Ann Marie Frohoff Talks Musical Inspiration of "Heavy Influences" Book Series

If you don’t remember the first stories of the Heavy Influence series, the scoop on all the books and where you can find them is HERE. The worry I believe most readers right now seem to be having is will we get that happy ending?! Life doesn't come with cut and dry answers, so why should romance? Because that's what readers are seeking out from such stories. Frohoff might be a big fan of open-ended; however, she has promised that the Heavy Influence series will end in a way that readers can walk away ... Happy!

I like the quote that love is not always enough… however, there are many people who believe love conquers all. Spoilers possibly but which do you think Jake and Aly are headed towards — heartbreak or a happy ending? 

Haha…hmmmm. I’m not a happy ending kind of person. I love stories that leave things open ended and force you to conclude for yourself. I know most people hate that…so I’m not going to do that to my readers. It’s going to be a happy ending, but not the type of happy ending that would be considered sailing off into the sunset. Life has a way of coming full circle. Jake is a product of his up bringing after all.

Now that I would believe, especially since the cliffhanger you’ve left us on the last few books meant an exhaustive amount of angsting until the final book! So since you’ve given me all the spoilers you can because really... we all just need to pick up LOVE AMPLIFIED right now; let’s talk muses. Hmmm?! You’ve got some really lovely bands to feed your inspiration, don’t you?!

Do you have new musical muses for this series? Or are the Bad Suns and Lights Resolve still the heaviest influences? Do they know you have another book coming out?

Bad Suns is still a huge influence, as they are now hitting the big with playing Coachella Music Festival this year, and have appeared on Conan O’Brien and now are slated to appear on Jimmy Kimmel this month (Jan 2015). Nick Long of Dark Waves is also a huge influence. He also is on tour this month – he has some really heavy stories… more so than the other bands. He’s actually lived my character’s, Jake’s life, much like what happens in the series. Bad Suns is a little too young and hopefully won’t have issues so common with celebrity & fame. I’m sure they do know I have more books coming out with regards to the series, but I don’t speak to them about the books per say. I do ask a million questions and we hang out, but I keep all my book stuff separate, if that makes sense. Kinda silly I know, but it is what it is.

What music are you listening to right now? Do you pick songs that motivate you to write your characters’ lives a certain way, to feel what they’re feeling? 

I’m currently listening Arctic Monkeys, Taylor Swift (don’t laugh I adore her – she keeps me young), Twenty One Pilots, The XX – I really listen to old school tunes though… 80’s & 90’s classics.

Hey now, no judging for sure here… Taylor Swift is AWESOME! And I could totally see Aly dancing around to her music. She might be a California girl but Taylor’s got the right grooves to help her shake it off… and that’s the thing, isn’t it?! When you’re young, it is hard to let go of those passionate feelings that you feel for your first love. I just think that Aly and Jake need to take some time to grow and deal with their own issues though because while Jake seems to handle life better with Aly, she’s become a crutch he relies on too heavily and in retaliation, Aly acts selfishly and without thought to anyone but herself. It’s a catch-22 that they cannot seem to break the hateful cycle of.

And sometimes the angst gets overwhelming, at least it did for me, considering that I think of these books as romances first and foremost. My spirit felt overwhelmed by sadness and hurt for these two and it threw me off so much that the steamy parts of the story just didn’t ring as true. I wanted to root for them, but mostly it’s watching a train wreck knowing it is going to happen and not being able to stop it. It’s awful and yet, I will admit the book had me feeling ALL the FEELS at the end. So Annie got me there!

Seriously, this is not your average love story. It’s hard-core rock with attitude and angst and alternative in its perspective. You cannot expect things to all of a sudden look up. The pain gets real, but in the end, Jake and Alyssa always seem to know deep down that they will always love each other. *cue Whitney’s rendition of  “I Will Always Love You”*

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