Decadent Publishing: A Candle for a Marine Playlist

By Heather Long

Last year right around this time, we were wrapping up from Halloween and beginning the holiday countdown. I knew I wanted to write a series of holiday Marines and I had a year to do it. From the first second I decided on that, I knew I wanted to write a Hanukkah book, largely because I couldn’t find that many Hanukkah romances.

So, as is my process, I let the ideas percolate in the back of my mind—but the character I knew clearly was Isaac. I knew he would be coming home to spend Hanukkah with his family, and that he’d had a very powerful reason for not having come home sooner. When it came time to begin writing the tale, I looked for music that communicated healing, reconciliation and miracles—and one lullaby that kept playing on an infinite loop was Hashkiveinu. I didn’t know why this particular song, but I’ve heard several different versions through the years and the one that I put on my playlist is one that I kept humming.

Without further ado, here is the playlist for A Candle for a Marine, the tale of Isaac and Zehava, a second chance at love and a romance that required healing, reconciliation and a Hanukkah miracle.

Hashkiveinu