Tuesday, February 07, 2012

If Music Be the Food of Love

I'm so happy today to be sharing with you a guest post by one of my favourite bloggers! Sya from The Mountains of Instead always has me smiling with her fun blog post titles and her sense of humour. I adore her reviews and I can always trust her judgement on books.

I feel even more connected to her now that I know we share a love for hot, musical boys! If you don't follow her blog, I really urge you to do so now. Thank you so much Sya for this brilliant blog!

To find out more about Sya, check out the following links:




When Michelle contacted me about contributing to her Love Month, I was delighted and planned to come up with something super special. However, I find myself having to focus on studying instead (and 16th Century Religion just doesn’t scream romance…) and am therefore offering up a piece that I wrote some time ago but which still rings true all all levels: My love for musical men.

I should probably explain... I have always loved a creative sort of guy. Art is good – but music is better. Any man who can sit down and play me a tune, be it by tinkling the ivories, strumming some strings or banging a drum will always float my boat (and yes, everything there does seem to be a double entendre). In YA fiction, these music men are doubly swoonsome as they invariably are intelligent, hot, troubled or funny. Usually all four.

So without further ado, here is my top five countdown when it comes to tuneful treats:


Five: Edward – Twilight Saga by Stephenie Meyer

I nearly didn't include Edward. However, Edward really fits my mould. He is troubled, has a dark secret, and is clearly very hot (see above). Sadly, he does not display any humour and also has stalker like tendencies (yep, I'm Team Jacob). He is here, however, because his piano playing saves him for me as a character. He sits at his grand piano, tinkling away and I can, for a while, forget all the creepy stuff. The lovely Robert Pattinson tipped this for me when I saw him actually playing the piano in the Twilight movie. With his own hands. Swoon....thud.


Four: Joe – The Sky Is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson

Ah, lovely Joe. Joe plays guitar and horn and pretty much everything else you can think of. Unlike many of the others on this list, he is not troubled when we meet him. He is happy and lovely and plays music for the sheer joy of it. I would like him to live in my kitchen with his guitar. And his eyelashes. I would feed him cookies and he would play me songs. Bat. Bat. Bat. Strum. Strum. Bat. Etc.


Three: James – Ballad by Maggie Stiefvater

Again, James was nearly knocked of his post by Sam from Shiver (another Maggie creation). In the end, however, I just like James more. He plays the pipes. I live in Scotland where most guys playing the pipes are rather large and sweaty. Not so, James! He is hot and lovely. He also plays the piano under the tutelage of another musical guy (the fantastic Sullivan- I have no idea what Sullivan plays but he rocks a Julliard sweater, so he must be pretty good. And hot). James is one of my favourite male protagonists and again he is smart, funny, troubled and caring. Perfect. Also, he writes random words all over his hands which should probably ring alarm bells regarding mental illness, but is actually just really sexy.


Two: Jace – The Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare

Aaaah, Jace. You were so nearly number one. What a guy... Let's check our list of qualifying attributes: Is he hot? Man, yes. Like Michaelangelo angel hot. Is he troubled? Yes – major family issues. And then some. Is he smart? Uh-huh – he speaks about a dozen languages and seems to be able to quote from every book of note ever written. Is he funny? Laugh out loud and roll on the floor so. Most importantly – is he musical? Yes, yes, yes. Even better, he plays the piano in “a desultory fashion”. He's so good, he doesn't even care! I may marry him one day.


One: Sebastian – Sadler's Wells Series by Lorna Hill

So, you may be wondering where all this has come from, this obsession with men and music. Well, we have now reached the heart of the matter. I first read the Sadler's Wells books when I was about nine. I was really into ballet, and that is what they focus on so I was happy (there are sadly also a lot of horses featured, but you can't have everything). Sebastian doesn't appear in all of the books, just the first two where he plays antagonist and love interest to heroine Veronica. Sebastian is smart, wickedly so, and unlike any other character on this list (perhaps with the exception of James) is absolutely driven by his music. He cannot live without it, or Veronica, for whom he plays while she dances (usually in some swoony outdoor setting). He is hot – all piercing blue eyes and long piano-player fingers. He is also a bit of a bad boy – in that he can be a bit cruel, his humour sarcastic and his judgements final. Importantly, he has some issues involving family and being chucked out of his ancestral home. For years he was all I looked for in a boy – it is no coincidence that my first love was an immensely talented, hugely sarcastic, slightly broken piano player. And just as Sebastian informed my choices in men then, I suspect he perhaps still does. Ah, Sebastian – you got me at an impressionable age, and my heart remains with you....

So there you have it. My ever so geeky, possibly slightly disturbing list of musical hotties. Prepare to share – I refuse to believe that these are the only YA guys out there who are musical.

Or perhaps you have your own list? Write it up, link back, share the hot boy love! I'm off to play me a tune and dream of Sebastian Scott.

8 comments:

  1. Michael from the Morganville Vampires series! Hot, responsible, careful, guitar-playin Michael! I do love Michael. But I also love Shane, so.

    Awesome post, thought I don;t know two of these guys, and the other three... I went off Edward, I've had trouble getting into the Mortal Instruments Book 2, and I don't really remember Joe. So... Michael, Michael, Michael!

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  2. Aw Joe is the best! He's one of my favourite male characters ever! I love it when guys play music, but especially the guitar! I think it's because I'm so bad at it myself!

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  3. Great post, I love musical boys in real life so I think I may need to get to know a few of these literary ones.

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  4. Yay for some Sebastian love! I read those books just for him and his fabulous wit. And the hotness. Don't forget the hotness.

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  5. Thanks for having me, Michelle! And Rosy - I'm so glad someone else has actually heard of Sebastian!

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  6. Thanks so much for this great post Sya! I absolutely ADORE musical boys. Since reading your post, I've been trying really hard to think of who would be on my list but I'm having some sort of block!

    ...I didn't even realise Jace was musical. Is it really prominent in the books? And I've read Lament and not Ballad. I should read it soon!

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    1. My pleasure! Jace is meant to be pretty musical, I think, although it's not massively prominent. Unless you're looking for it, which I of course was. Ballad, for my money, is much better than Lament - mainly because of Sullivan. Hee. Loving your Love Month!

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