Wednesday Books Fangirl Paperback – Illustrated, 6 November 2018

havent read it yet, but quality wasnt great.

This is an astounding buy. The arrival of the book was earlier than expected and it came in proper packaging. The book was very interesting and heart-warming 10/10 would recommend.

The story it the most anti climatic, boring story I’ve ever read (and trust me, I’ve read a lot of books!) I really disliked the main character and it was a struggle for me to finish it. The favourite line for this author is “she rolled her eyes” I was rolling my eyes at how much this was said. I didn’t like any of the characters in this book, especially Cather! I thought she was rude and irritating. Considering this book has links to mental health such as social anxiety it was not portrayed properly and the author obviously doesn’t know much about it! I also read Eleanor and Park by Rowell and I found the same problem. Boring, boring, boring. I won’t be reading anymore books by her and if you want a book where something actually happens then don’t read books by Rainbow Rowell!

I loved this book. Can't believe it's taken me so long to get round to reading it. The characters materialised and I was hooked. I have to admit to skiping some of the Simon Snow stuff because I'm a 52 year old reading a teen book. My favourite line is "It was just a kiss." "Which one?" I've read countless romances and a lot of YA but of all the chracters I've met Rainbow Rowell convinced me that this was the read deal, Cath and Levi could be together for ever like swans. Even if their relationship didn't work out and they had other romances I think they'd find their way back to one another. Part of me wanted an extra chapter, some physical confirmation or a deeper explanation of why Cath found it so hard to make out. I get it stems from rejection and trust but I think she could have explored that more in her final creative writing assignment. In saying that it might have made the book more of an older teen reader and not want the author wanted. I think Rainbor Rowell did an excellent job of satisfying the reader.

Fangirl is a cute, fluffy book, exactly what I expect of a Rainbow Rowell novel. I never read any of her YA books before (although Elenor and Park has been on my TBR for months now.) But I loved Landline and was looking forward to exploring her other novels. Let’s start with all the things I loved about this book. I adore Rainbow Rowells writing style. I love the geeky-ness in her sentences, the quirky jokes. She writes these amazing characters, who are so real and believable. In this novel the relationships and the different styles in character are really thought trough. It gives a whole different dimension to the story. For me the characters actually define the story, because there really wasn’t a lot of exciting plot-line to follow.Then on to the bad stuff. I really, really disliked the Simon Snow chapters in between. Not because I dislike fan-fiction (I love fan-fiction!) But because for me it was just bad writing. It could have been done in a whole other way and it would have served the premise of the book. But now it was just page-filling for me. (And I am definitely not going to read Carry on, because from the small pieces in Fangirl I think I can safely say for myself, that I don’t like her writing fantasy novels.) And yes, I read all the Simon Snow chapters, because I thought I had to the give this novel a fair chance.The second part that annoyed me beyond believe was the way Cath responded to Levi, even when they were dating. I just can’t believe that a 18 year old girl doesn’t touch her boyfriend. I don’t mean she had to rip his clothes of but, all those weeks before he could even kiss her? And what is up with never finishing the hot topic of her novels? Does Cath get her mark for fictional writing? Does she finish Carry on Simon?A fun and easy read nothing more nothing less. But not a book I am going to fangirl about.

Cath is off to college with her twin sister but it's her first time away and her sister is loving it. Cath not so much. Trying to cope with college and finishing her fanfiction novel before the final book comes out.I love this book so much and can relate to it whole heartedly. The story is interesting and interspersed with sections of the Simon Snow series and Cath's own creations. It deals with anxiety and other issues well whilst keeping the story light. The ending was so perfect. This is by far my fave Rainbow Rowell novel.

I had a weird moment when reading Fangirl. As I poured over the pages, unable to put it down, I felt the book could have been written about me. Fangirl is a love letter to all the fangirls out there and it worked: from the moment I picked it up, I was besotted with it, my mind with it long after I put it down.In Cath, I found a girl after my own heart. A book-lover off to university for the first time, Cath worries about how she will navigate it by herself when her twin sister announces that she wants to do the university experience separately. That means separate dorms, separate courses, almost an entirely separate experience. Shy and introverted, Cath soon finds herself spending more time with fictional characters than with real people. Burying herself in fanfiction, Cath devotes herself to the world of Simon Snow – a series of fantasy books about an orphan boy who becomes a magician... ring a bell?! It's supposed to. Even more intriguingly, the book is spiced up with extracts from fanfiction that Cath has written. These adventures, while paying homage to Potter, manage to remain funny, witty and original. Not only are they a love song to the Potter series, but they are a telling insight into Cath's world.But Fangirl is not simply "The Ballad of a Potter Lover". Fangirl is, in reality, a love letter to all Fangirls. For any girl out there who is fantatical about something, Fangirl lovingly shines a mirror on her life, while at the same time waking her up to what it could be, reminding her, as wise wizard once said, not to forget to live. Eventually, the real world must be faced and it is this that makes Fangirl really interesting. How Cath pulls herself out of the world of Simon Snow, without leaving it altogether, is heartwarming to read. There are so many characters to love once Cath pays attention to them: room-mate Reagan has an unexpected depth that makes her loveable in a way she wasn't previously; Reagan's best friend Levi is totally crushable; and twin sister Wren is not so hard to empathise with after all; but most importantly we see a new side of Cath, a side to herself that she probably hadn't seen herself before. Watching her blossom and come alive is the beauty of this story.If, like me, you love reading to the point where you often find it easier to connect with the characters found in the pages of the book than real people, or if you find yourself crushing on fictional characters or thinking of them as though they were real, then Fangirl is undoubtedly the book for you. But your enjoyment of this book hangs on how well you identify with Cath, and how much you can sympathise with her. For me, it was a no-brainer.