I’ve been so excited to put this up–the official playlist for REACHED!

I love making playlists for the books, and it’s one of my favorite ways to interact with readers—it’s fun to hear their responses to the songs on the list! When I was writing “Reached,” these are the songs I listened to most. I tried to arrange them a little in the order of the story—which songs seem to fit the beginning, middle, end, etc., but they all work for the whole story. If you’ve seen the playlists for “Matched” and “Crossed,” you’ll notice some constants—I can’t seem to do without Bruce Springsteen, Regina Spektor, Brandon Flowers/The Killers!

1. “Save the World” by Swedish House Mafia. I picture Xander walking down the street to this song at the beginning of “Reached,” and I love the mood it sets.

2. “Glittering Clouds (Locusts)” by Imogen Heap. The perfect plague song for “Reached.”

3. “Red” by Natalie Walker. In the series, there are three mysterious tablets—one green, one blue, one red—and each book focuses on one of those colors. As you can tell by the cover, red is the emphasized color in this book.

4. “Birds of Prey” by Christina Aguilera. A fan tipped me off to this song and how perfect it is for the series earlier this year, and I’ve been grateful ever since.

5. “All the Rowboats” by Regina Spektor. Love this song, its allusions to museums and art, the way it fits the story…especially a certain scene involving Xander in the middle of the book.

6. “Half-Light II” by Arcade Fire. I can picture both Ky and Xander singing this song as they look back on the way things used to be.

7. “Death to My Hometown” by Bruce Springsteen. This is a very Ky song, and there’s a certain scene in the middle of the book that it fits perfectly. (Sorry I can’t be more specific—I don’t want to spoil anything!)

8. “9 Crimes” by Damien Rice. The perfect prisoner’s dilemma song for “Reached.” I feel like this song has parts of Cassia, Ky, and Xander in it. One of my all-time favorite songs.

9. “The Water is Wide” by Steven Sharp Nelson. A beautiful instrumental version of a lovely folk song, and a song I picture playing during a scene in the book that involves an ocean.

10. “Be Still” by The Killers. This song was released after “Reached” was already finished, but I had to add it to the playlist because it’s beautiful, it works on many levels for the story and there is one line especially that made me think of each of the three main characters, and of Xander in particular—”Don’t break character/you’ve got a lot of heart.”

11. “You Picked Me” by A Fine Frenzy. This song could be either for Ky or Xander near the end of “Reached.” 

12. “Land of Hope and Dreams” by Bruce Springsteen. I love the line about the “brother” and being a good companion for the ride. This song, with its epic-sounding feel, is great for the end of a series. Substitute the word “ship” for “train” and it’s pretty much an exact fit.

13. “Stay Young, Go Dancing” by Death Cab for Cutie. No one does songs with catchy beats and bittersweet lyrics like these guys. This is exactly the feel I want for the ending scenes of “Reached.”

(This post first appeared here at MTV.com’s Hollywood Crush blog, but I wanted to post it on my site too so that it’s always available to readers.)