Choose an ABBA Hit, Get a Book Rec By Andie Divelbiss Choose an ABBA Hit, Get a Book RecNothing hits quite like ABBA. Whether you need a cathartic shower cry or a karaoke number to get everyone dancing, there’s a song for you. So grab your headphones, pick a track, and we’ll give you a book pairing to go with it.<a href="https://www.thenovl.com/titles/syed-m-masood/sway-with-me/9780316492416/">Sway With Me</a> by <a href="https://www.thenovl.com/contributor/syed-m-masood/">Syed M. Masood</a>Having the time of your life / Ooh, see that girlWatch that scene / Digging the dancing queenJust like the song, this upbeat book will have you tapping your toes in unison with dancing queen Beenish and secretly smitten Arsalan. Arsalan has learned everything he knows from Nana, his 100-year-old great-grandfather. This includes the fact that when Nana dies, Arsalan will be completely alone in the world, except for his estranged and abusive father. So he turns to Beenish, the step-daughter of a prominent matchmaker, to find him a future life partner. Beenish’s request in return? That Arsalan help her ruin her older sister’s wedding with a spectacular dance she’s been forbidden to perform.Despite knowing as little about dancing as he does about girls, Arsalan wades into Beenish’s chaotic world to discover friends and family he never expected. And though Arsalan’s old-school manners and Beenish’s take-no-prisoners attitude clash every minute, they find themselves getting closer and closer—literally. All that’s left to realize is that the thing they both really want is each other, if only they can get in step.<a href="https://www.thenovl.com/titles/holly-black/the-cruel-prince/9780316310314/">The Cruel Prince </a>by <a href="https://www.thenovl.com/contributor/holly-black/">Holly Black</a>Mamma mia, it's a game we play / Bye-bye doesn't mean foreverMamma mia, here I go again / My, my, how can I resist you?No matter what games they play, we all know Jude and Cardan just can’t resist each other. Mamma mia, here I go rereading these books again.Jude was seven years old when her parents were murdered and she and her two sisters were stolen away to live in the treacherous High Court of Faerie. Ten years later, Jude wants nothing more than to belong there, despite her mortality. But many of the fey despise humans. Especially Prince Cardan, the youngest and wickedest son of the High King.To win a place at the Court, she must defy him—and face the consequences.In doing so, she becomes embroiled in palace intrigues and deceptions, discovering her own capacity for bloodshed. But as civil war threatens to drown the Courts of Faerie in violence, Jude will need to risk her life in a dangerous alliance to save her sisters, and Faerie itself.<a href="https://www.thenovl.com/titles/rebecca-rode/tides-of-mutiny/9780316705752/">Tides of Mutiny</a> by <a href="https://www.thenovl.com/contributor/rebecca-rode/">Rebecca Rode</a>Waterloo / Couldn't escape if I wanted toWaterloo / Knowing my fate is to be with youWindswept battles at sea and fated love star in both this iconic ABBA hit and this thrilling adventure story.Lane Garrow has a secret—one that could get her killed.In a world where female sailors are executed, sixteen-year-old Lane’s dream of being a ship’s captain seems impossible. Sea life is all she knows, and she wouldn’t give it up for anything, even if it means she has to hide as a captain’s boy to avoid being killed. But Lane’s carefully constructed world begins to crumble when an old pirate enemy comes after her father. And she begins hearing rumors that her father was once a pirate as well.Lane doesn’t want to believe her father could have a dark past, but she can’t help questioning everything she’s known. After all, Lane’s life at sea is built on lies—why couldn’t her father’s be, too?Then a mysterious prince shows up, and Lane finds her very survival tied to a boy who could destroy everything. With pirates, betrayal, and death threatening Lane and those she loves, she must now decide between the future she always expected and a prince with an unknown agenda who she finds herself falling for. Lane must either protect herself and find a way to live her dream, or risk everything for a world where her very existence is a death sentence.Maybe there’s a third option. After all, she’s never played by the rules before. Why start now?<a href="https://www.thenovl.com/titles/lane-clarke/love-times-infinity/9780759556706/">Love Times Infinity</a> by <a href="https://www.thenovl.com/contributor/lane-clarke/">Lane Clarke</a>If you need me, let me know, gonna be around / If you got no place to go when you're feeling downIf you're all alone when the pretty birds have flown / Honey, I'm still free; take a chance on meVulnerability, pining, the age-old question! Will Michie and Derek take a chance and let their friendship turn into something else?High school junior Michie is struggling to define who she is for her scholarship essays, her big shot at making it into Brown as a first-generation college student. The prompts would be hard for anyone, but Michie’s been estranged from her mother since she was seven and her concept of family has long felt murky.Enter new kid and basketball superstar Derek de la Rosa. He is very cute, very talented, and very much has his eye on Michie, no matter how invisible she believes herself to be.When Michie’s mother unexpectedly reaches out to make amends, and with her scholarship deadlines looming, Michie must choose whether to reopen old wounds or close the door on her past. And as she spends more time with Derek, she’ll have to decide how much of her heart she is willing to share. Because while Michie may not know who she is, she’s starting to realize who she wants to become, if only she can take a chance on Derek, on herself, and on her future.