13 Books Inspired by Taylor Swift: New Sub-Genre Unlocked

This YA book about a character stuck in a Valentine’s Day time loop features multiple Taylor Swift references. In the acknowledgments, the author thanks Taylor for writing songs that feel like books, which was part of the inspiration for this blog post—very validating for this writer. The author also has a 21-song playlist on Spotify, called The Do-Over Soundtrack, which includes six Taylor tracks (okay, two of them are Ed Sheeran collabs, but we love it).

In this cozy mystery, a bestselling author wants to get through her Italian book tour so she can kill off the main character in the next installment of her series (it’s giving Look What You Made Me Do and Arthur Conan Doyle). Instead, unfortunately, someone tries to kill the real-life man who inspired the character, and now she’s enlisted to help solve the case.

The CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) Radio’s The Next Chapter did a Q&A with the author, wherein the book was described as serving up a healthy amount of Taylor Swift references. The author is quoted as saying: “...when I was writing this book, I was listening a lot to Midnights by Taylor Swift. I often find a song that really creates a mood or a tone for me. And that song for this book was "You're On Your Own Kid" by Taylor Swift. And so that's referenced in the book. [...] I've been listening to Tortured Poets Department on repeat, so stick around for book two and book three of this series. There's more Taylor.”

Two debutantes in 1875 distract themselves from the marriage mart by focusing on setting up their widowed parents. Despite their best efforts, their parents end up kind of hating each other, but the opposite could be said for the debutantes…

This book takes inspiration from Taylor Swift’s Reputation (Taylor’s Version when?!) era song "Dress". The song has been interpreted by some listeners as the anthem for girls falling for their besties with lyrics like: “Say my name and everything just stops/I don’t want you like a best friend/only bought this dress so you could take it off.” Truly an inspiration for a Victorian-era sapphic romance.

You’re the Problem, It’s You is Emma’s follow-up novel and twists the lyrics “I’m the problem, it’s me” from the Midnights era banger "Anti-Hero" for the title.

There’s a trend in book titles taking inspiration from Taylor Swift songs (remember those bookstore displays), and this one seems to have ties to the Red era single "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together".

In this book, two girls with a mutual ex-boyfriend participate in a second chance at love reality series. One girl wants to get back with the ex, while the other is hoping to expose him for the lying cheater he is. Taylor has at least five relatable songs for each of their situations.

The Reputation era Taylor Track, which shares its name with this book, is undeniably a love song; however, this contemporary new adult novel is actually about the undefined relationship.

Sloane Hart was a hopeless romantic who believed her great love story was out there until she swore off dating after her parent’s divorce. Now, she’s determined to graduate college, become a writer, and move to New York City. That’s until she meets the guarded and mysterious Ethan, and they start dating without labels.

The vibe of this novel is more fitting for the era of The Tortured Poets Department, which has been considered the album equivalent of a relationship post-mortem, particularly of the situational variety.

In this Young Adult novel, Bryce, Beatriz, and Santiago were inseparable friends before high school. After Santiago moved and Bryce was gone, Bea was left alone to pick up the pieces. Now Santiago is back and trying to make amends.

This book’s title shares a song name from the Folklore era and even forgoes capitalization on the cover. With lyrics like: “I’ve been having a hard time adjusting/I had the shiniest wheels, now they’re rusting/I didn’t know if you’d care if I came back/I have a lot of regrets about that,” how can I not draw comparisons between the song and this book?

A Hollywood starlet is caught up in a scandal (very Reputation-coded) and returns home, where she reconnects with her first love. The summary mentions a Christmas season they’ll never forget—fingers crossed for a "Christmas Tree Farm"!

This book features a title straight from the Evermore era and includes a 50-song playlist in lieu of chapters. Each song is a chapter title, with 24 of them allocated to Miss Swift herself. The proof, dear reader, is in the playlist.

We have officially entered the era of books inspired by Taylor Swift’s career . This second chance romance’s dedication reads: “To the Swifties, and Miss Swift, for inspiration evermore.” Even without the dedication, a book about a star touring on her breakup song concept album’s release seems very Swiftian.

The media has just learned that Blake Tyler’s new album is about all her ex-boyfriends, and now her reputation is on the brink of ruin. This book also uses songs as chapter titles, except they’re by the fictional global pop star Blake Tyler and include a few lines of the song.

Chapter 2 is titled Sixteen with the lyrics “cause when you’re sixteen and all you wanted was to be wanted/Wish I knew what I know now. I should have looked before I fell.” The author doesn’t shy away from owning their inspiration, as Taylor is thanked “more than twice” in the acknowledgements.

This non-fiction book by Rob Sheffield, contributing editor at Rolling Stone magazine, is essential for this list. I can think of no other music journalist I’d trust more to author a book celebrating the career of Taylor Swift. It’s not just because he’s been reporting on her career since the early days—his memoir Love is a Mix-Tape changed me on a cellular level. I have the grabbiest of hands for this book, GIMME GIMME GIMME.

Taylor has recently inspired a few other non-fiction titles, including Shake It Up: Delicious Cocktails Inspired by the Music of Taylor Swift, which is rife with punny song title drink names, and Taylor Swift Style: Fashion Through the Eras, which documents the why behind outfit choices and highlights easter eggs and potential deeper meaning behind them.

In this novel, romance brews between a chart-topping singer and a professional athlete. Unlike other books on this list, there are no overt ties to Taylor-specific songs or nuances (except maybe for the part about controlling the narrative and letting fans and paparazzi see what she wants them to). However, the Goodreads description for the book name drops Taylor and her pro-athlete partner, Travis. That’s right, the inspiration train has now arrived at the Tayvis station.

The world’s biggest country star is fighting against bad press after the end of her last relationship while throwing herself into her work. Then she meets an up-and-coming football player with the work ethic of a champion and the heart of a teddy bear.

Tucked in between the copyright information and author’s note readers will find lyrics from Taylor Swift’s 1989-era banger "I Know Places": “Just grab my hand and don’t ever drop it.” It came as no surprise to me when I saw Taylor and Travis were thanked first in the author’s acknowledgments.

An aspiring singer moves to Nashville only to discover Stone Walker, her brother’s ex-best friend, the Super Bowl-winning NFL receiver (and her high school crush), lives next door.

The dedication in this book reads, "To Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift/Thank you for the inspiration." This is just one example of how this author does not shy away from owning her inspiration. I have lost count of how many ads I saw on Instagram that marketed this book as inspired by the pair.

We’ve touched on the various ways these books were inspired by Taylor, but it’s no secret that she finds some of her inspiration from books, too. In an interview with Apple Music, she cites  Rebecca  by Daphne Du Maurier as inspiration for the Evermore era track "Tolerate It". 

There’s also the obvious inspiration from William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet  (Fearless era’s "Love Story"), her contribution of "Safe and Sound" to  The Hunger Games  soundtrack, and Carolina for Where the Crawdads Sing.

Who can forget  The Great Gatsby  references in Reputation’s "This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things" (feeling so Gatsby for that whole year) and perhaps a more subtle nod in "Don’t Blame Me" (I was once poison ivy/now I’m your Daisy).