THIS IS NOT A DRILL, SWIFTIES! 1989 (Taylor’s Version) just dropped, and we have book opinions. Get ready for your ultimate 1989 book/song match!

Welcome to New York

Isla & The Happily Ever After – Stephanie Perkins

The Legacies – Jessica Goodman

Taylor Swift’s New York personality really began its journey on the 1989 album. And so does Isla, in Stephanie Perkin’s romance classic Isla & the Happily Ever After. Sure, she meets Josh in Paris but in New York is where they’re both tested. And speaking of getting tested, while Taylor’s New York experiences with her squad looked happy, in Jessica Goodman’s The Legacies, the elite of NYC really put Bernie through her paces (she was in her reputation era, it’s fine!).

Blank Space

Up in Flames – Hailey Alcaraz

The Invocations – Krystal Sutherland

In Blank Space, Taylor plays up her global romantic reputation as crazy, insane, a nightmare – lest a woman be “difficult!” Ruby, from Up in Flames, is entitled, rich, and scheming how to win over a boy. And while Ruby’s behavior earned her, her descriptions – both of them go through substantial change.

And in The Invocations? Well, in a world where both men and demons lurk in shadows, these girls refuse to go quietly into the night.

Style

Fireborne – Rosaria Munda

Wish You Weren’t Here – Erin Baldwin

Lee and Annie in the Fireborne series – enemies to lovers to enemies – like Taylor croons, they’re going round and round each time. And in the upcoming, Wish You Weren’t Here, Juliette and her academic rival Priya don’t hate each other, but when you end up at the same summer camp together…well, it could end in burning flames or paradise.

Out of the Woods

Together We Rot – Skyla Arndt

Beasts of War – Ayana Gray

Look, both of these books have actual literal monsters in the woods – versus Harry Styles hitting the brakes too soon, but STILL! Elwood from Together We Rot is looking for a way out of his family’s cult, hoping his childhood friend Will can save him. And Ekon fighting to help Koffi get to the Kusonga Plains in Beasts of Prey? It’s SOOOO Out of the Woods coded.

All You Had to Do Was Stay

Zyla & Kai – Kristina Forest

When You Wish Upon a Lantern – Gloria Chao

Oh, the mess we make, when trying to make romance easier. “Why did you have to go and lock me out?” Yes Kai (in both books actually )! These two classic cases of mixed signals and confusion, hopefully it’s not too late…

Shake It Off

If I’m Being Honest – Emily Wibberley & Austin Siegemund-Broka

Kiss & Tell – Adib Khorram

Cameron, from rom-com classic If I’m Being Honest, actually starts the book as kind of a hater – her too-blunt delivery getting her in trouble. While in Kiss & Tell, boyband celebrity Hunter is trying to escape the haters constantly commenting on his love life and recent public breakup with his boyfriend (sound familiar?)! Both of them just need follow Taylor’s lead and …shake it off.

I Wish You Would

They Hate Each Other – Amanda Woody

Cursed Boys and Broken Hearts – Adam Sass

The enticing push pull of an on/off, will they/won’t they relationship! And while Taylor’s reminiscing on an ended relationship, both They Hate Each Other and the upcoming Cursed Boys and Broken Hearts, feature the early moments of banter fueled, chemistry heavy romances.

Bad Blood

Blood Promise – Richelle Mead

The Ruined – Renée Ahdieh

Yes, we did pun with vampire books and Bad Blood, and we’re not ashamed! Because honestly, with Rose Hathaway being captured by a changed ex-love in Blood Promise, and the Sylvan Vale and Sylvan Wyld at war in The Ruined with Celine and Bastien at the center, it is really is bad…blood.

Wildest Dreams

Threads That Bind – Kika Hatzpoulou

Every Time You Hear That Song – Jenna Voris

One book is a Greek mythology fantasy with a murder mystery at its center, and the other is a split POV contemporary story about music, fame, and hidden secrets – both books have epic love stories that speak to legacy, and fate, and destiny and that’s Taylor’s holy ground!

How You Get the Girl

Hearts Still Beating – Brooke Archer

A Scatter of Light – Malinda Lo

Does wanting someone for worse or better include a zombie infection, that they’ve been ‘cured’ from, but after the world went sideways and just before it did, you’d shared a kiss? For Mara and Rory in Hearts Still Beating, it just might! And “I want you for worse or better” is the best way to describe Aria’s burgeoning feelings in A Scatter of Light toward Steph, in a chaotically messy but still beautiful journey that Aria embarks on that summer. Hearts get broken—and put back together.

