Review: Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Pages: 405

Received: Received a copy from Raincoast Books in exchange for an honest review

Release Date: September 10, 2013
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Goodreads Synopsis:

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?

My Review:

Rainbow Rowell is quickly becoming a favourite author of mine, her books are always so much fun and they are absolutely adorable! Reading this book it really spoke to me (though I've never written fan fiction, I can still relate to some things with Cath). Cath is a huge fan of this very popular book series and she spends her life writing fan fiction about two of the characters, the problem is that Cath has never grown out of this obsession even though her twin sister has. Now these two are heading off to college and everything changes for Cath.

I will admit there were times throughout the book where I was not a fan of Cath or her sister, I felt that Wren especially was over the top dramatic. It was hard to really see sisters acting like that when they have been so close (but at the same time I understand trying to reinvent yourself in college). I really felt for Cath, whose sister has basically ditched her, in a way her sister is trying to help her out of her shell, but she didn't help all that much. I really connected with Cath on these things, it's hard to get out of your shell (my first year of University was difficult, I went home a lot and didn't really take part in a lot of things, I very much liked my shell and tried to stay there).

I thought this story was so adorable, Cath is absolutely obsessed with Simon Snow (which is very similar to Harry Potter, probably where the idea came from), her life revolves around these books and writing the fan fiction. I have to say I loved that each chapter had quotes from either the Simon Snow books or Cath's fan fiction, it made the story so much more realistic knowing that Rainbow Rowell could probably go out and write those Simon Snow books herself.

There was some cute romance in the book as well, I thought the love interest was really adorable and he was so nice. Levi was a character that I wanted to hug and wanted as my friend, he tries so hard to help get Cath out and have a life. I think the cutest thing was walking her home late at night (how many guys do you find will do that).

Admittedly, there are a few parts where it seems the story would slow and I just wanted things to start happening, but it definitely went along with what real life is like. Life goes by slow at times, there isn't always action, and I think Rainbow really hit it with this book. Cath learns about life away from home and how to grow up. This book was absolutely adorable, Rainbow Rowell has written another amazingly cute and funny story!