Love Stories (The Taylors Version #1)

“Love Stories (The Taylors Version #1)” by Elizabeth Eulberg is about four girls, all named Taylor, who are best friends and all love Taylor Swift. Even though they are all named Taylor, they have different nicknames to help differentiate them. One is named TS, another Teffy, the third Tay, and the fourth Taylor. As they begin high school and try to figure out how to spend as much time together as possible, they find themselves pulled in four different directions, all while trying to still make time for each other.

TS plays soccer and wants to make it her career, but when another player, Gemma, joins the team, she finds herself distracted and thinking about Gemma more than the game. She tries to figure out how to manage her feelings, but it isn’t as easy as it might seem, despite her long-held desire to be a professional soccer player.

Teffy has a crush on her next door neighbor, Liam, but when her parents say she can’t hang out with him anymore due to issues they have with Liam’s parents, Teffy doesn’t know what to do. This, coupled with the fact that Liam has a girlfriend, doesn’t bode well for her prospects at making herself something more with him. Yet, Liam wants to hang out with her and enjoys her company. She longs for something more, but she doesn’t know if it will ever come to be.

When Tay meets a brooding songwriter, Reece, in one of her classes, she doesn’t know if she’ll even like him at first, but then he grows on her, and all she wants to do is hang around him. Things don’t always go as expected, though, and the fact that her father is overprotective doesn’t help matters when Reece isn’t always there in the way she’d like him to be.

It doesn’t make sense that Taylor’s friends don’t like her new boyfriend, Hunter. He’s a senior and super cool and good looking. She can’t believe her good luck. Listening to anyone who warns her against him is something she won’t do. There’s just no way he isn’t who she thinks he is, who she wants him to be, right?

These four stories make up a sweet young adult novel that touches on themes of romance, friendship, trust, and loyalty. Readers will enjoy learning about the lives of the various Taylors that make up this book, and how their love for Taylor Swift is a hallmark of their friendship.

Younger readers will want to learn the backstory of the Taylors by reading about when they met in fifthe grade in The Taylors, but older readers can go ahead and start with this tale of their entry into high school. We see more of their individual personalities, and see what romances come their way. Blonde Teffy is shy and quiet, and would rather stay at home with her books and music, pining over family friend Liam, than perform songs she has written with Tay. Red haired TS is determined to make the high school varsity soccer team, and when she does, is thrown for a loop by a British important to the team, Gemma, on whom she has an overwhelming crush. Tay (who drops the second Tay because it seems babyish) is the only one who is still a cheerleader, because she has a background in gymnastics. Taylor Perez is bound and determined to run for student body president, but that's before she becomes enamored of Hunter, who is gorgeous and a senior. The girls are invited to a high school party, but make the wise choice not to drink alcohol, and run into their old nemesis Hannah and her henchwoman Greta. Teffy keeps hanging out with Liam, whose parents funded her own parents business, Harrison by Design, which is struggling to get enough orders to stay afloat. She doesn't understand why he is dating Cat, even though she waffles on whether or not she is romantically interested in Liam. Taylor spends so much time with Hunter that her grades falter, and she also decides not to run for elected office. Teffy is so distracted by Gemma that her game suffers, and she tries to distance herself from her crush, which doesn't help the team. Tay meet emo rocker Reece when they have to work on a science project together, and their romance runs a somewhat rocky course as Tay has to realize how wealthy Reece's family is, and he feels inferior when he realizes how good her singing is. It's great that all four have romances and are still able to stay together as a friend group and help each other through the difficult moments.