Title: Fangirl

Author: Rainbow Rowell

Publisher: St. Martin’s Press

Release Date: September 10th, 2013

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars!!!

 

~ Goodreads Synopsis ~

Cath is a Simon Snow fan.

Okay, the whole world is a Simon Snow fan…

But for Cath, being a fan is her life—and she’s really good at it. She and her twin sister, Wren, ensconced themselves in the Simon Snow series when they were just kids; it’s what got them through their mother leaving. Reading. Rereading. Hanging out in Simon Snow forums, writing Simon Snow fan fiction, dressing up like the characters for every movie premiere.

Cath’s sister has mostly grown away from fandom, but Cath can’t let go. She doesn’t want to.

Now that they’re going to college, Wren has told Cath she doesn’t want to be roommates. Cath is on her own, completely outside of her comfort zone. She’s got a surly roommate with a charming, always-around boyfriend, a fiction-writing professor who thinks fan fiction is the end of the civilized world, a handsome classmate who only wants to talk about words… And she can’t stop worrying about her dad, who’s loving and fragile and has never really been alone.

For Cath, the question is: Can she do this? Can she make it without Wren holding her hand? Is she ready to start living her own life? Writing her own stories?

And does she even want to move on if it means leaving Simon Snow behind?

~ ~ ~ ~

This may have only been the second book I finished in 2018 (wow, I’m slacking), but it’s my favorite book of the year so far. I also undoubtedly know that this book will make most likely the top 5 for my favorite reads in 2018. Fangirl was just such a fun read that had me completely invested before I even realized I cared that much. There were a couple of times where I put it down, looked at it, then picked it up again and kept reading just because I couldn’t leave Cath and Levi.

Cath and Levi were so amazing together – they were such a great contrast to each other. I was a little disappointed we didn’t get to see more of them happily together, but everything leading up to how the ended up played out perfectly. There was absolutely, in no way, any kind of insta-love. It actually took them slightly annoyingly long to get together fully, but they didn’t even have to be together to be perfect. It felt like every weakness one had was contrasted in the other, and it resembled a really great meshing of two people because neither dominated the other – they were entirely equal and equally dependent on the other.

Cath was also one of the most relatable character I have ever read, which is something I have heard several other people say before I even read it. I, personally, used to write Harry Potter fanfiction a long time ago, so I found that aspect of her so personal to myself, as well as her being a freshman. I would not go to the dining hall alone either for at least the first half of my first semester of school for the same exact reasons; it was so hilarious seeing things I didn’t realize in myself in her, and I feel like I even had a little bit of character development of my own in realizing those things.

As a person who doesn’t typically enjoy contemporary, I feel that other readers like myself will greatly appreciate this book. This is a great intro to contemporary book for fantasy lovers as it includes Cath’s fanfiction of Simon Snow, which is a take on Harry Potter. So it’s kind of like an adorable love story mixed in with some fantasy. If you really like Cath’s writing of Simon Snow, you can even read her whole fanfic, Carry on, which is the companion novel to Fangirl.

Let me know what you thought of Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell, or if there are any books you know of that are similar to it because I would love to give them a read!

Thanks for reading!

Taylor