Fangirl

by Rainbow Rowell

[Nessa Luna]

Read this review, and many more on my blog October Tune!

This book made me want to write (fanfiction) again. Which is good, because I haven’t been wanting to write ever since I finished NaNoWriMo last November.

I just loved this story. It’s about Cath and Wren, who are huge fans of Simon Snow, which is basically the Harry Potter of their world. They’ve read all the books (that are out), watched all the movies (that are out), have a lot of posters, t-shirts, merchandise; and they write fanfiction.

That is basically what this book is about. About Cath writing fanfiction for Simon Snow. Oh, and about going to college and learning how to cope with that. She gets a roommate, Reagan, and meets her friend Levi who just made me smile every time I read about him. I just liked the way he was written, and though I thought he was an ass for a part of the book, I still smiled every time I read his name.

In this book, Cath and Wren have a dad, but no mum (well, of course they have one, but she’s not there), and I kind of liked that. You usually read books about the mum raising the kids all by herself, and I don’t remember ever reading a book where it’s the other way around. So yeah, I kind of liked that. I felt bad for Art as well, because he had two teenage daughters to look after, and I know that that can be really hard.

There is a bit of romance in this book, of course, and not just between Simon and Baz. I can say that I rooted for those two, and I actually ship it now. Yeah, they’re adorable. I was afraid that there might be a love triangle going on for a bit, but luckily that whole thing never happened, pfew!

Like I said before, I liked all the small Simon Snow/fanfiction writings that were between the chapters, and I really enjoyed reading it. I loved reading Cath’s short fic that she read to Levi and it has really made me want to read more. The copy I had had some bonus content at the back, and that made me really happy! It wasn’t much, but it was awesome!

There were some tiny things that bothered me personally, mainly the fact that Simon Snow and Baz felt like the Harry and Draco of Fangirl’s world, and I just don’t ‘ship’ those two at all. Also the fact that though there is Simon Snow, there was also still Harry Potter in their world, and I just felt like SS was their version of HP. But that’s just me. I liked the small fandom references (like Cath comparing her mum coming over to the part where the Hobbits hid from the Nazgûl in Fellowship of the Ring), and the mention of Odin (Norse Mythology fangirl here). Yeah this was a good book!

I really like Rainbow Rowell’s writing, I liked it when reading Eleanor & Park and this book made me want to read more of her books. I think I’m going to get Attachments soon, because I really liked the summary of that book when I first heard about it.

Even if you don’t like romance books (like me), I definitely recommend Fangirl, because it’s just awesome!