Title: Fangirl
Author: Rainbow Rowell
Genre: Young Adult
Quotation: “In new situations, all the trickiest rules are the ones nobody bothers to explain to you. (And the ones you can’t Google.)”
Would recommend to: people who understand the draw of fan-fiction.

“Fangirl”, in my opinion, was a huge disappointment. It didn’t live up to the hype and excitement. Everyone that had read the novel had helped me set my expectations WAY too high, unfortunately.

The basic premise of the story is that twins, that have been attached at the hip since birth, are going off to college where everything is about to change. Cath (the main character) spends her Friday nights writing fan-fiction about Simon Snow (who is far too similar to Harry Potter in my opinion). Her twin sister Wren, on the other hand, spends her Friday nights at bars.

The story follows Cath through the roller-coaster of her freshman year involving issues with her Dad’s mental stability, her absent mother, boys, twins, roommates, classes — the list goes on an on.

I love that Rowell brings all these in-depth issues into the book because these are real issues that college students face these days. What I don’t love, is how many ends she left untied. There were so many intricate problems Cath faced that were interwoven with each other that Rowell just left for us to deal with in the end.

I clearly remember finishing the book. Placing it down next to me gently. And texting my friend, “What even was that ending?” I felt, and still feel, extremely up-in-air about how Cath’s life is now, if she really learned from her freshman year, if Wren is ever a character I will like, etc etc.

I will say, I love Rowell’s writing style and how easy it was to immerse myself in the story, but I wasn’t a huge fan of the inclusion of the fan-fiction Cath wrote. It bothered me for many reasons, one being that Simon Snow was much too similar to Harry Potter. Another being, it didn’t further the plot in any way, shape, or form and felt like filler space.

Personally, I don’t understand fan-fiction, so if you currently read or have read fan-fiction, you’ll probably get a little more out of the books since you understand the draw of it.

I know I have very different thoughts than a majority of people out there (everyone raved), so if you have any thoughts you want to share, I would love to hear them in the comments below.

Happy reading,
Kimberly