Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Publish Date: September 10th, 2013
Source: ARC
Goodreads

Rating: 5/5 – I’m beyond in love with this book and will procedd to read everything Rainbow Rowell has ever written.

About the book: 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? -Goodreads

Thoughts: I made a horrible, horrible mistake.

I had many chances to get my hands on an ARC of Fangirl over the past few months, and I passed them all up. The synopsis didn’t really speak to me. Or perhaps, I just wasn’t listening. Last week, I read a gushing recommendation about how great Fangirl is, so I caved and sent in a review request. Three days later, I started reading. A few hours after that, I was done, and totally in love. Fangirl is a fantastic book and absolutely recommended to anyone and everyone.

The main character Cath is a fanfic writer, and a popular one at that. She’s obsessed with Simon Snow–a fictional fantasy series that is basically Harry Potter, although Hogwards exists in this world too–and has spent years writing fanfic in his world, to the point where real life just doesn’t seem that important anymore. Buuut, that barely scratches the surface of Cath’s character, her complicated relationships and the challenges she faces in her first year of university. Despite not being a fanfic writer, and rarely reaching obsessive fangirl status for anything, I could really relate to Cath and some of the social issues she faced in being thrown out of her comfort zone and into the world of booze, parties and people that frequently suck.

“In new situations, all the trickiest rules are the ones nobody bothers to explain to you. (And the ones you can’t google.) Like, where does the line start? What food can you take? Where are you supposed to stand,then where are you supossed to sit? Where do you go when you’re done, why is everyone watching you?…Bah.”

Come on, we’ve all been there.

Bah! I just want to go read this book again.

Despite the social anxiety that drips off the pages of this book, it’s a really hopeful story that will restore a little of your faith in the human race. The romance is heart-flutteringly sweet, the family bonds are complex and genuine and Rainbow Rowell brings all of Cather’s complicated feelings to life in a way that will make you want to reach into the book and start hugging people.

A must read.

Purchase Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell
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Second Opinions:
@Chick Loves Lit
@Writer of Wrongs
@Ticket to Anywhere