Tell us your favorite Olivia Rodrigo 'Guts' song and we'll tell you what book to read
We still have Olivia Rodrigo’s “Guts” on repeat, weeks after the Sept. 8 drop.
Music and reading are the perfect companions, so we’ve come up with book recommendations based on your favorite “Guts” songs. Whether you’re in your angsty teens, or you’re a teenager at heart, here’s what you should read alongside the album.
“The Comeback” by Ella Berman
If your “Guts” favorite is “All-American Bitch,” “Making the Bed,” “The Grudge” or “Teenage Dream”
This album is a hard hitter about all the pressures, pits, and downfalls of being a young woman in the public eye. This novel touches on such topics as being pretty when you cry, pretending you’re older than you are, not feeling strong and fearing they already got all the best parts of you.
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This book delves inside the “Me Too” movement and follows Grace Turner, who disappeared from the public eye after her first Golden Globe nomination. When she is asked to present an award to Hollywood’s favorite indie director, the same man who controlled her life for eight years, she has to decide if she is ready to use her voice and make a comeback.
“How to Fall Out of Love Madly” by Jana Casale
If your “Guts” favorite is “Bad Idea, Right?” “Love is Embarrassing” or “Pretty Isn’t Pretty”
Oh, the chaos of heartbreak. “Guts” songs speak to all the relatable, cringey, embarrassing things that love brings out in us. This story includes: the biggest lie you ever said, some loser who’s not worth mentioning, and trying every lipstick in every shade.
This story follows three women as they grapple with men, work, mothers, and the societal expectations that keep them up at night. Talk about highs and lows! This book has them all.
“I Kissed Shara Wheeler” by Casey McQuiston
If your “Guts” favorite is “Lacy,” or “Ballad of a Homeschooled Girl”
This twisty-turny sapphic YA romance asks: Do I hate you, do I want to be you, or do I want you? And the answer is a little bit of all three. The story includes lingering like perfume, taking over your life, making it weird, and making it worse.
The book follows Chloe Green, a type-A high school senior who is going to win valedictorian and take down anyone who stands in her way, namely Shara Wheeler, the school’s perfect little prom queen. But when Shara kisses Chloe a month before graduation, then disappears, Chloe goes on a “Paper Towns”-esque hunt for answers. Plenty of stolen secrets, high school hijinks, and embarrassing party fouls abound.
“A Dowry of Blood” by S.T. Gibson
If your “Guts” favorite is “Vampire” or “Logical”
This novel is an epistolary horror story about the controlling relationship between famed vampire Dracula and his first bride, Constanta. This story includes blood suckers and master manipulators.
This book is dark and seductive, which means it’s a perfect pre-Halloween read. Constanta grapples with her husband’s secrets and her own longing for freedom –– and there’s murder. Reading this book is like slowly unwrapping the best present ever, it comes together in a beautiful way, sort of like the slow burn of Olivia’s “Vampire” turning into an actual headbanger by the end.
“Never Ever Getting Back Together” by Sophie Gonzales
If your “Guts” favorite is “Get Him Back!”
This book is the perfect mix of revenge and romance, just like “Get Him Back!”
Two 18-year-old girls participate on a teen reality dating show when their now-famous ex invites them. One is hellbent on revenge and the other is open to finding love again. This story is definitely for any lovers of “The Bachelor,” but don’t be fooled, you might not expect the ending!
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