Review: Fangirl - Rainbow Rowell

Where I got it: ARC from AmazonVine
Rating: 5 stars  
Cover Rating: 5 stars (Love.)
Genre: Young Adult
Publication Date: September 10, 2013
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Page Count: 405 p.
Add it: Goodreads

Cath writes fanfic. Her and her twin sister Wren head off to college and Wren decides she wants more space. She doesn't want to be just a twin. Cath wants to keep writing Carry On, Simon and she really wants her sister to be her friend again. What she doesn't expect is a roommate that she doesn't mind, or a boy that she starts to like. What she doesn't expect is that maybe there is more in life than Simon and Baz.

My first question is: Why are there 30 more pages in the hardcover? I guess this is just a ploy to get me to re-read it. This ploy is inevitably going to work so...yeah.

I loved this book though. LOVED it. I read it so slowly, as slowly as I could stand. I just wanted to savor it for as long as I could. The last few chapters I rushed through though, because I wanted to see what happened to the characters.

I loved Cath. She was such a real character. She and I could be friends if either of us were any good at making friends. Then there was Wren. I didn't much care for her. Why was she so daft? There was Nick and Levi too, except let's not talk about Nick. Levi seemed like a lot of fun. I appreciate that he wasn't overly romanticized. Sometimes it's really nice to have a real person to fall in love with instead of a super human. Reagan was surly but a good person. I appreciate her character and how she interacts with everyone else. Rainbow Rowell just has a way of writing very realistic characters that I can relate to and love or hate.

This was a great story about finding who you are when you don't have anyone holding your hand every step of the way. It's also about letting things go and being happy. Cath isn't perfect and she will never be, but slowly she can let herself be happy.

I loved the Fanfic part of this. I have never read any fan fiction, but I can definitely see the appeal. I think I'm going to need some fan fiction for Fangirl. I'm not ready to be done with these characters. I want to see them re-imagined to death. I want different scenarios for them and I want the outcome that I wanted. I can see why Cath was so obsessed with Carry On, Simon. I am in love with this book. I only had these characters for 400 pages or less, but already I want more of them forever.

If you haven't read anything by Rainbow Rowell, I'm not sure what you are waiting for. She is completely brilliant and I can't wait to get my hands on more novels by her. Do yourself a favor and go out and by this one. I really loved Eleanor & Park, but it wasn't even half as amazing as this one.

First Lines:
"This article is about the children's book series. For other uses, see Simon Snow (disambiguation)."

"There was a boy in her room."

Favorite Lines:
"'The whole situation is too rapey.'"

"She tried to tell herself that is was kind of cool to have a twelve-story building to herself. Like being trapped in the library overnight. "

"'Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow,' he said."