Ahhh I absolutely adored this book, as an OG Swiftie this book mad my soul happy. I had an absolute blast trying to figure out which poems were inspired by which era.

These writers did an amazing job, the poems were phenomenal. This is absolutely beautiful and I highly recommend to anyone who loves poetry, especially if you’re also a Swiftie!

Favorites of mine:
Tempered by Teri Ellen Cross Davis
Perennial by Andrea Gibson
1993 by Katie Manning
Oceans Apart by Leah Umansky
Deep into December by Dorianne Laux
Firstborn by Jeannie Ouellette
for a friend, considering leaving by Hollie McNish
The Long Marriage by Victoria Redel
Parking Lot Poem by Catherine Cohen
Eternal by Kai Coggin
Ballroom of Stars by Diane Ackerman

Thank you to the author and NetGalley for the ARC!

Thanks to Ballantine Books for an ARC copy in exchange for an honest review.

This was a great book of poetry in reaction to Taylor Swift’s lyrics and music. Enjoyed the variety of poetry by the 113 authors.

As a reader and a Swiftie, I love the concept of this book! I enjoyed diving in to this and exposing myself to a genre I do not typically read. It has been fun going through and trying to figure out which song inspired each poem. It is also something I pick up from time to time if I just have a couple minutes to read.

I'm a newly converted Swiftie. I boarded the bandwagon after the release of Midnights (having previously considered myself too cool or something) and at this point I'm pretty committed to the movement.

I was really intrigued by the concept of this poetry collection. I really appreciated both introductions with their deep dives into her lyrics and also the section at the end where the writers explain their pieces a little bit. The poems themselves were kind of hit or miss for me. I think if you're going into this as a Taylor Swift fan only, it may be too obtuse for you. This is definitely more suited for lovers of contemporary poetry. My favorite poem was "the much maligned Swiftie considers her options" by Stephanie Burt, purely because of its relatability. I appreciated the curator's attempt to arrange the poems into a cohesive order.

I enjoyed it well enough that I preordered it and will recommend it to customers, especially the ones who are buying Christmas presents for the dedicated Swifties in their lives.

Thank you NetGalley and the publishers for feeding into my endless love for all things Taylor. This book of poetry was so beautiful. I'll probably purchase a physical copy and randomly pull it down and read a few poems from it every now and then.

*Thank you to Random House, the author and Netgalley for providing me with a E-ARC of "Invisible String" in exchange for an honest review *

As a poet and Swiftie I really really LOVED this book. All the poems hint at a song but don't outright tell you which it is, so it's like an Easter egg hunt to match up the poems with the songs. A great gift for any swiftie in your life.

This one was unfortunately not for me. I didn’t find I was able to make many connections to Taylor Swift with most of the poems and a lot of the poems felt very drawn out and overly wordy.

This book was so different than what I am used to reading. It was a nice change of pace for me and I loved it. When I first saw this I knew I had to read it; I am a huge Swiftie and anything inspired by Taylor and her songs I am all for it! I truly enjoyed this book!

Thank you Kristie Frederick Daugherty ( @kristie.daugherty.1 ), Random House ( @randomhouse ), and NetGalley ( @netgalley ) for allowing me to read Invisible Strings early (out December 3, 2024).

A poetry loving Swifie’s dream book come true. 113 poets each take a Taylor Swift song and write a new poem responding to it.

I spent hours trying to figure out the Easter eggs as to what poem matched what song-I even had to pull out the big guns, my 12 year old Swift obsessed daughter, and I’m still not sure I have them correct. But that’s the fun of it, along with reading all the amazing poetry.


#InvisibleStrings #NetGalley #KristieFrederickDaugherty #RandomHouse

I'll preface this by saying that I'm not a Swiftie (though I do like Taylor's music) but I was excited for these poems. But I honestly didn't really see the Taylor-inspiration in the poems. I think it would have helped if they'd all been inspired by a single album (or at least mentioned which songs they were inspired by). Overall the collection felt too broad to me, to the point of feeling a bit too disjointed to fit together in a collection. Taylor's music spans so many different genres, and the poems spanned so many different topics, and since they were each written by a different person, it just didn't quite feel like one cohesive project to me, and I had a hard time sinking in. I liked some of the individual poems (though a lot weren't my style, which is fine, but again with them all being so different didn't help) but overall this book just wasn't for me.

