A new chapter is upon us in the form of a new re-recorded and re-released album from queen Taylor Swift. Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) is a sometimes whimsical and sometimes raw confessional, and if you have the album on repeat like we do, we have a book recommendation to go with every song on your listen. Grab your purple and get reading!
“Mine” was absolutely made for Lynn Painter’s newest rom-com! Bailey first meets Charlie on a long flight to Omaha, where she is moving in with her mom after her parents’ divorce, and Charlie does not make a good impression. A year later, Bailey and Charlie crash into each other’s lives with opposite beliefs about love and romance and end up making a bet about whether their flirtatious coworkers will get together, a bet which only brings them closer together. They’re an unlikely pair, but careful Bailey and guarded Charlie might just prove to each other that love is worth facing a fear of falling.
“Mean” is a song about… well, mean people and bullies, but ultimately, “Mean” is a hopeful song about rising above people who will do their best to tear you down and being unapologetically you, just like Time Out. Barclay Elliot is a basketball legend in his small Georgia town, but when Barclay comes out as gay in front of the whole school, everything changes. And then, Barclay joins a voting rights group and finds a bigger purpose – and fearless, undeniably handsome Christopher.
Stevie and Nora had a love. A secret, epic, once-in-a-lifetime kind of love, but then Stevie has a terrible fall and can’t remember anything from the last two years, not even Nora. Feelings don’t vanish overnight, not like memories, and even if Stevie doesn’t remember Nora, Stevie still loves her and finds herself inexplicably and deeply drawn to this stranger. Sparks are flying between them from the moment Stevie and Nora meet… again.
Technically, Taylor Swift herself created this pairing, but really, who are we to argue with her? Belly used to count the days until summer, until she was back at Cousins Beach with Conrad and Jeremiah. But not this year. Not after Susannah got sick again and Conrad became distant. Everything that was right and good has fallen apart, leaving Belly wishing summer would never come.
“Dear John” is the “All Too Well” of Speak Now. It’s a long and emotionally harrowing song about a cataclysmic break up, but “Dear John” is also about choosing yourself and healing in the aftermath of trauma. (Goosebump-inducing lyrics like: “I’m shining like fireworks over your sad empty town” come to mind.) The Way I Am Now – the much anticipated sequel to The Way I Used To Be – explores how to move forward and heal after trauma – both in life and in love as Eden and Josh decide to give their relationship another chance.
“Speak Now” is the big confession of love on the album. It’s urgent. It’s now or never. And for that reason, Today Tonight Tomorrow is an excellent read to go along with this song. Two rival overachievers – Rowan and Neil – form a reluctant alliance during a senior class game on the last day of high school, and over the course of 24 hours, Rowan and Neil’s relationship completely changes – right as everything else is about to change.
Sparks flew instantly when Juliette first met Roma… and then Roma betrayed her. Now, Juliette and Roma are on opposite sides of a blood feud in this Romeo and Juliet retelling, set in 1920’s Shanghai. A madness spreads across the city and threatens both of their gangs, and Juliette and Roma must lay their armor (and their guns) down and set grudges aside and work together for the good of Shanghai.
Prince Tal is enchanted to meet roguish Athlen in this swoony adventure on the high seas. A young prince must rely on a mysterious and roguish Athlen to save him when Tal is kidnapped during his coming-of-age tour. They have the kind of instant chemistry that “Enchanted” was written about – and on a pirate ship, no less.
“There is nothing I do better than revenge” might as well be the tagline of the Burn for Burn trilogy. Postcard-perfect Jar Island is home to charming tourist shops, pristine beaches, amazing oceanfront homes – and Kat, Lillia, and Mary will show Jar Island that revenge is a dish best enjoyed together.
In Pride and Prejudice and Pittsburgh, Audrey Cameron finds the kind of love that you only find once in a lifetime in Lucy Sinclair – just not in her lifetime. After losing her spark, Audrey finds herself transported back to 1812 to become a Regency romance heroine and meets Lucy, who is similarly struggling with her own spark – and her future, involving a marriage she couldn’t be less interested in – after the death of her mother. They fall hard for each other, but can a most unexpected love story survive even more impossible circumstances?