<a href="https://www.thenovl.com/landing-page/novl-series-page-daughter-of-sparta/">Daughter of Sparta</a> by <a href="https://www.thenovl.com/contributor/claire-andrews/">Claire Andrews</a>The gods may throw a dice / Their minds as cold as iceThe winner takes it all / The loser has to fallThis dramatic ballad pairs perfectly with Daphne’s life or death struggle with the Gods. Whether Daphne takes it all, you’ll have to read to find out.Sparta forged her into a deadly weapon. Now the Gods need her to save the world.Seventeen-year-old Daphne has spent her entire life honing her body and mind into that of a warrior, hoping to be accepted by the unyielding people of ancient Sparta. But an unexpected encounter with the goddess Artemis—who holds Daphne’s brother’s fate in her hands—upends the life she’s worked so hard to build. Nine mysterious items have been stolen from Mount Olympus and if Daphne cannot find them, the gods’ waning powers will fade away, the mortal world will descend into chaos, and her brother’s life will be forfeit.Guided by Artemis’s twin-the handsome and entirely-too-self-assured god Apollo-Daphne’s journey will take her from the labyrinth of the Minotaur to the riddle-spinning Sphinx of Thebes, team her up with mythological legends such as Theseus and Hippolyta of the Amazons, and pit her against the gods themselves.<a href="https://www.thenovl.com/landing-page/series-theinheritancegames/">The Inheritance Games</a> by <a href="https://www.thenovl.com/contributor/jennifer-lynn-barnes/">Jennifer Lynn Barnes</a>So I must leave, I'll have to go / To Las Vegas or MonacoAnd win a fortune in a game, my life will never be the sameMoney, money, money / Must be funny / In the rich man's worldAvery’s life will certainly never be the same after she’s willed Tobias Hawthorne’s fortune. Can she win the games of a rich man’s world? Avery Grambs has a plan for a better future: survive high school, win a scholarship, and get out. But her fortunes change in an instant when billionaire Tobias Hawthorne dies and leaves Avery virtually his entire fortune. The catch? Avery has no idea why–or even who Tobias Hawthorne is. To receive her inheritance, Avery must move into sprawling, secret passage-filled Hawthorne House, where every room bears the old man’s touch–and his love of puzzles, riddles, and codes. Unfortunately for Avery, Hawthorne House is also occupied by the family that Tobias Hawthorne just dispossessed. This includes the four Hawthorne grandsons: dangerous, magnetic, brilliant boys who grew up with every expectation that one day, they would inherit billions. Heir apparent Grayson Hawthorne is convinced that Avery must be a con-woman, and he’s determined to take her down. His brother, Jameson, views her as their grandfather’s last hurrah: a twisted riddle, a puzzle to be solved. Caught in a world of wealth and privilege, with danger around every turn, Avery will have to play the game herself just to survive.<a href="https://www.thenovl.com/titles/elizabeth-wein/code-name-verity-anniversary-edition/9780316426312/">Code Name Verity</a> by <a href="https://www.thenovl.com/contributor/elizabeth-wein/">Elizabeth Wein</a>I was so afraid Fernando / We were young and full of life and none of us prepared to die…If I had to do the same again / I would, my friend, FernandoYou clearly like a narrative that tugs at the heartstrings, and no book does that quite as wonderfully this one. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.Oct. 11th, 1943-A British spy plane crashes in Nazi-occupied France. Its pilot and passenger are best friends. One of the girls has a chance at survival. The other has lost the game before it’s barely begun.When “Verity” is arrested by the Gestapo, she’s sure she doesn’t stand a chance. As a secret agent captured in enemy territory, she’s living a spy’s worst nightmare. Her Nazi interrogators give her a simple choice: reveal her mission or face a grisly execution.As she intricately weaves her confession, Verity uncovers her past, how she became friends with the pilot Maddie, and why she left Maddie in the wrecked fuselage of their plane. On each new scrap of paper, Verity battles for her life, confronting her views on courage, failure and her desperate hope to make it home. But will trading her secrets be enough to save her from the enemy?<a href="https://www.thenovl.com/titles/laekan-zea-kemp/heartbreak-symphony/9780316460385/">Heartbreak Symphony</a> by <a href="https://www.thenovl.com/contributor/laekan-zea-kemp/">Laekan Zea Kemp</a>What would life be? / Without a song or a dance, what are we?So I say thank you for the music / For giving it to meYou appreciate the power of music to change lives and alter perspectives, just like Aarón and Mia. So sing along and then dive into this book tailor made for you.Aarón Medrano has been haunted by the onstage persona of his favorite DJ ever since his mother passed away. He seems to know all of Aarón’s deepest fears, like that his brain doesn’t work the way it should and that’s why his brother and father seem to be pushing him away. He thinks his ticket out is a scholarship to the prestigious Acadia School of Music. That is, if he can avoid blowing his audition.Mia Villanueva has a haunting of her own and it’s the only family heirloom her parents left her: doubt. It’s the reason she can’t overcome her stage fright or believe that her music is worth making. Even though her trumpet teacher tells her she has a gift, she’s not sure if she’ll ever figure out how to use it or if she’s even deserving of it in the first place.When Aarón and Mia cross paths, Aarón sees a chance to get close to the girl he’s had a crush on for years and to finally feel connected to someone since losing his mother. Mia sees a chance to hold herself accountable by making them both face their fears, and hopefully make their dreams come true. But soon they’ll realize there’s something much scarier than getting up on stage—falling in love with a broken heart.Choose an ABBA hit!
