One of the first things I do when I start writing a new book is create a playlist. I add songs that remind me of the vibe of the story, the setting, and the emotional journey that the characters undertake. The playlist grows and changes while I’m writing and rewriting, and I often listen to it when I’m not writing, to keep the world of the story in my head when I’m doing other things.
Here’s a selection of songs from the WELL VERSED playlist!
“Take a Giant Step” by the Monkees
(First of all, how is this song SIXTY years old? What is time??)
This encapsulates Alex’s point of view, when he realizes how much he broke Caitlin’s heart the first time around. He’s determined to help her see the joy of Faire—and life—again.
Though you’ve played at love and lost
And sorrow’s turned your heart to frost
I will melt your heart again
There’s just no percentage in remembering the past
It’s time you learned to live again at last
“Labyrinth” by Taylor Swift
Caitlin doesn’t want to fall in love again … especially not with the man who broke her heart years ago. But the more he tries to atone, and to make her see the magic of the renaissance faire, the more she starts to do the unthinkable.
Break up, break free, break through, break down
You would break your back to make me break a smile
Uh oh, I’m falling in love
Oh no, I’m falling in love again
Oh, I’m falling in love
I thought the plane was going down
How’d you turn it right around
“Pink Pony Club” by Hildegard von Blingin’
I heard this version of the Chappell Roan song for the first time at pub sing at the Maryland Renaissance Festival, and I highly recommend you check it out! It’s fun, it’s irreverent, it perfectly juxtaposes the past and present … just like a day at the renaissance faire!
Lord, what hast thou done?
Thou’rt a pink pony maid
Thou shouldst be a nun
Oh mother, I just want to run
With the mummers and clowns
‘Tis where I belong, down at the
Pink Pony Inn, I shall keep on dancing at the
Pink Pony Inn, I shall keep on dancing, let them
Call it a sin, I shall keep on dancing at the
Pink Pony Inn, Pink Pony Inn
“Childhood’s End?” by Marillion
This echoes a bleak moment in the story, where Caitlin realizes that maybe she and Alex can’t work it out, and maybe their lives just won’t intertwine, no matter how much they want them to. But she knows she’s strong and will be all right no matter what. (Though she really loves that man.)
Do you realize that you could have gone back to her?
But that would only be retracing all the problems that you ever knew
So untrue
For she’s got to carry on with her life
And you’ve got to carry on with yours
So I see it’s me, I can do anything
And I’m still the child
‘Cause the only thing misplaced was direction
Honorable Mention: Rattlin’ Bog by The Hooligans (link to the track on YouTube: https://youtu.be/aoXfPxWm1KU?si=8qoB_Q3zU4tbnQSw)
This version of the Irish folk song inspired a scene in the book, where Alex is supposed to perform the song at pub sing, but “forgets” the words almost immediately so he can get off the stage and back to talking to Caitlin. The Hooligans are a Maryland Renaissance Festival staple, and their Rattlin’ Bogs are always epic!
WELL VERSED by Jen DeLuca
Narrator: Brittany Pressley
It’s a second chance at first love at the Renaissance Faire, where the search for a new queen shapes a destiny, from USA Today bestselling author Jen DeLuca.
Caitlin Parker was eighteen when she fell out of love with the magic of the Willow Creek Renaissance Faire—the site of her first real heartbreak. But now, twenty-four and unemployed, she finds herself in her childhood bedroom and her childhood lady-in-waiting costume, assisting a rotating cast of substitute queens for the season. The very last person she wants to see is Alexander Wright—the sword-fighting, Shakespeare-spouting young man who won and broke her teenage heart. Yet there he is, older, annoyingly hotter, and back on stage at her Faire.
When Alex broke things off with Caitlin the first time, he thought he was just ending a summer fling. He didn’t realize how much he’d fallen for her until he let her go, and he certainly didn’t know he’d tarnished her memories of her cherished Faire and worse, shattered her view on love and relationships. His need to right that wrong this summer brings them together again and again, and this time, it won’t be so easy to let go of this summer fling.
But as summer winds down, real life is catching up to both of them. Caitlin’s always thought that being an adult with adult responsibilities means leaving whimsy behind. Alex, with a life full of stage combat, songs, and sonnets, doesn’t know how to live any other way. Can they go after their dreams and find a future together where they can still say “huzzah”?
Romance Comedy [ Berkley, On Sale: September 22, 2026, Trade Paperback / e-Book / audiobook, ISBN: 9780593641255 / eISBN: 9780593641262 ]
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About Jen DeLuca
Jen DeLuca is the USA Today Bestselling author of the Well Met series (Ren Faire Romance!) with Berkley Romance.
A native Virginian, Jen lives in the Arizona desert with her husband and almost too many cats.
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