I loved Invisible Strings! They must read for any Taylor Swift fan or just someone a fan of song writing. Except analysis

I will preface this review by saying I maybe shouldn't have requested it. I'm not a big poetry fan (although I do have some interest, I just usually don't feel like I get it). And although I'm a fan, I'm not sure I'd call myself a Swiftie. So, I was probably not the target audience for this book. That being said, I did enjoy quite a few of the poems. It would have been more helpful if the song that inspired the poem was included with each poem, at least for those of us who don't have her discography memorized.
I am sure this will be a popular one for the adult Swiftie community. I would definitely say it is more of an adult book as some of the poems cover more serious topics. If you have any Swiftie fans on your Christmas wishlist, consider this one as it is set to be published next week, 3 December.
Thank you to @netgalley for providing me a free advanced copy of this in exchange for my review.
#NetGalley #InvisibleStrings

The premise of this book is great. Poetry inspired by Taylor Swift songs without actually using the lyrics of the song. Like any collection, there were some poems that I liked more than others. This is not a sit down and read in one sitting type of book, but is better suited to come back to when in the mood. Overall, I would give this 3 stars, as I did not enjoy the poems as much as I was expecting/hoping to.

I am no great purveyor of poetry, but this collection of poems was an enriching, relaxing read. The concept is timely following the release of The Tortured Poets Department: A collection of 113 poems from 113 poets, each inspired from a different Taylor Swift song. The authors were encouraged to drop easter eggs along the way, inviting Swift fans (who are famously familiar with the exercise) to puzzle out which work may be referencing which song. Therein lies the genius of the collection. While I imagine a seasoned reader of poetry may see this bit of labor somewhat tedious, I found that it encouraged me to consider the images and feelings that pop into my during a Swift song (and while reading a written poem) in a different way. And often when a poem was more difficult to parse or didn’t particularly resonate, I felt more driven to sit and spend time with its meaning. This makes the collection accessible for readers and daunting for a Swift novice, but variety is one of its strong suits. The net it casts is wide and one is almost guaranteed to find a line or poem that speaks to them the way a Swift song can.
While there is no “answer key,” to these Easter eggs, I respect the choice of the editors not to include one. Any satisfaction derived from knowing for sure what a poem may be referencing is outweighed by the web of possibility that is created in considering Swift’s music in conversation with the poet’s work. And to be blunt, Taylor doesn’t give us an answer key either. Doing so may even contradict one of the collection’s main theses: Swift canon is vast and varied. It can be messy, literal, or stunningly vague. Music is personal and so is poetry--how we live our lives with these words is even more so, but we can’t ignore the greater meaning that comes to life when these invisible, infinite strings of ourselves begin to connect.

A good present for us Swift fans who deem ourselves pretentious or literary. I hear the tortured poets do that too.

What a fantastic concept for a collection of poetry!
I love Taylor Swifts music and would love to see what she does with poetry (not to music), but this collection is the next beat thing.

While each poem is the author's response to a Taylor Swift song, the original inspiration is kept secret.

I don't have the time to connect the dots and decide the poems like a true Swifty, but I hope someone does!

I really wish the inspiration had been included. I think it would have been interesting as construct and contras although I understand why it's left anonymous.

I’m not always a poetry girlie, but when they’re inspired by my favorite tortured poet, I have to check them out- and I am so glad I did! Ranging from less than half a page to a few pages, wistful to rageful, very Taylor to not as Taylor, these poems are sure to leave inspiration for any reader!

Some personal favorites:
- alice, tumbling by Amanda Lovelace
- in wonderland, we’re surprised/not surprised to learn the chamomile tea tastes bitter by Kelli Russell Agodon
- another version of us by Christian Gullette
- honeycombed and dangerous by Katie Darby Mullins
- resurrection by Kim Addonizio
- the much-maligned swiftie considers her options by Stephanie Burt
- hark, the raucous heiress speaks by Shikha Malaviya
- broken feather bad boyfriend blues by Marilyn Chin
- homecoming by Jennifer Espinoza
- struggle by Evie Shockley


Thank you so much to NetGalley for a chance to read this in exchange for an honest review!

I was looking forward to this as someone who loves Taylor Swift but isn’t as well-versed in poetry. I wish there would have been a guide or list at the end that showed which poem was inspired by which song. I would have enjoyed going and listening to the songs with the poetry nearby.

I was really disappointed in this one - I went in with really high expectations and it just fell flat for me. I really enjoy poetry but I didn't really felt a tie to Taylor Swift lyrics in this one.

An anthology of Taylor Swift songs inspired poems! I really enjoyed the general themes of the poems, it was a refreshing experience to read them! My favourite was 1993 by Katie Manning, it had Timeless/Starlight vibes ❤️

-- ty to the authors, the publisher and Netgalley for an advanced copy!

I’ve been wanting to read more poetry books, so when I got an email about this book I had to give it a shot.

I liked a lot of these poems. Some of them really resonated with me. I’m not a huge Taylor Swift fan, so I’m sure some references or meanings went unnoticed by me. But even so, I thoroughly enjoyed this collection of work. I think any Taylor fan would absolutely love this!

I also enjoyed toward the end of the book, when the author explained their reasons and process for writing their poem.