THE PLEDGE Playlist

This week for the I Love Dark YA Blogfest, hosted by YAtopia, we were to build a playlist or a movie cast for a dark YA book. I went with playlist - because I've been very out of the movie thing and don't know half the actors people talk about these days. 
This playlist is for The Pledge by Kimberly Derting (which is an incredible book!) And making this playlist I'm recognizing all the connections between love and war. I loved putting this list together so let me know what you think! If you've read the book what songs would be on your playlist?


If you haven't read the book yet here's the synopsis, so you can get the general idea behind the playlist: 

In the violent country of Ludania, the language you speak determines what class you are, and there are harsh punishments if you forget your place—looking a member of a higher class in the eye can result 

in immediate execution. Seventeen-year-old Charlaina (Charlie for short) can understand all languages, a dangerous ability she’s been hiding her whole life. Her only place of release is the drug-filled underground club scene, where people go to shake off the oppressive rules of the world they live in. There, she meets a beautiful and mysterious boy who speaks a language she’s never heard, and her secret is almost exposed. Through a series of violent upheavals, it becomes clear that Charlie herself is the key to forcing out the oppressive power structure of her kingdom…

So here's my playlist - I was going to go in order, but yeah, that didn't work well. Plus, I don't want to spoil anything. I'm listing the songs along with a couple lyrics that made me think of The Pledge while listening to the song. 

Songs for the Love Story: 

1. Awake My Soul - Mumford & Sons (my favorite song for this book)
"How fickle my heart and how woozy my eyes/ I struggle to find any truth in your lies/ and now my heart stumbles on things I don't know/ My weakness I feel I must finally show."

"In these bodies we will live/ In these bodies we will die/Where you invest your love/ You invest your life." 

2. Your Own Love - VersaEmerge 

"Don't you know I'm still here/ You think you're better all alone."

3. Only You - Cartel
"Then we fall back now to this empty house/ There the wars will rage/ And if you leave me now in this empty house/ Baby, it's okay."


4. Shy That Way - Tristan Prettyman and Jason Mraz
"You know you're stunning/ you're absolutely stunning/ but you're always running/ but I'll catch up to you." 


Songs For Charlie:


5. The Pretender - Foo Fighters
"What if I say I'm not like the others?/ What if I say I'm not just one of your plays?/ You're the pretender/ What if I say I'll never surrender?" 


6. No Giving Up - Crossfade
"So you found out today that you're life's not the same/ Not quite as perfect as it was yesterday but/ When you were just getting in the groove/ Now you're faced with something new..."


7. Let The Rain - Sara Bareilles 
"I hold on to worry so tight/ It's safe in here right next to my heart/ Who now shouts at the top of her voice/ Let me go, let me out, this is not my choice."


Songs for the War and Dystopia:


8. Sleep Through the Static - Jack Johnson
"Shock and awful thing to make someone think/ That they have to choose pushing for peace supporting the troops/ And either you're weak or you'll use brute force-feed the truth/ The truth is we say not as we do."


9. The Youth - MGMT
"In a couple of years/ Tides have changed from booze to tears/ And in spite of the weather/ We could learn to make it together// The youth is starting to change."


10. Justice and Mercy - Flyleaf
"We're human, we reason, we're breathing, protecting/ The living and dying, surviving, we're trying/ to breathe in safety/ come home safely."