Happy Thursday, everyone! I hope that you’re doing well. Summer camps started this week so my admin duties at work are off the charts (it’s been quite the week), and really, music is what’s getting me through at the moment! On the 9th, my forever fave Niall Horan released his third album The Show, and I absolutely LOVE it!
I’ve been listening to it pretty much non-stop and every single song is a total bop. Niall really just put out an absolutely stellar album, and I’m so proud but not at all shocked.
Once Niall announced the album, I knew I wanted to do a book recs post for it, and that day is finally here! If you haven’t already done so, I highly recommend turning on Niall’s album, and getting comfy with your favorite beverage as I recommend books based on songs from The Show.
Heaven — Written in the Stars series by Alexandria Bellefleur
The album opener absolutely makes me think of the Written in the Stars series! What I love is that this song applies to all three couples — Darcy and Elle in Written in the Stars, Brendon and Annie in Hang the Moon, and Margot and Olivia in Count Your Lucky Stars. There are lyrics throughout the song that remind me of each couple individually, and the chorus absolutely fits all three couples:
God only knows where this could go / And even if our love starts to grow out of control / And you and me go up in flames / Heaven won't be the same
This song is just so sweet, as are these books and I think they make the best pair.
If You Leave Me — Do I Know You? by Emily Wibberly & Austin Siegemund-Broka
In my opinion, If You Leave Me and Do I Know You? make so much sense together. Do I Know You? centers around Eliza and Graham who are going on a weeklong vacation to celebrate their five-year anniversary. However, they’ve had relationship struggles as of late and both are hoping that this trip can help them reconnect and fall in love again. The two end up pretending to be strangers and their game of pretend helps them in ways they couldn’t imagine.
Throughout the book, even with their struggles, you get to see how much Eliza and Graham love each other, and how desperately they want to rekindle the romance that they felt at the beginning of the marriage — you can also feel the fear they have of losing one another. Those feelings of fear and the uncertainty of how they would go on if they did lose each other perfectly pair with the second track from The Show. The lyrics from the bridge,
Wakin’ up with you gone in the mornin’ / Goin’ to sleep with you not here at night / Oh, these feelings, they would just be so foreign / Can’t you stay for the rest of my life?
really make me think of how Eliza and Graham are feeling when they’re staying separately in the hotel to keep up this facade of being strangers. The two got so used to being alone but together, that once they’re actually alone and apart, they realize just how much they miss one another.
Meltdown — The Witch Haven & The Witch Hunt by Sasha Peyton Smith
I absolutely love The Witch Haven and The Witch Hunt — this duology is such a beautiful exploration of grief and identity, feeling overwhelmed and lost, and how important it is to surround yourself with people who truly love and care about you. I feel like that really mirrors what Meltdown is all about.
It took me a while to come up with this pairing, but when I was thinking about the lyrics, I realized that the verses of this song really relate to Frances and her journey throughout the duology, and the chorus feels like something that Oliver, Lena, and Maxiene would say to her.
Sleep is so thin, out of habit / Hard to tell the real from the dreams you imagine / Nights when one broken glass / Turns to total collapse
Since dreams and perception vs. reality play such a big part in the story, those lyrics definitely apply to Frances. Then the chorus with the lines, “When it all melts down I’ll be there” repeating is very reminiscent of the relationship between Frances and Oliver, and Frances’ relationships with Lena and Maxine. Meltdown is a reminder to all of us that even when we think we’re alone, we’re not — a journey that Frances goes on through the story, therefore making them the right pair.
