From Rum to Roots Blog Tour

BAM. Here you have it, a certified-by-Valerie playlist. Now in all seriousness, I'm so honored to be a stop on a virtual tour featuring From Rum to Roots. From Rum to Roots ROCKS. Or should I say RUMS? Sorry, I'm so bad with names and stuff. It's crazy.


From Rum to Roots
By Lloyd G Francis
Summary from Goodreads: In 1937 near Portland Cottage, in southern Jamaica, on a huge sugar estate, Linton McMann, the illegitimate son of the owner of the plantation, works making rum. Meanwhile in Kingston, Daisy, helps her mother managing an ice business and dreams of joining her elder sister in New York.

Seeking opportunity, Linton leaves the deep Jamaican countryside for New York and the collapse of the ice business and family crises force Daisy to leave Kingston, seeking a new start in the United States. They encounter a vibrant Jamaican-American community in New York, where they meet at the Audubon Ballroom in Harlem. Becoming American citizens, they marry, and start a family. Ambition drives them to start a business and Linton capitalizes on a skill he learned as a young man in Jamaica, making a drink known in Jamaica as “Roots.” It proves wildly popular and the company, Family Roots, prospers beyond Linton’s and Daisy’s wildest dreams.

By 1986, the drink is a sensation. Money flows in, but something is missing. Happiness is as scarce as freshwater in the middle of the sea. Wrestling with their past while living in a land of plenty, Linton and Daisy discover that truth is the only avenue to happiness.

1. America from West Side Story

I love West Side Story. That movie makes me cry. I imagine the feelings in this song are shared with Linton and Daisy.

2. Hate to See Your Heart Break by Paramore
There's so much love and suffereing throughout this novel. However, throughout it all, love triumphs through all. Hate to See Your Heart Break is the perfect song.




3. Call Me When You're Sober
Note the Rum in From Rum to Roots. Of course I need to stick in a song about rum. I CAN'T HELP IT. I'M SORRY. I'm just a teen! (Or at least about getting drunk and all). Here's to you, Evanescence.


4. Mean by Taylor Swift
People are mean. That's one important lesson in From Rum to Roots. Here's a song to all the people who've ever hurt anyone.



5. Here Comes the Sun by the Beatles
A lighter, happier song is definitely needed to offset the other ones. Here's a beautiful, happy one that suits the book as well.



6. Try by Pink
What can I say? Linston and Daisy definitely try. They overcome their demons and obstacles quite well.


7. Make You Feel My Love by Adele
She knows what she's taking about.


Interested in From Rum to Roots yet? Buy it on Amazon here! Check out the author's website here!