This Love

Check & Mate – Ali Hazelwood

Her Good Side – Rebekah Weatherspoon

The swoony, grounded vibes of This Love, the never dreaming that this type of love was possible. Oh how perfectly this song suits Mallory and Nolan, from Check & Mate, and how they fall DEEP in love amidst a world of chaos. But it also beautifully captures Bethany and Jacob’s new love in Her Good Side and their softly evolving trust and care for each other. HEARTS EYES FOR EVERYONE!

I Know Places

Thieves’ Gambit – Kayvion Lewis

A Torch Against the Night – Sabaa Tahir

For Ross, being hunted means staying one step ahead of everyone in the heist competition, that will fund saving her mother’s life. For Laia, being hunted means LITERALLY escaping the Martial soldiers chasing her after escaping the city of Serra. Let’s hope they can both avoid the cages and boxes.

Clean

The Only Girl in Town – Ally Condie

The Meadows – Stephanie Oakes

This song is an underrated Taylor classic, that has meant so much to many! And for both The Only Girl in Town and The Meadows where self-discovery, mental health, escaping bad situations, and finding freedom and learning to metaphorically breathe again, Clean is the perfect track match.

Wonderland

House of Marionne – J. Elle

My Life Next Door – Huntley Fitzpatrick

It can be new book boyfriend Jordan from House of Marionne, or all-time classic Jase from My Life Next Door – both those green eyes will get you EVERY time. Both boys offer “fall down a rabbit hole” kind of love and caution be damned, rush into it we say!

You Are In Love

If You’ll Have Me – eunnie

Right Where I Left You – Julian Winters

Right behind This Love, for the swooniest, openly romantic song on 1989, is You Are In Love and just like this track, you’ll be giggling and kicking your feet reading Momo & PG’s opposites attract and Isaac and Diego’s friends to lovers.

New Romantics

The Davenports – Krystal Sutherland

Last Chance Dance – Lakita Wilson

Sometimes a girl just wants to hit the town, have a great time with her friends, and maybe fall in love! The good times and high energy hits the pages of The Davenports and Last Chance Dance, just like this Taylor bop.

Slut!

Cancelled – Farrah Penn

Margot Mertz Takes it Down – Carrie McCrossen & Ian McWethy

Taylor’s taking hits in this track! Embracing all the nasty names and incorrect assumptions people throw her way. In Farrah Penn’s upcoming Cancelled, Brynn encounters a similar experience and has to deal with the ramifications of being shamed – even if it wasn’t her. Margot Mertz is the other side of the coin, as she investigates the digital bullies at her school, and starts a quest to remove online harassment from her high school internet community. 

Say Don’t Go

The Moon and More – Sarah Dessen

Verona Comics – Jennifer Dugan

Both the relationships in both Jenn Dugan and Sarah Dessen’s books are in strife, but for very different reasons. That doesn’t stop Taylor’s slow-tempo ballad, from matching the feelings of being right but oh so wrong for the person you’re currently with.

Now That We Don’t Talk

Enter the Body – Joy McCullough

I’ll Give You the Sun – Jandy Nelson

Is picking a book where the siblings don’t talk anymore, for this track kind of obvious? Yes. But is it wrong? No! Jandy Nelson’s classic is a non-romantic spin on this break up song. Meanwhile, the ladies of Shakespeare finding their voice had to match, if only for the lyrics: “With important men who think important thoughts.”

Suburban Legends

A Million Junes – Emily Henry

Looking for Alaska – John Green

In completely different ways, this track is a great match for both of these books. Emily Henry’s tale of love with curses and “mismatched signs,” while John Green’s heartbreaking coming of age story, with the IYKYK lyric “You don’t know anymore and I always knew it” – ooouch.

Is It Over Now?

Love & War – Melissa de la Cruz

Lying in the Deep – Diana Urban

Alex and Eliza in this sequel are STRUGGLING! The move to New York (hey Taylor!), the ambition of Alexander, who has time for everyone but Eliza – is this over before it really began? Meanwhile, with an ex-boyfriend like Jade’s in Lying in the Deep, we’re really hoping it is fully over, because that boy – he deserves a 10 minute version roasting!