Never Grow Up — Happy Place by Emily Henry
Okay, this song absolutely gives me Happy Place vibes! I really think this song just works so well for this book, because it’s both a Harriet x Wyn song and a song for the friend group. The verses of Never Grow Up remind me of Harriet and Wyn, with lyrics like:
I think that we could be like that / Every single Sunday in our Sunday best / Laughin’ over nothing with a full wine glass / Wild look in our eyes / Oh, when I’m with you, yeah, it all makes sense / Never givin’ up on our innocence / Every single night’s on fire when we’re turnin’ out the lights
So much of Happy Place is about holding onto the things and people that you love, and learning how to grow up without growing apart. The friend group in Happy Place was absolutely my favorite part of the book, and the chorus of Never Grow Up fits them perfectly:
I hope we still dance like we’re falling in love / Hope we still drink like we’re back in the pub / Hope we grow old, but we never grow up / Hope we still fight over bands that we love / Hope we still cry ’cause we’re laughin’ too much / Hope we grow old, but we never grow up
Never Grow Up makes me feel nostalgic for the past and hopeful for what’s to come at the same time, which is very similar to the feelings I had while reading Happy Place, and why I think they work so well together. If Happy Place gets adapted, I will find a way to make it known to Emily Henry and Niall Horan that this song must be involved in the adaptation in some way, because I can already picture the montage to this song, and it’s a moment.
The Show — Begin Again by Emma Lord
The album’s title track, The Show, has actually been a difficult one to pair for me! There’s definitely coming-of-age vibes for this one with lyrics like “Hold tight, get ready for the ride”. While I jumped back and forth with books to pair for this one, ultimately, I decided to go with my favorite of Emma Lord’s books, Begin Again.
The Show is all about dealing with the ups and downs of life, and recognizing that going through hard times really do make us appreciate the good times even more. In Begin Again, Andie is going through some big life changes as we all do when going to college, and she’s really starting to learn who she is. She’s also dealing with grief over losing her mother to cancer and the tumultuous relationship she has with her father. In the synopsis of Begin Again it says, “But sometimes, when all your plans are in rubble at your feet, you find out what you’re made of.” and I think that perfectly pairs with the following lyrics from The Show:
If everythin’ was easy, nothin’ ever broke / If everythin’ was simple, how would we know? / How to fix your tears, how to fake a show / How to paint a smile, yeah, how would we know? / How good we have it, though?
The lyrics “So, hold tight, get ready for the ride” works perfectly with this quote from Begin Again: “Go out and make the most of it, because every day is a chance to begin again”
You Could Start a Cult — Last Violent Call by Chloe Gong
Back in February/March of this year, Niall had teased You Could Start a Cult on his Instagram, and I truly have been obsessed with it since. I knew right away that it would be one of my favorite songs on the album, and I was correct! I just love how soft this song is and his vocals are impeccable. There are spoilers for the end of Our Violent Ends here, so if you haven’t read Our Violent Ends and you want to, don’t read the rest of this and skip to my pairing for Save My Life!
Last Violent Call is a set of novellas — A Foul Thing centering around Roma and Juliette, and This Foul Murder centering around Benedikt and Marshall — that take place between Foul Lady Fortune and Foul Heart Huntsman (releasing this September). In A Foul Thing we get to see what Roma and Juliette have been up to in the four years it’s been since they fled Shanghai, and you know what, they’re really living their best lives! We get to see who Roma and Juliette are when they’re not running for their lives (at least not constantly) and can just be together. These lyrics heavily remind me of them:
Darlin’, I will give up everything / Who I’ll be and who I am / You can have it all
I mean, is that not Roma and Juliette to a t? It also reminds me of Benedikt and Marshall who are just absolutely adorable with one another. Truthfully both novellas had me smiling like an absolute dork and kicking my feet, which is similar to how this song makes me feel because you can feel the love radiating from it, especially in the chorus as Niall repeats:
I’ll follow you till there’s no tomorrow
This song is heavy on the Roma and Juliette/Benedikt and Marshall feels, and I think that when I do a reread of Last Violent Call I’ll turn this song on.
Save My Life — Heartstopper by Alice Oseman
Firstly, Save My Life is an absolute bop and it is currently my favorite song from The Show. It’s just so fun! It’s a great track to turn the volume up and dance and sing along to — it’s definitely a song that’ll put you in a good mood. This pairing actually came by surprise, I was looking through my Goodreads and when I saw Heartstopper, I thought “You know, this could work for Save My Life” and then when I looked at the lyrics again, I realized it totally does.
