Rating: 3.3 stars
Cute, fluffy, but not entirely my thing.
Goodreads summary: A coming-of-age tale of fan fiction, family and first love.
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?
I saw the cover of Carry On, and immediately wanted to read it, but then realized that it was tied to this book. It is not really necessary to read Fangirl to understand Carry On, but I really love the idea that I am reading a book that a character in another book wrote. So, I promptly started reading Fangirl.
I think this book can be summarized in one word - and its a word that is tossed around in a lot of reviews about this book - cute. It’s kind of incredible how apt the word is to describe Fangirl. It’s the kind of book that I want to read when I’m laying on the sofa and have no plans and nothing to worry about. I felt like Cath was designed to appeal to bookworms everywhere, yet I couldn’t find myself connecting with her... to be honest, I found side characters like Reagan a lot more interesting and a breath of fresh air. There were also moments that I found myself getting bored - Cath’s life is pretty static for the first half of the book, but when she started figuring out her feelings for Levi, it marked a turn around for both Cath’s character and the book. I began liking Cath more, and her relationship with Levi was just adorable and so very wholesome. I also enjoyed the little excerpts of Simon Snow canon and fan fiction in between the chapters. I really appreciated the levels of irony going on in the novel haha
I don’t typically read this genre, but Fangirl was a nice and pure and just an overall refreshing break from the dark, and often twisted plot lines that I tend to gravitate towards.
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