’ll come as no surprise that it opens MY EX & OTHER MONSTERS. In that first scene, Indie is at a Cure cover band gig with her best friend Sam. Indie may or may not have only originally gotten into the Cure because of Hot Tyler, the bone-achingly gorgeous record store clerk she more or less has been obsessing over for the last two months, but that’s neither here nor there. With all the love and longing in this book, this sweet, darkly romantic song is the perfect opener. It perfectly expresses that teenage longing Indie feels for Tyler, even if it is a little misplaced. Plus, I can’t help but feel like the goth vibes attached to the Cure are a great representation of the spooky journey Indie and all her monsters are about to embark on.
ROCKMAN by Mk.gee - Okay, this is kind of a random one, so bear with me. I love Mk.gee and think not only that his songs are very excellent, but that he’s outrageously talented. As some may know, I tend to base the characters in my novels on real actors and actresses, and Hot Tyler just happens to be based on Mk.gee. If you’ve read the book and therefore read Tyler’s description (long hair, baseball hat, kind of scraggly looking and angular), then look at pictures of Mk.gee, this’ll all start to make sense. But I just love this song - it feels very raw and moody, which is how Indie sort of views Tyler. This is essentially his anthem.
Kool Aid by Royel Otis - This might be my actual favourite Royel Otis song, which is saying something, since I absolutely love Royel Otis. I was confused by the lyrics (in that their content wasn’t immediately clear to me), and so I looked it up, and the band have said it’s basically about that one older girl on your radar when you’re a boy - the girl that’s incredibly cool and seemingly carefree, who doesn’t necessarily know the affect she has on boys and/or what they’d do for a scrap of her time. When I read that, I realised this is the perfect anthem for the character Avery. Now, she may be high school royalty and boy does she know it, but it’s more the affect she has on other people that I think this song embodies. God knows Indie is in awe of her - the line in the song that goes “I’ll be your play girl / can leave me on the floor” was basically written for what Indie would do for Avery. It’s perfect.
Good Luck, Babe! by Chappell Roan - As I mentioned earlier, things do not really go according to plan where Indie’s love life is concerned. But the problems she has with Avery are mostly of the non-magical kind which, unfortunately, Indie has to learn the hard way. I won’t go into too much detail, but it’s safe to say this song is an excellent representation of how their relationship…breaks down.
Love Will Tear Us Apart by Joy Division - Tyler is big into music, and while he himself doesn’t have much page time in this book, his music taste leaves a big impression. As we often do with crushes, Indie finds herself researching the bands he likes in an effort to get to know him and have something in common with him about. Therefore, she finds herself falling down the deep rabbit hole that is moody 80’s alt-pop music, listening a lot to the Cure, the Pixies and, of course, Joy Division (although technically they were 70’s alt-pop-rock, but never mind). But I found “Love Will Tear Us Apart” works for this book on so many levels. First of all, that title/chorus - with all the monsters running around as a result of Indie’s crushes, it seems love will literally tear her apart. But equally, it at times feels like her desire/desperation to be in love will tear her apart as well. Plus, the upbeat moodiness of this song makes it a perfect anthem for Indie to scream-sing in a cave late at night. See what I mean? So many levels!
Thank U by Alanis Morisette - This song has no business being so beautiful. It got flack from its record label for being too personal, but I love that its references have meaning only to Alanis. It represents being thankful for the things that both help us and keep us humble, but that’s neither here nor there as far as this playlist is concerned. Indie’s mom and dad meet at a dance bar because she’s drawn in by his Alanis Morisette T-shirt (as anyone would be). In a way, Alanis Morisette represents their doomed relationship, and I chose this song because it’s so tender and lovely that I wanted to imagine that first encounter with them as a happy one, when things will eventually go….not…according to plan.
What Once Was by Her’s - Ughhhhhh the guitar on this song is SO MAGNIFICENT. So moody and sorrowful and just plain stunning. This, combined with the tragic story of the real life band who wrote it, never fails to make me melancholy. As I’ve said many times, Indie is very unlucky in love, and when things with Max—her arch nemesis who doesn’t reeeeally get that they’re enemies, and who Indie has to fight some pretty serious feelings for—get complicated, I can just imagine her listening to this song on her headphones while riding the Metro through Washington, DC, feeling sorry for herself. It truly gives that sense of longing for what once was - not just for the way things were before they go so sideways with Max, but for the peace and freedom she had before the curse.
Foaming by The Day We Ran - This song is a little bit of a wildcard, but I always like to close out my book playlists with the song that would play over the credits. This song reminds me of sunsets and silhouettes shrinking as someone walks away from you down the street, and that’s exactly the vibe I want to end this playlist on. Those a cappella harmonies, drumbeats and soulful guitar riffs just make this song so cool and smooth, and I can almost imagine Indie gliding away to it towards the love life she deserves.
And that concludes this episode of songs I listened to obsessively while writing my latest novel! You can grab a copy of MY EX & OTHER MONSTERS here. Make sure to let me know how you think the songs work with its vibes!