At the beginning of Bonesmith, Wren has lost everything, which definitely leaves her feeling like her castle has crumbled – and makes her all the more determined to prove her worth. For Wren, becoming a valkyr —a ghost-fighting warrior— is a chance to solidify her place in the noble House of Bone and impress her frequently absent father. But then, sabotage causes Wren to fail her qualifying trial. After being banished, Wren’s only chance to reclaim her family’s respect is to rescue a kidnapped House of Gold prince in the Breach – a dangerous wasteland where the dead roam unchecked.
“I Can See You” absolutely screams forbidden romance. (Like… “I could see you being my addiction. You can see me as a secret mission.” Come on now!). In Powerless, a forbidden romance blossoms between a powerful prince and an ordinary girl as they try to survive their kingdom’s grueling laws pitting them against each other.
What happens when Emma falls in love? Find out in the first book of the Dark Artifices trilogy. Emma Carstairs and Julian Blackthorn are best friends and parabatai, who are forbidden from being in a romantic relationship by Shadowhunter law. (And much like Emma, Lady Midnight is the kind of book you can’t put down!)
“Electric Touch” is all about the risk and vulnerability and uncertainty of falling in love. Feelings, which are magnified and experienced to the umpteenth power by Will and Stella from Five Feet Apart. If Will 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 – six feet apart. But would five feet apart really be so dangerous if it stops their hearts from breaking too?
“Superman” is the ultimate pining song, all about wanting a larger-than-life crush to notice you and come back to you. In Better than the Movies, perpetual daydreamer Liz is desperately wishing that Michael, her untouchable crush, will notice her. She will do whatever it takes to get on his radar – and hopefully, snag him as a prom date – even befriend her cute yet obnoxious neighbor, Wes.
As a child star turned international icon, no one knows that “people throw rocks at things that shine” better than Leanna Smart. When Leanna meets college dropout Pablo at 5:00 a.m. at the bodega in the dead of winter, it’s absurd to think they’d be A Thing. But as they discover who they are, who they want to be, and how to defy the deafening expectations of everyone else, Lee and Pab turn to each other. That is, of course, when everything becomes complicated.
Today is never too late to be brand new for Emilie Hornby, who is having the worst Valentine’s Day ever… over and over again. In The Do-Over, Emilie is stuck in a time loop nightmare that she can’t wake up from, re-watching her boyfriend cheat on her and her life go up in flames day after day. She also can’t get away from the enigmatic Nick, who she keeps running into – sometimes literally – in unfortunate ways. And when something good starts to come out of these terrible days, what happens when the universe stops doling out do-overs?
“Haunted” is one of the most intense songs on the album and deserves an equally intense and evocative book pairing. In this mind-bending psychological thriller, Brittney decides the new season of her popular web series – (called Haunted, see what we did here?) – will uncover what happened to a young Black girl named Daisy in a mysterious mansion ten years prior. But as Brittney gets more wrapped up in the investigation, she’ll have to decide: if she can only bring one story to light, which one matters most—Daisy’s or her own?
“Last Kiss” is the break-up song on Speak Now and likewise, The Quiet Part Out Loud is the break-up book of the summer. High school sweethearts Mia and Alfie had a plan to escape their town for college in the east, but then, Mia’s world imploded. She pushed everyone away… including Alfie. Five months after the worst summer of their lives, Mia and Alfie are briefly united, only for a devastating earthquake to hit San Francisco, leaving them to stumble desperately across the rubble in search of each other before the city crumbles — taking one, or both, of them with it. Prepare your tissues!
Many of the Shadowhunters books have the emotional weight and massive scale to feel like a worthy choice for Long Live, but Clockwork Princess really was the end of a decade, but the start of an age, closing a chapter on the characters whose descendants we’d come to know and love. Danger, betrayal, and enchantment abound as the Shadowhunters are pushed to the brink of destruction in the conclusion to the Infernal Devices trilogy.