I’ve been listening to SO MUCH Taylor Swift lately, so I thought it would be fun to match some of my favorite lyrics and songs to my favorite books (plus some books on my TBR).
August
Back when we were still changin' for the better Wanting was enough For me, it was enough To live for the hope of it all
Sandwiched between two exceptional siblings, Taylor Edwards never felt like she stood out—except for her history of running away when things get too complicated. Then her dad receives unexpected, terrible news, and the family makes the last-minute decision to spend the summer together in the cramped quarters at their old lake house.
Taylor hasn’t been to the summerhouse since she was twelve, and she definitely never planned on going back. Up at the lake she is confronted with people she thought she had left behind, like her former best friend Lucy, and Henry Crosby, her first crush, who’s all grown up…and a lot cuter. Suddenly Taylor is surrounded by memories she’d rather leave in the past—but she can’t run away this time.
As the days lying on the beach pass into nights gazing at the stars, Taylor realizes she has a second chance—with friends, with family, maybe even with love. But she knows that once the summer ends, there is no way to recapture what she stands to lose. From Morgan Matson, the PW Flying Start author of Amy & Roger’s Epic Detour, this is a remarkable new novel about hope in the face of heartbreaking grief.
Back to December
Maybe this is wishful thinkin' Probably mindless dreamin' But if we loved again, I swear I'd love you right I'd go back in time and change it, but I can't So if the chain is on your door, I understand
It started with a letter. It ended with a love story.
Every December, Josie posts a letter from her home in London to the parents she lost on Christmas night many years ago. Each year, she writes the same three words: Missing you, always. But this year, her annual trip to the postbox is knocked off course by a bicycle collision with a handsome stranger–a stranger who will change the course of Josie’s life.
Josie always thought she was the only one who avoided the Christmas season, but this year, Max has his own reasons for doing the same–and coincidence leads them to spending the holiday together. Aglow with new love, Josie thinks this might be the start of something special.
Only for Max to disappear without saying goodbye.
Over the course of the next year, Max and Josie will find that fate continues to bring them together in places they’d never expect. New York City. Edinburgh. The quiet English countryside. And it turns out, Max had every reason to leave and every reason to stay. But what does fate hold for Josie and Max as Christmas approaches again?
A devastating, romantic, life-affirming love story, Always, in December will stay with readers long after they’ve finished the last page.
Cardigan
You drew stars around my scars
But now I'm bleedin'
The truth about Neverland is far more dangerous than a fairy tale.
Claire Kenton believes the world is too dark for magic to be real—since her twin brother was stolen away as a child. Now Claire’s desperate search points to London… and a boy who shouldn’t exist.
Peter Pan is having a beastly time getting back to Neverland. Grounded in London and hunted by his own Lost Boys, Peter searches for the last hope of restoring his crumbling island: a lass with magic in her veins.
The girl who fears her own destiny is on a collision course with the boy who never wanted to grow up. The truth behind this fairy tale is about to unravel everything Claire thought she knew about Peter Pan—and herself.
Enchanted
This night is sparkling, don't you let it go
I'm wonderstruck, blushing all the way home
I'll spend forever wondering if you knew
I was enchanted to meet you
“You make me feel safe, Bender Cole, when you absolutely shouldn’t.”
Thanks to her father’s legacy—and her rose tattoo that symbolizes it—Cori Kasmer has never had to fear the gangs that run rampant in the city, even years after her father’s death. And she’s always stayed away from that life, until Bender Cole passes out on her doorstep.
Between making her laugh in a way she forgot how and the banter he shares with her sister when he comes for waffles each morning, Cori lets herself get caught up in the normalcy he brings back into her life. She shouldn’t feel safe with him, shouldn’t want him to kiss her, and yet…
Bender only got mixed up with the gangs to keep a roof over his family’s head. But now he’s in too deep. As an enforcer for the Bears, he’s got blood on his hands and he knows as long as he continues as he is, those hands don’t also get to hold a girl like Cori. And no one leaves the Bears. Not alive, anyway.
A Snow White Rose Red Retelling set in the Evraft Galaxy.
I Almost Do (Taylor’s Version)
Oh, we made quite a mess, babe
It's probably better off this way
And I confess, babe
In my dreams you're touching my face
And asking me if I wanna try again with you
And I almost do
Can you love someone you can never touch?
