Title: FangirlAuthor: Rainbow Rowell
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Release Date: September 10th 2013
Pages: Hardcover, 438 pages
Source: ARC from BEA
Summary from Goodreads:
From the author of the New York Times bestseller Eleanor & Park.
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 truly love the way Rainbow Rowell just pulls the reader right into the story. The plot is engaging throughout the whole book, I did not want to put it down. The sub-plots are weaved throughout the entire book and create such a well developed book I couldn't give it less than 5 stars.
- The characters are dynamic; they grow and change through the book. As a reader you get to experience and believe the changes that Cath and her sister Wren were going through. College is a big life change and Rowell captures it perfectly.
- I think one of my favorite aspects is the love story. It was cute and romantic. AHH I JUST LOVED IT :) While there was drama, it was all believable. I thought Cath's reaction and slowness in building the trust was respectable and showed a strong female character.
- Similar to E&P, the dialogue was fantastic. It really brought the characters to life. I felt like a fly on the wall experiencing Freshman year again. The whole awkward exchanges with roommates, parting ways with HS friends, and the overall nervousness of a huge new school. It was all captured perfectly.
- Umm... There was not much I did not like. I would really say the only thing was understanding what exactly is fan fiction (Yes I kinda had no idea what FanFiction was :( )
- On that note, I did have to understand that the fan fiction parallels Harry Potter but is not fan fiction for Harry Potter.
I LOVE Rainbow Rowell's writing. Everything about it was great! Fangirl was a funny, realistic book that combines cute romance with the awkwardness of Freshman Year College.
