Emily has a PhD in English from the University of Southern Mississippi, MS, and she has an MFA in Creative Writing from GCSU in Milledgeville, GA, home of Flannery O’Connor. She spends her free time reading, watching horror movies and musicals, cuddling cats, Instagramming pictures of cats, and blogging/podcasting about books with the ladies over at #BookSquadGoals (www.booksquadgoals.com). She can be reached at emily.ecm@gmail.com.
We are a month away from the release of The Life of a Showgirl, Taylor Swift’s highly anticipated new album. Based on what we’re hearing about this new album, it’s probably going to be very different from Swift’s last album, The Tortured Poet’s Society. Is Taylor Swift going less folk-inspired for this next album? Is she going back to a poppier sound like 1989 or Reputation? We can only speculate for now, but I kind of hope so! So to manifest that, here are three books based on songs from Reputation and 1989 that you should read before The Life of a Showgirl comes out.
We’re putting together a resource guide about reading diversely in 2025, and you can help by taking this survey! Let us know what questions you have about reading diversely, and we’ll answer them in a new series.
Look What You Made Me Do by Elaine Murphy
A lot of Taylor Swift-inspired novels are romances, but this one is a thriller, which makes it the perfect intro to this new Taylor Swift era. Becca Lawrence has spent the last ten years of her life literally getting away with murder, thanks to her sister Carrie, who is always there to help cover up the evidence. But all Carrie wants is a normal life, one where she’s not constantly disposing of dead bodies. Here’s the thing, though: Becca isn’t the only serial killer in town. And this other one seems to be after Carrie.
I Did Something Bad by Pyae Moe Thet War
I Did Something Bad is a mystery/thriller/rom-com all rolled into one. Khin Hlaing is a journalist, assigned to cover Hollywood’s hottest movie star, Tyler Tun, for Vogue Singapore. Tyler has returned home to Myanmar to film his next movie, and he has no interest in letting Khin into his private life. But when a strange man follows Khin around the set and threatens her life, Tyler steps in to defend her, and before they know what’s happening, the two have a secret they must keep hidden at all costs.
How You Get The Girl by Anita Kelly
Anita Kelly’s How You Get the Girl (yes, like the 1989 song) is a sapphic sports rom-com about Julie Parker, a high school basketball coach, and Elle Cochrane, a foster parent of one of the girls on the team and a former basketball star. Julie is very familiar with Elle’s past as a star player for the University of Tennessee, and so she asks Elle to join her as an assistant coach. As the two women spend more time together coaching the team, they realize they have much more than basketball in common.
Book Radar
Sign up for Book Radar to receive exciting book deals and must-read forthcoming titles.
Looking for more books inspired by Taylor Swift lyrics? Here are a few Taylor Swift lyrics as YA books that you will love! See you in October, Swifties!