Stella Grant likes to be in control—even though her totally out of control lungs have sent her in and out of the hospital most of her life. At this point, what Stella needs to control most is keeping herself away from anyone or anything that might pass along an infection and jeopardize the possibility of a lung transplant. Six feet apart. No exceptions.
The only thing Will Newman wants to be in control of is getting out of this hospital. He couldn’t care less about his treatments, or a fancy new clinical drug trial. Soon, he’ll turn eighteen and then he’ll be able to unplug all these machines and actually go see the world, not just its hospitals.
Will’s exactly what Stella needs to stay away from. If he so much as breathes on Stella she could lose her spot on the transplant list. Either one of them could die. The only way to stay alive is to stay apart. But suddenly six feet doesn’t feel like safety. It feels like punishment.
What if they could steal back just a little bit of the space their broken lungs have stolen from them? Would five feet apart really be so dangerous if it stops their hearts from breaking too?
Message in a Bottle (Taylor’s Version)
'Cause you could be the one that I love
I could be the one that you dream of
Message in a bottle is all I can do
Standin' here, hopin' it gets to you (it gets to you)
Steffi doesn’t talk, but she has so much to say.
Rhys can’t hear, but he can listen.
Their love isn’t a lightning strike, it’s the rumbling roll of thunder.
Steffi has been a selective mute for most of her life – she’s been silent for so long that she feels completely invisible. But Rhys, the new boy at school, sees her. He’s deaf, and her knowledge of basic sign language means that she’s assigned to look after him. To Rhys, it doesn’t matter that Steffi doesn’t talk, and as they find ways to communicate, Steffi finds that she does have a voice, and that she’s falling in love with the one person who makes her feel brave enough to use it.
From the bestselling author of Beautiful Broken Things comes a love story about the times when a whisper is as good as a shout.
Seven
Sweet tea in the summer
Cross your heart, won't tell no other
And though I can't recall your face
I still got love for you
Emma Saylor doesn’t remember a lot about her mother, who died when Emma was twelve. But she does remember the stories her mom told her about the big lake that went on forever, with cold, clear water and mossy trees at the edges.
Now it’s just Emma and her dad, and life is good, if a little predictable…until Emma is unexpectedly sent to spend the summer with her mother’s family that she hasn’t seen since she was a little girl.
When Emma arrives at North Lake, she realizes there are actually two very different communities there. Her mother grew up in working class North Lake, while her dad spent summers in the wealthier Lake North resort. The more time Emma spends there, the more it starts to feel like she is also divided into two people. To her father, she is Emma. But to her new family, she is Saylor, the name her mother always called her.
Then there’s Roo, the boy who was her very best friend when she was little. Roo holds the key to her family’s history, and slowly, he helps her put the pieces together about her past. It’s hard not to get caught up in the magic of North Lake—and Saylor finds herself falling under Roo’s spell as well.
For Saylor, it’s like a whole new world is opening up to her. But when it’s time to go back home, which side of her—Emma or Saylor—will win out?
The Lakes
Take me to the lakes where all the poets went to die
I don't belong, and my beloved, neither do you
Those Windermere peaks look like a perfect place to cry
I'm setting off, but not without my muse
Amy Lennox doesn’t know quite what to expect when she and her mother pick up and leave Germany for Scotland, heading to her mother’s childhood home of Lennox House on the island of Stormsay.
Amy’s grandmother, Lady Mairead, insists that Amy must read while she resides at Lennox House—but not in the usual way. It turns out that Amy is a book jumper, able to leap into a story and interact with the world inside. As thrilling as Amy’s new power is, it also brings danger: someone is stealing from the books she visits, and that person may be after her life. Teaming up with fellow book jumper Will, Amy vows to get to the bottom of the thefts—at whatever cost.
Let’s Talk!
What are some of your favorite Taylor Swift lyrics? Which books would you match to these lyrics? Do you agree with my match-ups? Let’s talk all things books and Taylor Swift in the comments!
The Long Voyage 
This is so fun! Totally the blog post I didn’t know I needed until just now!
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I’m so glad you enjoyed it, Kellyn! 🤍
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This was such a fun post to read! I really wanna read the December one. How’s the content in it? Also, Dust is on my TBR! I love Taylor Swift.
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I haven’t actually read the December one, it’s just a book on my TBR…sorry! Yes, Dust is so good!!! Let me know what you think of it when you read it.
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