Unchanged Blog Tour: Guest Post + Giveaway

So excited to be a part of the Unchanged by Jessica Brody blog tour :D I really enjoyed book one, Unremembered, and book two, Unforgotten. I'm excited about Unchanged as well :D It looks so gorgeous too. Sigh. Huge thank you to Mary for inviting me to take part in this blog tour. <3 Thank you to Jessica for writing such an amazing guest post for me :D You are the best. <3 Have any of you read these books yet? Curious to know what you think of them :D Also, amazing US only giveaway at the end. <3 The Unremembered trilogy is available for the first time as audiobooks! Ack! One day I'm getting those. <3 I'm sure they are awesome as audiobooks :) And oh. Thank you so much Jessica, again, for this gorgeous blog tour post. <3 I love love the master playlist for the books :D Gorgeous songs. <3

The Unremembered Trilogy MASTER Playlist!

Before I wrote this trilogy, I’d never been much of a book playlist type of writer. When I heard about authors putting together playlists for their books, I kind of dismissed the thought because I’m the kind of writer who can’t write to music. I have to have total silence, or some kind of white noise in my ears. Anything with a rhythm or melody or lyrics just pulls my focus away.

It wasn’t until I started writing Unremembered, the first in the trilogy, that I realized something. You don’t have to write to music to have a book playlist. You just have to like music. And since I do (like music, that is), I decided to start one. I had so much fun collecting all the songs that made me think of Sera and Zen, that I kept the tradition alive and created playlists for book 2, Unforgotten, book 3, Unchanged, and even the two novellas, Undiscovered and Unleashed.

Here is a collection of my favorites from all five playlists (and why):

1)     Song Title: Gravity
Artist: Sara Bareilles
Book: Unchanged (Unremembered #3)
Most Fitting Lyric: “You hold me without touch. You keep me without chains.”

In Unchanged, Sera and Zen have been separated and Sera has gone through an experimental new memory procedure that has warped her memories of Zen. Yet, whenever she thinks of him, she still feels this strange pull toward him. She tries to fight it (because she thinks she should) but despite her efforts, it never quite goes away. I think this song perfectly captures the torture that Sera is going through as she struggles with what her heart wants and what her mental programming tells her to do.

2)     Song Title: Wunderkind
Artist: Alanis Morissette
Book: Undiscovered (Unremembered #1.5)
Most Fitting Lyric: “First to take this foot to virgin snow.”

Undiscovered is the story of Zen finding Sera on the Diotech compound for the first time and falling in love with her. When he first sees her, he’s simply mesmerized by her. He can’t get enough of her. I love the way Alanis plays on the term Wunderkind in this song. It typically means someone with great skill or accomplishment (which Seraphina certainly is!) but Alannis kind of twists the term into someone who wonders and is destined to wander, which is also very much Seraphina! Sera’s eyes are opened when Zen comes into her life. And he teaches her so many new things. There’s a line in this song, “First to take this foot to virgin snow.” That’s what Zen is for Sera. He shows her the world when everyone else is trying to hide it from her.

3)     Song Title: Treacherous
Artist: Taylor Swift
Book: Unforgotten (Unremembered #2)
Most Fitting Lyric: “All we are is skin and bone. Trained to get along.”

Oh man, I love this song so much. This song got me through some really dark times in the writing of Unforgotten. I was so stuck in the middle of this book, I had no idea where it was going or how it was going to get there…wherever there was! This song saved me. This song first released when I was about halfway through the manuscript and it just spoke to me. It so captured Sera’s relationship with Kaelen, the other “ExGen” (or genetically enhanced human) that Diotech created. For reasons not disclosed until the end of book 2, Sera feels a dangerous attraction toward Kaelen. Almost as if it’s out of her control. This song captures that helplessness so perfectly. I listened to it on repeat for five days straight until I figured out how to fix the book.

4)     Song Title: New Soul
Artist: Yael Naim
Book: Unremembered (Unremembered #1)
Most Fitting Lyric: “I’m a new soul. I came to this strange world.”

When Seraphina first wakes up in the plane crash wreckage at the start of Unremembered, she opens her eyes to an unfamiliar world. Her memories have all been erased, she doesn’t know who she is, where she is, or what happened to her. She can barely even identify everyday objects like TVs and computers. Although there are some darker elements to her predicament, the playful, whimsical quality of this song I think really captures the more humorous undertones of Seraphina struggling to make sense of our world.

5)     Song Title: Say Something
Artist: A Great Big World
Book: Unchanged (Unremembered #3)
Most Fitting Lyric: “Anywhere I would’ve followed you. Say something I’m giving up on you.”

