Taylor Swift Book Tag: Folklore

Since Taylor Swift's new album came out last Friday, I decided to do a Taylor Swift book tag this week! I didn't even know these existed until I saw one on Leslie's blog Books are the New Black last week. She did a Midnights tag, though, and I'm not a huge fan of Midnights, so I went looking and found a Folklore tag! Folklore is my second favorite Swift album (my absolute favorite is Fearless). 

The tag I'm doing today was created in 2020 (when Folklore came out!) by Cielo at Bellerose Reads.

Rules

• Credit the creator of the tag, Cielo @ Bellerose Reads (pingback to one of their posts so they can receive the notification)
• Shout out the person who tagged you
• List the rules of the tag in your post
• Tag at least 5 people to do the tag!

Questions

"The 1" – A book you wanted to read but never did

"You know the greatest films of all time were never made"

Radio Silence, by Alice Oseman: Never is a long time, so here's the book that's been on my TBR the longest!

"Cardigan" – A character that didn’t end up with their first love interest

"You drew stars around my scars / But now I’m bleeding"

Something More, by Jackie Khalilieh: I actually just read this! It'll show up on my April 2024 Reading Recap.

"The Last Great American Dynasty" – A book with an epic female protagonist

"There goes the maddest woman this town has ever seen / She had a marvelous time ruining everything"

The Hero and the Crown, by Robin McKinley: It was so tough to pick just one! But Aerin is epic in every sense of the word, so we'll go with her.

"Exile" – A book about walking out of a toxic relationship

"You were my town, now I’m in exile, seeing you out / I think I’ve seen this film before"

The Phantom of the Opera, by Gaston Leroux: "Toxic" is a slight understatement.

"My Tears Ricochet" – The fictional couple that made you suffer the most

"And if I’m on fire, you’ll be made of ashes, too"

Heartless, by Marissa Meyer: The first couple I thought of was Charlotte and Sidney from Sanditon, but I really wanted to do a book couple since it is, after all, a book tag, so I went with Cath and Jest. You think it's a sweet romance until the very end, when you remember that this is, after all, the backstory of the Queen of Hearts. And that's all you need to know.

"Mirrorball" – A swoon-worthy, sweet couple

"You’ll find me on my tallest tiptoes / Spinning in my highest heels, love / Shinning just for you"

Katzenjammer, by Francesca Zappia: I chose Cat and Jeffrey because "Mirrorball" has always seemed like a sad song to me; I don't think the couple in that song were able to stay together.

"Seven" – A book with fae characters

"Please picture me in the weeds / Before I learned civility"

An Enchantment of Ravens, by Margaret Rogerson: I don't tend to gravitate towards fae books, but I did enjoy this one!

"August" – A book you’ve read very fast

"August sipped away like a bottle of wine / ‘Cause you were never mine"

Beauty Sleep, by Cameron Dokey: Or really any book by Cameron Dokey! I think I read this one in three days (which is fast for me; it's also a fairly short book). 

"This Is Me Trying" – A coming of age book

"Pouring out my heart to a stranger / But I didn’t pour the whiskey"

How to Disappear Completely, by Ali Standish: I think this counts as coming of age?

"Illicit Affairs" – A book with a forbidden love

"Tell your friends you’re out for a run / You’ll be flushed when you return"

The Last Graduate, by Naomi Novik: El and Orion could have worked for a couple that made me suffer too. I was so stricken by the end of The Last Graduate that I immediately preordered The Golden Enclaves. (I almost never preorder books.) And it just got worse from there.

"Invisible String" – A book featuring a road trip

"Time, mystical time / Cutting me open, then healing me fine"

Blade of Secrets, by Tricia Levenseller: At first, I could only think of fantasy books with sea voyages. Aaaaand I still ended up with a fantasy book.

"Mad Woman" – Your favorite female villain

"And women like hunting witches too / Doing your dirtiest work for you"

A Heart so Fierce and Broken, by Brigid Kemmerer: I have come to the conclusion that there aren't enough really good (literary) female villains. But the one I kept coming back to was Karis Luran from A Heart so Fierce and Broken. Incidentally, this is the only time I've ever found my name in a book. And it belonged to the evil queen, of course.

"Epiphany" – A book that made everything disappear while you were having a rough time

"Just one single glimpse of relief / To make some sense of what you’ve seen"

Winterkeep, by Kristin Cashore: I read this in March 2021, which was the month my aunt died.

"Betty" – A book with second-chance trope

"I’m only seventeen, I don’t know anything / But I know I miss you"

Rise, by Ellen Goodlett: This is the second book in the (in my opinion) excellent Rule duology. I'm thinking of Ren and Danton. (I couldn't remember Danton's name and it took me ten minutes of diligent Googling to find it.)

"Peace" – A book with a passionate affair that wasn’t meant to be

"But the rain is always going to come if you’re standin’ with me"

Strange the Dreamer, by Laini Taylor: Again, my first thought was of a film couple: Mia and Sebastian from La La Land. And again, since this is a book tag, I'll have to go with a book couple, so I chose Lazlo and Sarai from Strange the Dreamer (and Muse of Nightmares). According to my reading journal, it's been about seven years since I read this book (has it really been that long since 2017?), so my memory of it is fuzzy at best, but–SPOILER–Sarai remains a ghost.

"Hoax" – The saddest book you remember reading

"You know I left a part of me back in New York / You know the hero died so what’s the movie for?"

Gone with the Wind, by Margaret Mitchell: This might not be the absolute saddest book I've ever read, but it's pretty darn sad. I remember being on a car trip with my family and looking over to my older sister, who had tears streaming down her face. Turns out, she was just listening to the end of Gone with the Wind. I think what makes it so sad is that while Scarlett's character does develop, the change comes too late for her to get her happy ending. Which shouldn't be so sad, since Scarlett is, to put it nicely, not a likable person. But somehow, it is. Not to mention all the racism throughout the book, which is pretty sad all on its own.



And there you have it! I just want to point out that I chose fantasy books for ten of the sixteen tracks.

I'm not going to tag 5 people, since I don't have a huge network in the blogging community; I'm just going to say that if you want to do the tag, go for it! Please leave the link to your post in the comments if you do it so I can see your picks!