e-ARC, 448 pages
Release Date: September 10, 2013
Published by: St. Martin's Griffin
Stand-alone
Source: NetGalley (A huge thanks to St. Martin's Griffin and NetGalley. They provided this e-galley to me in exchange for a just and honest review.)
For fans of: Contemporary, Romance, Realistic Fiction, Young Adult, Sparkly Covers, Coming of Age
In Rainbow Rowell's Fangirl, 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? And does she even want to move on if it means leaving Simon Snow behind?
*MY THOUGHTS*
When I heard about this book I had just finished Eleanor and Park and anything by Rainbow was going on my TBR pile. And then I found out what the book was actually about and I actually fangirled thinking about it. I knew that I would absolutely love this book. I mean come on, it was basically a book about my life. (In the fangirl aspect, not fanfiction.) But unfortunately, (and I already know I'm the black sheep in this situation) this just wasn't what I expected.
"There are other people on the Internet. Its awesome. You get all the benefits of 'other people' without the body odor and the eye contact."
33% (e-ARC)
Don't get me wrong, I did like it. I absolutely loved Levi. He was super sweet and so nice it killed me. Then there was Wren. She wasn't afraid to live and be her own person after being Wren AND Cath for so long. (Don't get me wrong, she did go over board, but at the same time, she wasn't afraid to let it happen.) Last but not least, I loved their father. He was so driven by work that sometimes he let it consume him. I can't lie, that's kind of how I feel sometimes. But unfortunately, that's basically all of what I liked. Cath was not a great character. Her anxiety and fear of change made her sit in her room through out everything and it seemed like she did nothing but mope. Now I understand that there may actually be some people out there like that (hell I'm one of them, just obviously not as severe) but I mean really, I won't not EAT because I'm too afraid. I would at least take it back to my dorm to eat or something. I just felt like it was a little too much.
"Do you hate it? Or are you just afraid?"
60% (e-ARC)
Then there was the romance. It was sooooooo slow, but once it got going it was AMAZING. Like I said, I loved Levi. He did have his bone head moments, but without them he wouldn't have been a guy. But really, he was the sweetest kid EVER! And he was a nerd. What I wouldn't give for my boyfriend to say "Read to me , sweetheart." They were beautiful together and I was so excited that they finally made it work.
Overall, I didn't just head over heels love it like I loved Eleanor and Park, (and yes I know I'll be the black sheep), but I just couldn't fall in love with it.
What I didn't like was the fanfiction parts. At the beginning I felt that it was pretty cool that Rowell had written fiction inside fiction, but towards the end I felt like it was just there. Like it didn't have a real reason to be in the story. After a while I found myself skimming it t see if it helped out the story in any way."Read to me sweetheart."
86% (e-ARC)
Overall, I didn't just head over heels love it like I loved Eleanor and Park, (and yes I know I'll be the black sheep), but I just couldn't fall in love with it.
Overall, I give this