Spotify Wrapped Book Challenge 2021

It is Spotify Wrapped time again! We all love seeing our favourite songs, what genres we seem to like the most etc. It’s so much fun, and last year I came up with the Spotify Wrapped book challenge.

The idea of this challenge is to put your 2021 playlist on shuffle, and for the first five songs, you need to pick a book you read in 2021 that fits that song. It doesn’t have to be a perfect fit. You just have to explain why you chose that book for that song. Obviously, you will not have a book match for every song, so you can skip if you need to. But the idea is that you at least need to try, even if it is embarrassing. This was a lot of fun last year, and I’m excited to be doing it again. I hope you all will too!

If you want more examples or are just curious, you can find the original post here. And if you do this yourself, make sure you tag me somewhere so I can see!

Song 1

Failing on Purpose (Acoustic version) by Arrows in Action – So We Meet Again by Suzanne Park

This is probably one of my favourite songs at the moment, so I’m so glad this came up first. It didn’t quite reach my top 5, but it was really high up considering I’ve only been listening to it since October, ha. Anyway, this song is a great pop-punk song about dealing with pressure and not always feeling like we know what we’re doing.

For this, I had to go with So We Meet Again by Suzanne Park. It’s an adult romance that follows Jessie Kim, who, after being laid off of her high-earning job in a virtual meeting, goes back home to her parents as she tries to figure out what she wants to do. She winds up returning to a Youtube channel she started in college about how-to jazz up meal kits with the help of her childhood nemesis, Daniel, who seems to have it all.

This was one of my most anticipated romance reads for the second half of the year, and I enjoyed it as much as I thought I would. I think we all feel lost sometimes. Even when it seems like we have our shit together. And for me, both this book and song highlight that fact.

Song 2

Hot Mess by Cobra Starship – Fall of the Argosi by Sebastien De Castell

Did someone say swagger and ill-advised romance? If so, then might I recommend Fall of the Argosi by Sebastien De Castell!

Seriously though, those are the vibes I get from this admittedly very cringy teen song. It’s one I enjoy though, and it makes me think of one of my favourite characters. In the same way, it works for him, I argue that it could work for Ferius in Fall of the Argosi. This is the second book in her prequel duology, and you find her leaving her Argosi parents and setting out into the world to stop a mysterious disease that’s caused by magic.

In the first book in this duology, Ferius felt angrier and hurt than anything else, but in this one, she starts to come into her own. She has that swagger we know from the Spellslinger books, and we see how she meets Rosie. They have a romance that’s not the smartest thing, but it’s fun. I loved this book as much as I loved the Spellslinger ones, so I highly recommend it.

Song 3

Karma by MOD SUN – Heartbreak Boys by Simon James Green

When you have a song about hoping the worst on your exes, what other book could I go for than Heartbreak Boys? This was another new-to-me song that I’ve listened to enough that it wound up on my Wrapped, and I LOVE it. Probably about as much as I loved the book I’m talking about.

Heartbreak Boys follows Jack and Nate, who both broke up with their exes after finding out they’d been cheating with each other during prom. Jack and Nate were friends when they were children, and the event leads to them chatting again before eventually agreeing to go on a summer trip together where they pretend to be together for Instagram.

Oh boy, this book was so much fun. It was funny and kind of cringy, but that’s what made it so good. Simon James Green knows how to write realistic sounding teenagers, and I adored every second of this book. I haven’t talked about it on this blog before, but I seriously recommend you all read this if you haven’t yet. And maybe listen to the song too.

Song 4

You’re Gonna Go Far, Kid by The Offspring – Little Thieves by Margaret Owen

Fun fact, this song is on a playlist for a fantasy roleplay I have with my friends, and this is the theme song for a friend’s character. That is likely why this song makes me think of gloriously sassy thieves. And who can I think of who fits that archetype in what I read this year? Vanja from Little Thieves, of course.

Little Thieves was one of my favourite books this year, and I was lucky to get a physical ARC of this. You can find my review here if you’re interested in my full thoughts. Basically, this book is a retelling of The Goose Girl following the maid. Vanja has been in Princess Gisele’s place for a few months now, living as a princess by now and stealing from the nobles at night. When she steals a token connected with a god, she winds up angering the god and being cursed to turn into jewels unless she returns everything she’s stolen.

If you’re looking for fun but kind of dark fantasy, then this book will definitely be for you. It’s enjoyable with some wonderful ace-spec romance and a lot of interesting folklore. It’s well worth the read, and I couldn’t recommend it more.

Song 5

Hysteria by Aruvn – Thronebreakers by Rebecca Coffindaffer

Well, there was bound to be at least one emotional or nerdy song in this tag, and now you get two for the price of one! I do love this cover of it. It’s beautiful, and it’s a powerful song. If I was going to have to pick a book for it, it would need to be one that I love just as much. Which is why I’ve gone for Thronebreakers by Rebecca Coffindaffer.

This is the sequel to Crownchasers and is the final book in a duology. In the first book, we follow Alyssa Farshot, the only niece of the current emperor. She never wanted the crown after him, yet when he dies and calls a crownchase to choose the next emperor, she is called upon to represent her family. The second book begins shortly after the first, and in it, Alyssa is dealing with grief, among other things. The grief leads to her suffering a lot and lashing out. It was a powerful read, and the grief rep felt accurate.

For a song that talks about being lost in your own head and suffering every night, this book felt like a perfect match. Like with Little Thieves, I can’t recommend this book any harder. You need to pick up the Crownchasers duology, and I’m excited to see what Rebecca Coffindaffer comes up with next.

Tagging

That’s it for the songs! Like with most challenges or tags, it’s time for me to tag some of you guys to do it.

I asked on Twitter if anyone wished to be tagged, so I’m tagging Bianca from Your Words My Ink, Emma from The Bookworm Girl, Gee from All Things Gee , Koo from It’s Koo Reviews and Amy from Little Book Nerds in the Corner!

If I haven’t mentioned you, but you want to do this, I encourage you to do so. Just let me know on here or Twitter where I’m lacedaggerbooks that you’ve done it.