Toxicity — System Of A Down
At the beginning of MIST AND DIVIDE, we are thrown into a world that is full of disorder, while Evella, the FMC, tries to keep her life (and family’s) in order. It’s a world ravaged by frequent quakes, which is problematic enough, but Evella has to navigate the toxicity people direct at her due to a decision in her past. This song also connects her world to our current one—when someone is so powerful, creating disorder, how do they not let it slip away from them? Inevitably, through the nature of disorder, one can’t ‘own’ it. Eventually they must also suffer the consequences.
Cheated Hearts — Yeah Yeah Yeahs
I like to see this song as an interpretation of Evella’s relationship with Reil. When we meet Evella, it’s been one year since losing the love of her life, Reil. This was the man she grew up with, hunted with, and then one day, was gone. The lyrics, in this case, reflect how death has cheated her out of love, and all thoughts of finding it again are safely kept away.
Tryin’ To Throw Your Arms Around The World — U2
This is one of my favorite songs, and it so readily fits women like Evella. She feels the weight of stopping the quakes, saving the world, and restoring her family’s name as she journeys through Elsinor. I think many women feel such weight in their own lives, whether from work, raising kids, taking care of their elderly parents, etc. The song uses the quote from activist Irina Dunn, “A woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle.” Evella doesn’t need a man to come save her. But, that doesn’t mean refusing to let others offer their gifts, and Arek is the one to help her see that. Sometimes we find it hard to ask for or accept help, but part of adulthood is learning when and how, and we get to see that with Evella.
Something I Can Never Have — Nine Inch Nails
I love how this song fits the two main characters. Evella is figuring out who she is without Reil in her life, with the little, daily things reminding her of him. It’s just her, but she had been part of an us, a we, for so long, how is she to move forward? On the other side, Arek meets this woman who turns his whole perception of the world upside down. As their relationship develops, he has to come to grips with a past decision of his that makes loving her impossible. The slow pace and eerie melody mimics time and the torture it can inflict, a buffering of emotions until the crescendo (which is still muted and not enough).
Earth to Bella, Pt. 1 — Incubus
I wanted to leave on more of an upbeat tune! While the lyrics are very straightforward for an Incubus song, they encapsulate what Evella must do during her journey away from Corallon. She thinks she knows the cruelty of the world and how it works, but she needs to let go of the security of home. She wants to do right by her family, but she must first fail in order to succeed. And let’s face it, it’s a banger of a tune. Brandon Boyd could sing my pancake recipe, and it would be divine.
MIST AND DIVIDE by M.E. Shotwell
Soulquake #1
Ten lands divided. One shattered past. A forbidden magic all but forgotten.
The Quake tore her homeland apart and now, Evella Trapper’s family in the norther banks of Corallon, like many for generations, have struggled to survive. Hunting and trapping distracts her from their isolation, but not the sins of her past. During a hunt she meets Arek, a stranger displaced from his home by the ever-present quakes, who seeks shelter for the night. When Arek discovers Evella’s hidden Soulmagic, he reveals the truth—he was sent for her by the king to join a secret army against their enemies.
With the quakes becoming stronger and more frequent, destroying lands and stealing countless lives, Evella takes on training to use her powers for good. If she can stop the quakes, she may finally be able to erase the stain her actions placed on her family nearly a year ago. But that seems impossible when her Soulmagic only surfaces in her sleep.
Far from home with an eclectic team of Soulmagi, Evella struggles to manifest her abilities and is forced to face ghosts of her past— and present. With a thawing heart for Arek, and the discovery of the alarmingly sinister truth behind the destruction, will Evella be able to do the unthinkable to protect the people she loves and the future she desperately wants for them?
Audiobook Narrator- Justine Eyre.
Science Fiction | Fantasy Epic [City Owl Press, On Sale: September 9, 2025, Paperback / e-Book, ISBN: 9781648984754 / eISBN: 9781648984778]
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About M.E. Shotwell
As an avid reader, Mary Shotwell always fantasized about writing a book. Throughout her childhood in northeast Ohio, she wrote poems and short stories as a hobby but ignored the call of writing to pursue a career in science.
After studying dolphin behavior and great white shark populations, she earned her Ph.D. in Biostatistics in Charleston, South Carolina. It was there, during the arduous dissertation process, where she had the idea to write a book. Creative writing served as a natural escape from technical writing, wedding planning, pregnancy, and job hunting.
Mary is the author of small-town romances for every season. The third book in her new small-town contemporary romance series Waverly Lake, Christmas Island, is a 2023 Rone Award Finalist. Her first romance novel, Christmas Catch (Carina Press, 2018), received a starred review from Library Journal and was a 2019 Golden Leaf Award finalist for Best First Book. Her speculative short stories are featured in several anthologies, and her latest nonfiction story can be seen in Chicken Soup for the Soul: The Magic of Christmas (Simon and Schuster, 2022). She lives in Tennessee with her husband and three children and loves holidays, baking anything sweet and hosting movie nights with her kids. For more about Mary, see her blog.
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