Book Tag: Taylor Swift

I recently saw this on Becoming Bookish, but the Taylor Swift book tag has been around since before this blog was even a twinkle in my eye. I wanted to do it anyway, because I thought it would be fun, and because Taylor Swift is fascinating: her evolution as a music and style icon is really evident when you look at the songs used for this tag and compare them to the kind of music she's making now.

1. We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together
(A book or series that you were pretty sure that you were in love with, but then wanted to break up with)

Divergent was great, Insurgent was okay, Allegiant...not so much. I know a lot of people take issue with the author's choice in the last installment of the Divergent trilogy, but that's not the (only) reason I fell out of love with this series - I can respect Veronica Roth's intention in making that choice, I just wish I hadn't felt like the book was so rushed. It just wasn't a satisfying conclusion for me. Sorry Allegiant, but we are not getting back together. Like, ever.

2. Red
(Pick a book with red on the cover)

Blameless is book 3 in a supremely underrated series called the Parasol Protectorate. The first book is called Soulless - I started the series on vacation a few years ago and was immediately hooked. I think I read at least 2 or 3 books in the series just during that one trip! The series is smart and snarky and funny - Jane Austen meets Supernatural meets steampunk - and it definitely distinguishes itself from the other vampire/werewolf books out there. Red is all about passion, and the Soulless series has its fair share of that as well.

3. The Best Day
(Pick a book that makes you feel nostalgic)

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe just says childhood to me. I remember having a worn hardcover edition that I would pick up whenever I wanted to go on an adventure. Reading this book was probably the first time I realized I could get something new out of a book each time I read it.

4. Love Story
(Pick a book with forbidden love)

As if I could talk about forbidden love without gushing about one of my favorite series of all time! "Once upon a time, an angel and a devil fell in love. It did not end well." Thus begins Daughter of Smoke and Bone, whose central characters' love is complicated and forbidden in ways that go far beyond the scope of my least favorite Taylor Swift song. Don't make me get on my soap box and rant about how Romeo and Juliet is NOT a love story! It's a story about family, responsibility, expectations, rebellion, and lust, but it's not about love. Daughter of Smoke and Bone is, however, about love, but it's also about so much more! It's the best series I read last year, and I don't say that lightly.

5. I Knew You Were Trouble
(Pick a book with a bad character you couldn’t help but love)

Connor is a delinquent in Unwind, but I wouldn't necessarily call him a bad character. Maybe it's the teacher in me, but I see a kid who everyone labels as a problem and trouble child, but who has the potential to be something great. He's definitely a character I knew I would love when I started Unwind.

6. Innocent
(Pick a book that somebody ruined the end for)

I've only read the first book in the A Song of Ice and Fire series, but you can't be a living, breathing human these days without someone spoiling GOT for you - whether it's the books or the show! It makes it hard for me to want to dive back into this series.

7. Everything Has Changed
(Pick a character who goes through extensive character development)

Emma is tied with Pride and Prejudice for my favorite Austen novel - I used to think Pride and Prejudice was my favorite, but as I get older I find myself relating more to Emma, who means well but often makes mistakes, and who has to learn what it means to grow up and realize that some things are out of her control. Emma undergoes huge character development over the course of her story. Also, Clueless. Cher Horowitz is my homegirl.

8. You Belong With Me 
(Pick your most anticipated book release)

I'm excited about the release of The Rose and the Dagger, the sequel to the recently published adaptation of A Thousand and One Nights called The Wrath and the Dawn. It's expected to be published sometime next year, so you've got plenty of time to devour The Wrath and the Dawn before then!

9. Forever and Always
(Pick your favorite book couple)

Hello - it's gotta be Elizabeth and Darcy. There's a reason this book (and all it's ensuing adaptations) have remained so popular, and a great deal of it has to do with this couple - the enemies turned lovers trope combined with familial and financial struggles and differences in class has ensured that Austen's work remains compelling and relevant in an ever-evolving world.

10. Come Back, Be Here
(Pick the book you would least like to lend out, for fear of missing it too much)

I don't have a picture of the book I would hate to lend/lose because I don't have it with me, but it's an old edition of Jane Austen's novels that I picked up in an antique store back in college. Are you sensing a theme here? It has that great old book look, like it would fit right in on the shelves of a library from centuries past, and I love it! It's one of the only books in my collection that I couldn't replace.


11. Teardrops On My Guitar
(Pick a book that made you cry a lot)

Me Before You is the only book in recent memory that has squeezed tears from my stone cold heart. Alright, so it's not that difficult to make me cry, but I don't cry over just any book - and I definitely don't laugh, and then cry, and then laugh, and then sob over just any book.

12. Shake it Off
(Pick a book that you love so much, you just shake off the haters)

Until I started blogging, I had no idea how many people hated this book! I think reading Cruel Beauty is a little like seeing the movie version of your favorite novel - you have to prepare yourself that it's not going to be exactly the same as you imagined it. Cruel Beauty is loosely based on Beauty and the Beast, keyword being based. Rosamund Hodge may have borrowed from a tale as old as time, but she creates her own world and develops her own characters, which aren't exactly what you'd expect if you're picturing the classic fairy tale. I loved the deviations, the mythological references, and the world building, and I would recommend this book. But everyone is going to feel differently about a novel, and that's okay. Haters gonna hate, but I'm just gonna shake it off!

If you haven't already, I'd love it if you'd participate in the T-Swift tag! AND/OR suggest some more music-related book tags for me to complete!