We’re still so obsessed with Olivia Rodrigo’s stunning sophomore album GUTS and even more obsessed now that the Guts World Tour has kicked off. Grab your purple, your combat boots and silver sparkles, and if you’re lucky, your Guts World Tour tickets and settle in for a list of book recommendations based on the GUTS album.
SCARED OF MY GUITAR
This is a song about being afraid to confront your feelings and break up with someone who – while familiar and good – ultimately isn’t right for you, which is what Hollis goes through with her boyfriend, Chris in The No-Girlfriend Rule. When Hollis decides to learn Chris’s favorite tabletop roleplaying game, Secrets & Sorcery, in an all-girls group, an in-game crush develops between Hollis’s character and the bard played by charismatic Aini, whose wide, cocky grin makes Hollis’s stomach flutter. As their flirting sparks into something deeper, Hollis is no longer sure what she wants… or if she’s content to just play pretend.
STRANGER
Conrad is a stranger Belly knows everything about in the second book in The Summer I Turned Pretty trilogy, It’s Not Summer Without You. Belly used to count the days until summer – until Cousins Beach and Conrad and Jeremiah – but this year, Belly is dealing with grief and heartbreak. Susannah is gone, and Conrad feels more distant than ever. Everything that was right and good has fallen apart, leaving Belly wishing summer would never come.
SO AMERICAN
A Cuban Girl’s Guide to Tea and Tomorrow is basically the book version of this sugar-sweet and upbeat love song. For Lila Reyes, a summer in England was never part of the plan, but after everything that is part of the plan falls apart, her parents send her to Winchester, England to spend three months with family friends, where Lila meets Orion. He appoints himself her personal tour guide, and soon, Lila is finds herself not only charmed by him, but by England itself.
GIRL I'VE ALWAYS BEEN
Everything has changed for Emory in the aftermath of a deadly night in the Dovermere sea caves that leaves a group of her classmates dead and her as the only survivor. But despite her strange and dangerous new powers, Emory is still the girl she’s always been – and more determined than ever to unravel the mystery of what really happened that night and the cult-like secret society that might have been involved in her classmates’ deaths.
OBSESSED
In this fun rom-com that’s perfect for fans of To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before and She Gets the Girl, Ava ‘Fitz’ Fitzgerald and her childhood friend Levi Berkowitz create a fake relationship to help each other win back their exes. It’s the perfect plan. If all goes well, by the end of the summer they’ll both be back together with their exes and get to rekindle their friendship in the process. But even the most carefully crafted plans can fall apart, and it’s not hard to be a little obsessed with each other’s exes when fake dating leads to very real feelings.
ALL-AMERICAN BITCH
“all-american bitch” is very much a female rage song and all about burying your feelings to be a perfect – and palatable – all-American girl. And really, what’s a better female rage book than Their Vicious Games by Joelle Wellington? A Black teen desperate to regain her Ivy League acceptance enters an elite competition only to discover the stakes aren’t just high, they’re deadly, in this searing thriller that’s Ace of Spades meets Squid Game with a sprinkling of The Bachelor.
BAD IDEA RIGHT?
Powerless follows the forbidden romance between a powerful prince (Kai) and a seemingly ordinary girl (Paedyn), both trying to survive their kingdom’s grueling laws pitting them against each other. She is the very thing Kai has spent his whole life hunting. He is the very thing Paedyn has spent her whole life pretending to be. Falling in love is probably a bad idea… right?
VAMPIRE
Any vampire lover needs to read Cruel Illusions by Margie Fuston, a deliciously dark young adult fantasy that’s Caraval meets Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Ever since a vampire murdered her mother, Ava has been determined to get revenge. She strikes a deal with a magical secret society to enter a potentially deadly competition for the chance to avenge her mother’s death.
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And if one vampire-filled recommendation isn’t enough for you, check out Margie Fuston’s upcoming book The Revenant Games. All of Us Villains meets Kingdom of the Wicked in an action-packed fantasy following seventeen-year-old Bly, who is determined to win the competition held by warring vampire and witch kingdoms, only to developed complicated feeling for the vampire she’s supposed to hand over.
LACY
There is a thin line between love, obsession, and hate in both this song and this book. In this gorgeous, queer standalone fantasy, a young musician sets out to expose her rival for illegal use of magic, only to begin to doubt everything she knows about her family, her music, and the girl she thought was her enemy.
BALLAD OF A HOMESCHOOLED GIRL
She may not have been homeschooled, but Belly from The Summer I Turned Pretty can absolutely relate to the social anxiety and angst of “ballad of a homeschooled girl.” In the first book in The Summer I Turned Pretty series, Belly has a wonderful, terrible, and unforgettable summer at Cousins Beach with Conrad and Jeremiah Fisher.
MAKING THE BED
“I got the things I wanted, it’s just not what I imagined,” is exactly how Belly is feeling during We’ll Always Have Summer. Belly has only ever been in love with two boys, both with the last name Fisher. And after being with Jeremiah for the last two years, she’s almost positive he is her soul mate. Almost. In this third and final book in The Summer I Turned Pretty trilogy, Belly will have to confront her feelings for Jeremiah and Conrad and face the inevitable: She will have to break one of their hearts.
LOGICAL
Nothing is logical or as it seems in Black Ice by Becca Fitzpatrick, the New York Times bestselling author of the Hush, Hush saga. Britt has trained to backpack the Teton Range, but she isn’t prepared when Calvin, her ex-boyfriend who still haunts her every thought, wants to join her. An unexpected blizzard forces her to seek shelter in a remote cabin, where Britt is forced to guide two dangerous men off the mountain. Everyone is keeping secrets, including Calvin and Mason, one of her kidnappers, whose seemingly genuine kindness confuses Britt. While facing the threats of frigid snowstorms and wild grizzly bears, can Britt figure out who her real enemies are?
GET HIM BACK!
“Do I love him? Do I hate him?” is the perfect representation of how Juliette Cai feels about her first love – and first betrayal – Roma Montagov in These Violent Delights. As Juliette and Roma set their guns aside and work together to stop the mayhem destroying their city, Juliette definitely wants both revenge and Roma. She wants to get him back (affectionate) and get him back (stab him).
LOVE IS EMBARRASSING
Love really is embarrassing for Lara Jean. This is a song for the hopeless romantics out there. For anyone who has embarrassed themselves over a crush and done something that makes you look back and cringe. Or, in the case of Lara Jean, anyone who has written a love letter to a boy you didn’t even date. After all of Lara Jean’s love letters – five letters, one for every boy she’s ever loved, meant for her eyes only – are mailed out to them, her love life goes from imaginary to out of control.
THE GRUDGE
Bonesmith Wren understands the betrayal described in this song! Becoming a Valkyr is a chance to solidify her place in the noble House of Bone and impress her frequently absent father. But when sabotage causes Wren to fail her qualifying trial, she is banished to the Border Wall, the last line of defense against a wasteland called the Breach where the vicious dead roam unchecked.
TEENAGE DREAM
Rowan from Today Tonight Tomorrow would have “teenage dream” on repeat! In this unforgettable romantic comedy that’s The Hating Game meets Booksmart by way of Morgan Matson, Rowan Roth is facing anxiety about the future on the last day of senior year. Still, she’d love to beat her infuriating nemesis and academic rival, Neil McNair, one last time. And when Neil is named valedictorian, Rowan has only one chance at victory: Howl, a senior class game that takes them all over Seattle. Everything changes when Rowan is forced to team up with Neil and realizes, perhaps, this boy she claims to despise might actually be the boy of her dreams.