More Like Her (27 page)

AUTHOR INSIGHTS,
EXTRAS & MORE...

FROM
LIZA PALMER
AND

Liza Palmer’s Breakup Mix for Frannie Reid

Frannie’s made enough mixes. It’s my turn to ferry Frannie away from the Ryan Ferrells of this world and into the arms of more men like Sam Earley.

A well-crafted breakup mix should accomplish three things:

1. It should make the listener feel she is not alone in her grief. Other women have felt and survived exactly what she’s going through.

2. While there should be a few songs that tap into The Sad, in the end the mix should be about empowerment. You really are better off without him and it was settling and, yes, someday you’re going to feel okay again.

3. This mix will serve as an alternative from just going back and forth between “The Rose” by Bette Midler and “Liar” by Henry Rollins. (Although both songs are spectacular, they should be used in moderation during these fragile times.)

The Frannie Reid Breakup Mix

1. “Last Year” —Akron/Family

A beautiful amuse-bouche to open things up. Simple, gorgeous and hopeful.

2. “Reason Why” —Rachael Yamagata

Embracing The Sad, but cutting it with the truth with lyrics like, “It’s not that I don’t understand you, it’s not that I don’t want to be with you, but you only wanted me the way you wanted me.”

3. “Torch” —Alanis Morissette

This is where we remember what was good. Sink deep into The Sad. Ugly cry. Sob. Really admit how hard it is to get over someone you once loved with a mindset of: the only way out is through. (And maybe think about Ryan Reynolds a bit as that’s who the song is actually about, hello.)

4. “More Like Her” —Miranda Lambert

“You took a chance on a bruised and beaten heart and then realized you wanted what you had.”

This song is to all the Jessssssicas of this world
.

5. “Rolling in the Deep” —Adele

And we’re done wallowing. This will be your anthem. Turn it up as loud as you can and sing along until your voice is hoarse
.

6. “Take a Bow” —Rihanna

Continuing on with anthems, this song is perfect for when one gets in touch with one’s anger. Ahem. (The
Glee
version is also acceptable . . .)

7. “Dear John” —Taylor Swift

That’s right. TAYLOR. EFFING. SWIFT. Breakups make us all feel fifteen again. And no one does anthems for fifteen-year-olds better than Taylor Swift. Ergo, we find ourselves here. Just let yourself sink into it, own your fifteen-ness and sing along
.

8. “There there” —Radiohead

The driving rhythms of this song are what we’re after—it fuels something: the crawl out maybe, the desire to return to living. And with lyrics like, “Just because you feel it doesn’t mean it’s there,” it also lets us get in touch with why we allowed blurry lines in past relationships
.

9. “Orbiting” —The Weepies

Maybe we’re better off alone; and as this song so beautifully says, maybe we were alone the whole time—despite being in a relationship
.

10. “Incomplete and Insecure” —The Avett Brothers

This is our wake up call. “Will I ever know silence without mental violence . . .” Why is it so hard to be kind to ourselves? Let’s live differently from now on . . .

11. “This Year’s Love” —David Gray

Presented without comment. (Just listen . . . )

12. “Near to You” —A Fine Frenzy

A new love. A true and real love. And we’re scared. “I’m battle-scarred, I am working oh so hard to get back to who I used to be . . . ”

13. “Be Here Now” —Ray LaMontagne

His reply to “Near to You.”

14. “Day Too Soon” —Sia

TIMING. IS. EVERYTHING. Listen to this song over and over
.

15. “The Means to Attain a Happy Life” —Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey

In the TV series
The Tudors
(Season Four, Episode Four) Howard, played by David O’Hara, lets Charles Brandon, The Duke of Suffolk (played by Henry Cavill, ahem) read this poem aloud. Find it. Record it. And listen to it. (This poem is then read by David O’Hara later, but I won’t tell you when or why so as not to spoil things.)

About the Author

LIZA PALMER
is the internationally
bestselling author of
Conversations with the Fat Girl. Conversations with
the Fat Girl
became an international bestseller its first week in publication
and number one on the Fiction Heatseekers chart in the UK the week before the book debuted.
Conversations with the Fat Girl
has been optioned for a series by the producers of
Rome, Band of Brothers,
and
Generation Kill.

Palmer’s second novel was
Seeing Me Naked
, of which
Publishers Weekly
said: “Consider it haute chick lit; Palmer’s prose is sharp, her characters are solid and her narrative is laced with moments of graceful sentiment.”

Palmer’s third novel,
A Field Guide
to Burying Your Parents
, which
Entertainment Weekly
called a “splendid novel” and
Real Simple
said “has heart and humor,” was released in January 2010.

Palmer currently lives in Los Angeles and is hard at work on her next novel as well as writing for the VH1 Classic show
Pop Up Video
. She now knows far too much about Fergie.

Visit
www.AuthorTracker.com
for exclusive information on your favorite HarperCollins authors.

Also by Liza Palmer

Conversations with the Fat Girl

Seeing Me Naked

A Field Guide to Burying Your Parents

Cover photograph © by Masterfile

This book is a work of fiction. References to real people, events, establishments, organizations, or locales are intended only to provide a sense of authenticity, and are used fictitiously. All other characters, and all incidents and dialogue, are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real.

MORE LIKE HER
. Copyright © 2012 by Liza Palmer. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

FIRST EDITION

ISBN 978-0-06-200746-9

EPub Edition © APRIL 2012 ISBN: 9780062101471

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