This song came on my shuffle when I was on an airplane. I was in the middle of writing Unchanged at the time and I’d downloaded the song after seeing a dance choreographed to this on So You Think You Can Dance. I started crying right there in my window seat. I don’t want to reveal too much about Unchanged since it’s just coming out, but this song so perfectly captures a very specific scene toward the end. Chapter 56 specifically. I sat on that flight with the song on repeat, balling my eyes out and scribbling furious notes in my notebook. Many of those notes made it into the final version of the book. 

6)     Song Title: Collide

Artist:  Howie Day
Book: Unleashed (Unremembered #2.5)
Most Fitting Lyric: “Even the best fall down sometime.”

Oh, Kaelen. I had such a love/hate relationship with him in the writing of this trilogy. Despite how much I love Sera and Zen (and I do! So much!) I actually think Kaelen is the most complex character of the trilogy. He’s so torn between the way he feels for Sera and the loyalty he feels to Diotech and Dr. Alixter. When I wrote Unleashed from Kaelen’s perspective, I really got to know him better as a character. He’s so strong. And yet his worry that he might let Dr. Alixter down is constantly weakening him. And when he meets Sera for the first time, well there’s no better word for their encounter than, “Collision.” That’s why this song fits so well.

7)     Song Title: Holding On and Letting Go

Artist:  Ross Copperman
Book: Unchanged (Unremembered #3)
Most Fitting Lyric: “It’s everything you wanted. It’s everything you don’t.”

Book 3’s alternate title could very possibly be “Conflicted.” Because of Sera’s memory alteration at the start of Unchanged, she’s so very conflicted about so many things. She’s constantly trying to hold onto some things and let go of others. And oftentimes, they’re the exact same thing. This song was definitely at the top my playlist for the third and final book. I felt like it was written just for Seraphina!

8)     Song Title: I Know Places
Artist: Taylor Swift
Book: The Entire Trilogy!
Most Fitting Lyric: “Baby, I know places we won’t be found and they’ll be chasing their tails try to track us down.”

Obviously this song is a last-minute addition to the trilogy playlist as it just released a few months ago but as soon as I heard it I thought, “OMG! It’s Sera and Zen!” S+Z are constantly on the run from Diotech and constantly trying to outsmart them, searching for places they won’t be found. Heck, they travel all the way to the year 1609 just trying to escape. This song about being tracked like foxes by hunters is the perfect theme song for this trilogy.

So many secrets are buried within these compound walls.
I used to be one of those secrets.

After returning to the Diotech compound and undergoing an experimental new memory alteration, Seraphina is now a loyal, obedient servant to Dr. Alixter and the powerful company that created her. Happy and in love with Kaelen, another scientifically-enhanced human designed to be her perfect match, Sera’s history with a boy named Zen is just a distant memory from a rebellious past she longs to forget.

But as Sera and Kaelen embark on a nationwide tour to promote Diotech’s new product line—a collection of controversial genetic modifications available to the public—Sera’s mind starts to rebel. She can’t stop the memories of Zen from creeping back in.

As more secrets are revealed, more enemies are uncovered, and the reality of a Diotech-controlled world grows closer every day, Sera will have to choose where her true loyalties lie, but it’s a choice that may cost her everything she’s ever loved.

Buy Unchanged: Amazon - B&N - The Book Depository - Indiebound - CDON 

Jessica Brody knew from a young age that she wanted to be a writer. She started self "publishing" her own books when she was seven years old, binding the pages together with cardboard, wallpaper samples and electrical tape.

After graduating from Smith College in 2001 where she double majored in Economics and French and minored in Japanese, Jessica later went on to work for MGM Studios as a Manager of Acquisitions and Business Development. In May of 2005, Jessica quit her job to follow her dream of becoming a published author.

Where to find Jessica Brody:
Twitter. Website. Facebook. Goodreads. Tumblr. Instagram.

Unremembered. Unforgotten. Unchanged. Undiscovered. Unleashed. Official Facebook Page.

Giveaway Rules.

There will be 1 winner.

It's open to people in the US only.

Book will be shipped from publisher.

Must respond to my email within 48 hours.

You can win: One hardcover of Unchanged. 
Plus one exclusive trilogy poster as shown below :D

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Even if you do not win this giveaway, you still have the opportunity to win a *free* 
autographed trilogy poster. Visit Jessica’s website here for more information!

Official Tour Schedule.

·         Tuesday February 24 | MacTeenBooks Blog

·         Wednesday February 25 | Carina’s Books

·         Thursday February 26 | A Book and a Latte

·         Friday February 27 | Tales of a Ravenous Reader

·         Saturday, February 28 | Step into Fiction

·         Sunday, March 1 | Bumbles and Fairy Tales

·         Monday, March 2 Bewitched Bookworms

·         Tuesday, March 3  | The Book Addict’s Guide

·         Wednesday, March 4 | Alice Marvels