A Matter of truth by Heather Lyons Excerpt and playlist

Excerpt:

Although my natural inclination is to clam up, I know it must have been tough for Will to just let that all out. So I lean my head against his back and admit to him something I haven’t done before. “Nepal reminds me of somebody I love.” I swallow the growing lump in my throat. Even now, four months in, it’s incredibly difficult to talk about Jonah. “I was sad today because when I heard some people talking in the diner about Tibet, I thought of this person, and of what Nepal means to him.” I take a deep breath and count to ten, because saying this next part is like stabbing myself in the gut. “I miss him so much it makes it hard to breathe. Sometimes it’s hard to move on, when memories refuse to let you go.”

Will’s voice reverberates through me when he quietly asks, “Did he die?”

I tell Will a lot—but I cannot talk anymore about Jonah with him. With anyone, really. All he knows is that love has broken me, too, and that I’m in no place to even contemplate a relationship. So much of me wants to open the floodgates, though, let Will into the dark parts of my heart like he’s slowly been letting me in, and someday I will do just that. It’s just . . . I need more time.

I shake my head against his back. There is no more Tell Me for the rest of the night. 

Hi, my name is Heather, and I’m a music junkie.

Confession time: my writing playlist for A Matter of Truth has forty-seven songs on it. I know, I know, that’s a lot (yet smaller than the last two books’ worth!), so I won’t be sharing them all with y’all, but I do want to some of the greatest hits.

1.      The House That Built Me by Miranda Lambert: While this song is technically about a woman going home to figure out who she is, I felt it really symbolized Chloe at the beginning of A Matter of Truth, as she’s out to find out who she is.

You leave home, you move on and you do the best you can.

I got lost in this whole world and forgot who I am.

2.      Safe and Sound by Electric President: This song is so Will and Chloe—he’d say it represents her to him, and she’d say it’s him to her.

But there's no way out

I'll let you build your home with me 'til the clocks run down

When your luck's run out

Call me and I will come and fix you get your feet on the ground

When there's no way out

Call me and I will come and bury you all safe and sound

3.      Poison and Wine by The Civil Wars: I think, if asked, Chloe, Kellan, and Jonah would all say this song applies to them.

You only know what I want you to

I know everything you don't want me to

Oh your mouth is poison, your mouth is wine

You think your dreams are the same as mine

Oh I don't love you but I always will

4.      Radioactive by Imagine Dragons: Not to give too much away about this one, but let’s just say this is the backdrop to sonic booms, swords, warehouses, and fights to the death.

This is it, the apocalypse.