Dance With Me Blog Tour (And Kelli's Awesome Playlist!)

Title: Dance with Me

Author: Judith Crow
Date Published: October 22nd, 2020
Format: Kindle
Genre: YA Fantasy

Source: Goddess Fish Blog Tours
Buy Me!

Synopsis:

Don’t tell anyone, but Kelli spends all her free time listening to folk music. Ok, it’s not what you’d expect from a popular fifteen-year-old, but that’s why she doesn’t want the whole world to know.

When Kelli follows the mysterious Tam Lane, she finds herself in a place where folk songs come to life. As she comes to terms with the world, she makes friends, uses her privilege to help others, and even falls in love.

But Kelli has forgotten the fates which await so many characters in the songs, and she soon finds herself surrounded by heartbreak. Determined to protect the people she has left, can Kelli change a fate which has been sung for centuries?

~Guest Post~

Kelli's Awesome Playlist: What songs make up the playlist for this book and why?

I love this question! Dance With Me is all about folk songs, so creating a playlist was one of the first things that I did. It’s on Spotify and it contains all the songs which inspire the book, or which are quoted in it. I can’t tell you all of them – some of them would need a massive SPOILER ALERT! – but I’d love to share a few of them with you! I have picked out ten which won’t spoil anything but will give a sneaky look ahead!

Tam Lin (Fairport Convention):  Tam Lane is the gatekeeper to the world which Kelli finds herself in, and he is the one who takes her there in the first place. He’s in the book, on-and-off, several times. Once you’ve read to the end and realised the different faces that Tam can take, you realise just how many times he appears!

Cadgwith Anthem (Steeleye Span):  The first people who Kelli meets when she arrives in this strange world are a group of robbers. After all she’s known before is middle class twenty-first century suburbia, they change Kelli’s perspective of people. Although they are happy as robbers and lead comfortable lives through the means of crime, this existence can’t last forever…

Macpherson’s Rant (The Corries):  The real Macpherson was a criminal who smashed his violin at the gallows because no one would play it at his funeral. Macpherson in this book is perhaps the most vicious and vile character in the book (with maybe one exception), who is completely gratuitous in his violence and prompts the downfall of everything Kelli has learnt to trust.

Donegal Danny (The Dubliners):  Having just met handsome young naval officer, William Clouston, Kelli is terrified by the message she hears during a chance encounter with a tramp: the danger of losing loved ones to the sea. This becomes a theme throughout the rest of the book, and Kelli can never properly escape the tramp’s warning.

Drink to Me Only With Thine Eyes (Mat Williams):  I love this song, and particularly this recording, which is so earthy and youthful. This is Kelli and William’s “couple song” and, although it’s only directly referenced during the chapter with the ball at Arlen, it is the song I would choose to listen to whenever doing any work on their relationship.

Oft In The Stilly Night (Celtic Thunder):  After she’s arrived and settled in at Arlen Manor, there are a lot of times when Kelli feels as though she’s the only person left in the world. William has his own responsibilities as a naval officer and Lord and Lady Arlen keep going away, so she’s all on her own. There’s something very sad and pensive about this song, and there’s some of that in the book.

Bound Down For Newfoundland (Tom Boland):  This, like Donegal Danny, is another story about the dangers of the sea. It’s all about a voyage which is going really well until the captain suddenly gets sick and dies of smallpox. It’s only referenced in Dance With Me rather than being part of the main plot, but it gets Kelli thinking about the dangers of this new world.

The Raggle Taggle Gypsy (The Waterboys):  Having lived with the robbers to begin with, Kelli finds herself on the opposing side when she’s living with Lord and Lady Arlen. However, she has another run-in with criminals when she is taken by Lord Arlen to visit a friend of his, only for there to be a slight catastrophe when she’s there…

Believe Me If All Those Endearing Young Charms (Jim McCann):  This is a lovely look at ageing, highlighting how love only grows stronger with age, rather than fading when times get tough and people change. Without giving away any spoilers, the book finishes with Kelli quite a lot older than she started, so this song sums this up quite well.

Dark Eyes (Donnie Munro):  This is the only song on Kelli’s playlist which doesn’t feature in the book and was added after all the writing was finished. I was thrilled to bits when Donnie Munro allowed me to use it on my book trailer. The chorus is “dance with me” and the feature of the “dark eyes” is one which runs through the story.

~Meet Judith!~ 

Judith was born in Orkney, grew up in Lincolnshire and now lives in the far north of Scotland. Her writing is inspired by the experiences of her life so far and she loves picking up on quirks and immortalising them in fiction.

Judith’s new book, Dance With Me, combines her love of folk music and creative writing, and finds her main character in a world where folk songs come to life. Her debut book, The Backwater, was a finalist in the Wishing Shelf Book Awards 2019.

When she isn’t writing, Judith is a primary school teacher who enjoys crafting and music, as well as being a generally doting spaniel owner.
 Judith will be awarding a $10 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.a Rafflecopter giveaway