Review: Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

Title: Fangirl
Author: Rainbow Rowell
Series: n/a
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Publication Date: September 10th, 2013
Source: Borrowed from Jen
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble

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?

Ahhhh I loved Fangirl!!! Thank you so much Jen for sending me your copy so I could experience the awesomeness at last. Now it’s time to gush, so let’s do this!

Real quick though, I’ll mention the one thing I didn’t like. The fan fiction parts. I couldn’t get into them. I think that was mostly just because I wanted to get back to the story at hand, but I found myself skimming those parts.

Other than that, Fangirl was perfect for me. I loved the whole college experience through Cath's eyes. It came across as very realistic. I always wanted to go to college, and I finally got to from the comfort of my couch. Cath had a twin sister. This was a huge plus because I have this thing with reading about twins. I’m obsessed with Twins. I blame Sweet Valley Twins from my younger years.

Cath is not the most social person you could say, and adjusting to college life left for some awkward moments. Laugh out loud at times. On top of all that, her sister is trying to become independent from her. She feels alone and scared.

I loved her roommate, and Levi, Oh Levi. He’s just so great. We need more nice guys in books! Those are the ones that really steal my heart, and Levi has mine.

I know this is is a short review, but it's heard to review greatness. Fangirl is such a good coming of age story, and I will insist my daughter read it one day. INSIST!!!

About the author:



Rainbow Rowell writes books. Sometimes she writes about adults (ATTACHMENTS and LANDLINE). Sometimes she writes about teenagers (ELEANOR & PARK and FANGIRL). But she always writes about people who talk a lot. And people who feel like they're screwing up. And people who fall in love.

When she's not writing, Rainbow is reading comic books, planning Disney World trips and arguing about things that don't really matter in the big scheme of things.

She lives in Nebraska with her husband and two sons.

Find Rainbow Rowell:

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