Build Your Midnights #TBR with These Taylor Swift Song to Book Pairings

Are you obsessively listening to Taylor Swift’s Midnights on repeat? So am I! And since it’s on repeat, I sat down with some fellow Swiftie booksellers, and we came up with this list of books to build your Midnights#TBR with books for every track. So, get ready to vibe because these books paired with Taylor Swift’s sound and lyricism have our hearts absolutely captivated.  

Fake It Till You Bake It is the perfect book to go with “Lavender Haze.” Why you ask? Well, the whole world wanted Jade Townsend-Matthews to accept the final proposal on a reality dating show, and yet she turned him down becoming public enemy number one. Similar to the song’s discussion of gender roles, being in the public eye, and the effects that has on the lives of those involved, this book has it all along with a romance between Jade and a professional football player and bakery owner Donovan Dell that is sweeping and goes viral.  

A sweeping New York love affair, the memory of each other that lingers, and a romance that envelops but ends with tears, am I talking about Permanent Record by Mary H.K. Choi or “Maroon?” How about both! These pair so well; this book is the perfect one to pick up if “Maroon” is your favorite track on Midnights. 

A book of scheming and vices, All of Us Villains is the perfect book to listen to if “Anti-Hero” has you under its spell. With alternating points of view, ambition, and actions done as result of insecurities and the need to survive, this book will make you wonder if you are rooting for the anti-hero. Frankly, if you’re rooting for any character in All of Us Villains, the answer is yes.

Okay, I need you to take a minute and close your eyes. Whether you’ve read the books or watched the series (but if you’ve only done the latter, we BEG you to pick up the books), “Snow on the Beach” simply feels like the masterpiece that is The Summer I Turned Pretty. But if you don’t want to go off vibes alone, just take the romance that’s captured within these pages, one that is wild and beautiful and so full of life. Plus, even though it’s during the summer, it takes place on a beach. So put the song on repeat and read the books because it’s the perfect pair!

“You’re On Your Own, Kid” gives us major Birds of California vibes. This swoony romance follows two former child stars finding their way to each other as adults, and with the backdrop of the #MeToo movement in Hollywood and the mental health effects it has on those in the spotlight. Fiona St. James’ resiliency and self-preservations in the face of a terribly public breakdown give fans of the song a protagonist to root for. 

This epic and heartbreaking story will capture the hearts of readers and fans of “Midnight Rain.” Star-crossed lovers who go their separate ways in the face of professional advancements, this story follows the couple over the course of 13 years, through their lives as they pursues careers, passions, and dreams. This story of first love takes the two across continents, but no matter how long and how far, they still remember each other years and years later, maybe even on midnights like this. 

A relationship plagued by “what ifs,” it was only logical to pair it with its melodic twin found in “Question…?.” Pick up If He Had Been with Me for the story of Autumn and Finn and explore what really happened as well as the questions they must confront after they part ways and everything changes. Much like Taylor asking questions to a former lover, this book is full of curiosity, care, and questions for readers to consider. 

What happens when a famous boy asks his two eighteen-year-old ex-girlfriends to participate in a teen reality show? “Vigilante Shit” that’s what. One girl ready for revenge and the other open to a second-chance romance, get ready for this story full of drama, revenge, and a sapphic enemies-to-lovers romance that will keep readers swooning.

A former lover took Florence’s sparkle (and more) with a terrible breakup, so when she receives the call she never wanted, she returns to her hometown to bury her father, a town she escaped 10 years before. Over the course of the book, Florence discovers what makes her “Bejeweled” and causes her to make entire rooms shimmer, not to mention the ghost that makes her rethink everything she knows about love.

Stuck in the “Labyrinth” of never-ending Valentine’s Days (and not good ones at that), Emilie finds herself having to bounce back from a romance when she discovers her boyfriend, Josh, is cheating on her (and has to relive it over and over again). And in all of these days, there’s Nick, a grumpy boy who somehow brings a smile to her face as she tries to figure him out. Will Emilie be able to “break up, break free, break through, break down” the labyrinth of reoccurring Valentine’s Days? And will she be able to fall in love again? 

