Fangirl

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.

You know how Cath's Professor said that Cath's fanfiction writing was plagiarism? And Cath argued that it wasn't plagiarism, but taking someone's characters and writing them into your own world? Well that's what I feel like Rainbow Rowell did when she wrote this book. She took Harry Potter's world and Eliza and Her Monster's story line and created Fangirl. Don't get me wrong, I liked Fangirl. It was a cute book. But I did have a lot of problems with it.What I liked:Levi. Without Levi I probably would have given up on the book. He was the reason I kept reading. I lived for Levi. A sexy country boy who wears Carhartt and swoons a girl for 4 months? Count me in.The family drama. Yes, Wren was extremely annoying, but she added drama to the story line. As well as the manic father and the mother who left. I LOVE that Cath didn't go crawling back to her mom, that she stood up for herself and what was right for her.It was a cute story. I loved the romance between Cath and Levi. Move over Cath, I'm coming for Levi and his ranch boy muscles.What I didn't like:I feel like there were a ton of unanswered questions and story lines that just kind of disappeared.The first being the ending of Carry On, Simon. There was this huge build up of Cath needing to finish the book before Gemma T. Leslie. Her and Levi have a fight about how all her attention is going towards finishing the book, Cath realizes she doesn't need to finish the book before the final GTL book comes out... and then it just isn't really talked about again. For as much emphases as Fangirl put on Cath finishing Carry On, Simon, it kind of just let that story fall out.This happened again with Cath's professor wanting her to finish her Fiction writing assignment. The book put a lot of importance on how Cath couldn't write it, how she wasn't going to write it, how she just wasn't invested in anything except for Simon and Baz. Then the professor gave her a "blood, sweat, and tears" talk, and Cath said she would write it because she couldn't tell her no. Towards the end of the book, Cath is in Levi's room and starts to write it. We get the gist that it is about the day her mom left the family. Cath tells Levi she slid the finished product under the professor's door and that's the end of it. But again, that is the last we hear of it.Noah was a major part of the first section of the book, and then he just sort of dropped off the face of the planet. It was never explained why he "flirted" with Cath and then just ran off after they were done writing together. Was it cause he was just using her for her writing and editing skills? Towards the end up the book, he pops back up and blames Cath for losing his teaching assistant position, but it was never said why he lost it. Was it because the professor knew he stole Cath's work? After the confrontation in front of Cath's room, we don't hear about him again. It's just another gap in the story.I didn't love all the fanfiction writing in the book. I didn't mind the excerpts in between chapters, I thought that was cute. But her reading it aloud to Levi and having to read her story in the book was annoying. I feel like it didn't add anything to the story line and it went on for pages multiple times throughout the book. I wish the author would have focused more on wrapping the book up better. I found myself skipping past the fanfiction parts because I just wanted more Levi.The book pages were dwindling down and I remember thinking, "How is the author going to wrap everything up?" Spoiler alert: She didn't. When I turned the page and realized it was the LAST PAGE my mouth literally hung open and my brows were furrowed. Yes, furrowed. I was instantly upset. It was like you just watched six hours of a movie with a great build up, and then the DVD is scratched and you don't get to finish the rest. It was like eating an ice cream cone and then it falling on the cement before you can finish it. It was like taking a sip of delicious coffee and then spilling it all over yourself before you are done. I think you all get the point.Maybe if I would've read Fangirl before Eliza and Her Monsters I would have liked it better. However, I did have major issues with the plots and story lines of Fangirl. I think me and Rainbow Rowell will part ways for now.

I listened to the audiobook version of this book, and the minute I was finished listening to it the first time, I wanted to listen to it again. I didn't because I have several other audiobooks in my library to listen to, but I really wanted to because it was that good.So Cath is basically me...No really. My name is Katherine (which her's would have been if she wasn't a twin although spelled differently), and the college she's attending sounds a lot like the college I attended (although I went to a private school not a major state university). She is more of a city girl than I am, but that was really a very small facet of her personality as it pertains to the story. And like Cath, I'm a major Harry Potter fan (and let's face it, Simon Snow is pretty similar to Harry Potter). What I'm saying is that I really related to Cath and it took pretty much zero effort to step into her shoes, and that might be part of why I wanted to listen to the story again immediately, because the ending of her story was more what I'd wanted for my life at her age, but I didn't get there.As far as the audiobook goes, I felt the narrator was perfect for Cath's voice. The accent was neutral to my ears (as it should be for a midwestern girl), and while the opposite gender voices weren't spectacular, they also didn't seem like caricatures. The Simon Snow and fanfic sections of the book were narrated by a man with a British accent and it worked well to set those segments apart from the main story. I would definitely recommend this as an audiobook if you enjoy them.Overall I give Fangirl 5 out of 5 stars.

I've never given 1/4 stars before, but I've finally settled on a good 3.75 star rating. The first half of the book was a fun take on the life of an introvert geek. I felt it was right up my alley and so easy to read. I did find that the second half dragged more than the first, but was still entertaining overall. My biggest problem with the book is centered around the relations between Cath and her new boyfriend. Cath has a lot of insecurities and anxieties (which could have been addressed a bit more, I think ie. possible medications?) and there was a span of time where her new boyfriend seemed to really be pressuring her to take their relationship to a more physical level. That's fine as long as both parties are in favour of the change, but when I kept reading Cath apologize over and over to her boyfriend for how her discomfort was making her behave around him, and he appeared to be subtly guilting her into more and more...well, that turned me off of him quite a bit. Also, I know I seem to be in the minority on this but I found the descriptions of their first night of (partial) physical intimacy to be really awkward and cheesy! "I want to make an honest woman of his chin" lol Really? And rubbing her face all over his facial features (ear, chin, widow's peak) like a cat with catnip? Perhaps RR wrote it that way on purpose and if so, my apologies but I found myself rolling my eyes quite a bit during that whole scene! I did enjoy the fanfic scenes and look forward to reading Carry On in the near future.