My favorite thing about Heartstopper is the character arcs for Nick and Charlie both as a couple, and individuals. I think that we can all agree that high school is so hard — it’s definitely a rollercoaster! Nick and Charlie find such comfort and safety in one another, and that’s really why I think this song works for this series. The chorus just screams Nick and Charlie to me:
Ever since you walked in / I’m seein’ a new light / Ever since you walked in / It’s startin’ to feel like / You might save my life
Nick and Charlie find a safe place with each other, and I really think that this song is all about finding that person who is your safe place. It just gives all the Heartstopper vibes.
On a Night Like Tonight — The Summer I Turned Pretty Trilogy by Jenny Han
On a Night Like Tonight is very much a song that makes me think of late nights on the beach in the summer, therefore, it totally matches The Summer I Turned Pretty series by Jenny Han! It especially reminds me of the TV adaptation — which I really really love and I can’t wait for season 2 to drop next month!
I think that you could apply this song to any sort of romantic scene between either Belly and Conrad or Belly and Jeremiah and it makes sense. It doesn’t matter which Fisher boy you ship Belly with, the song works, so it’s a win-win for everyone.
Wantin’ your summer skin pressed on mine / Fallin’ like rain ripplin’ on by / Supermoon, watch it dance in your eyes / My wildest of dreams takin’ on a new life
Innocent kisses, now, our hearts on fire / Got me so high, walkin’ on a wire, yeah / Baby, you, baby, you blow my mind / Tell me anything you like, except for goodbye
Don’t those lyrics just scream this trilogy? I could absolutely see this song playing over scenes from the TV series, and I think that this song would totally be on one of Belly’s playlists and would make her think of the Fisher boys.
Science — Normal People by Sally Rooney
This song definitely made me cry the first time that I heard it. It’s so beautiful and emotional, and I think it features Niall’s best vocal performance on the album — here’s hoping that he sings it on tour next year, which he probably will because we all know that at his core Niall is a ballad guy.
Something that I really love about Niall as a songwriter is that he doesn’t shy away from writing about big feelings — those feelings that you don’t always share with people because you’re worried that they’ll be too much. Science talks about feelings of loneliness, struggling with mental health and overthinking situations to a debilitating degree, and strongly wishing to escape your own head. But, there is also a hopeful tone within the chorus, someone telling you that you’re not broken because of these thoughts or feelings and that despite these strugglings, you will survive.
I feel like that really fits with what Marianne and Connell go through during Normal People. Both struggle with mental health, feelings of inadequacy, difficulty finding common ground with their peers, and deep feelings of isolation.
Can you feel what’s beneath? / Is it stone cold under your feet? / Are you numb? Can you touch? / Is the silence a little too much? / And all you wanna do is break out
The opening lyrics definitely relate to much of Marianne and Connell’s feelings throughout the book, and specifically makes me think of this quote from Normal People:
Marianne had the sense that her real life was happening somewhere very far away, happening without her, and she didn’t know if she would ever find out where it was or become part of it
I’m sure that there are more quotes that I could pull from the book to support this idea, but then I think this post would be very long! If you’re a fan of this song I would definitely recommend checking out Normal People.
Must Be Love — A Far Wilder Magic by Allison Saft
I finally read Allison Saft’s A Far Wilder Magic (we’re not talking about all my time wasted, thanks, please respect my privacy) and before I was even finished with the book, I knew that I needed to pair it with the closer from The Show, Must Be Love.
This song mostly makes me think of Margaret and the walls that she’s built to protect herself. She spends so much time in her head, that it can be hard for her to see what’s right in front of her. These lyrics specifically make me think of Margaret, but I think they also apply to Wes:
I’ve become a mastermind at goin’ and vanishin’ / Until I feel as empty as this bottle of wine / Oh, if I’m bein’ honest, I find it so hard / To just keep it simple and follow my heart
On Genius it says that “Must Be Love’ captures the essence of vulnerability, self-discovery, and the transformative power of genuine affection”, which I would definitely agree with, and I think that really describes both Margaret and Wes’ journeys throughout the events of A Far Wilder Magic.
Phew! And there you have it! This was such a fun post to work on, and it gave me a really great excuse to continue listening to The Show on repeat and work on memorizing all the lines. I’d love to hear your comments about Niall’s album, these books, the song pairings or whatever in the comments down below. Until next time!