I’ll be honest, we debated long and hard about this track, but when we saw Taylor describe the track as being all about feeling happy and proud, we couldn’t help but think of the joy that is Built to Last. Shelby and Cameron are the main couple in this book, who (once they get together) stay together and are very happy, and let’s be honest, Lyle, Shelby’s jealous ex could very well be the boy Taylor talks about in the beginning. Shelby’s boyfriend (Karma) sounds pretty close to Cameron too, so we’re just going to soak in the good vibes of “Karma” and Built to Last. 

What book to pair with “Sweet Nothing” but a book of childhood friends-to-lovers that involves the chaotic life of an unhappy k-pop star reuniting with his former best friend. A misunderstanding resulted in a falling out, and a summer of reconnecting results in the two falling for each other, rekindling more than just their friendship. They find solace in each other, and honestly, it feels like the perfect book to go with this soft and swirling song. 

You’re sitting there going – but Mastermind is such a lovely song and the whole Throne of Glass series is filled with so much darkness and fighting but, if you’re a romantic, you know that at the heart of the whole saga is Aelin and Rowan finding their way to each other. Aelin is an absolute mastermind of an assassin, thief, warrior, Queen, and Rowan is her perfect match. They’re played like pawns on the worlds stage but they each are masterminds over and over again to get back together.

We all have that one huge fight that has either broken up a relationship. It is something you can’t recover from but, what if, you could? In The Rewind they should not have been able to get that love back but life can be funny and that night you lost each other can turn into the night you find each other again instead. TSwift knows all about those great wars that you feel like you can’t recover from, until they simply reach for your hand.   

Listening to this song gives us the same sad and wistful vibes that we get in Nicola Yoon’s Instructions for Dancing. Evie doesn’t believe in love anymore, and yet, when she meets X, he’s nothing she expects. This book is known for making readers cry, the romance they were hoping for and vs. what could’ve been, would’ve been, and should’ve been what they read. It was a short romance, but a beautiful one, so pick it up and listen to “Bigger than the Whole Sky” while you read.

We might be a touch on the nose for this one, but Anna and the French Kiss takes place in none other than “Paris.” For an entirely enveloping romance that takes readers through the streets of Paris as Anna attends boarding school and meets the ever-charming Étienne. A year of romantic near-misses is still the swoony romance that fans of “Paris” are certain to enjoy.

“High Infidelity” has sharp lyrics that paint visual pictures, but one of our favorites is “You know there’s many different ways that you can kill the one you love.” That made us think of How to Fall Out of Love Madly by Jana Casale, a book of relationships, of trying to hold onto boyfriends, and the complications of love. Get ready to listen to the song on repeat as you read!

Friends to lovers a “Glitch?” I think Poppy and Alex would both agree and disagree with Taylor in their story People We Meet on Vacation. They were supposed to be just friends as they’ve walked through life together and gone on vacations, and yet, there’s more to their story. Will they find it’s simply a glitch and find it’s counterfeit, or will it be more than just “a brief interruption, a slight malfunction?”

Could’ve, Should’ve,” and we’re firm believers that this goes perfectly with It Starts With Us by Colleen Hoover. With her relationship with Ryle in the past and yet still part of the present as they coparent, Lily lives her life with the echoes of that relationship in her life, especially as she tries to rekindle her relationship with Atlas, her first love. 

A self-professed love expert seems like the perfect love interest for fans of “Dear Reader,” and that’s exactly what readers will find in Love Radio by Ebony LaDelle. Dishing advice to the brokenhearted on Love Radio, Prince Jones dreams of his own romance, and yet that’s the one thing lacking…until he meets Dani. As the two meet, sparks fly, and Dani gives Prince three dates to convince her he’s worth falling for.