Standalone Sunday | Fangirl

Standalone Sunday is a weekly feature created by Megan @ bookslayerReads that spotlights a standalone novel that you loved and would recommend. Be sure to check out her blog and original post by clicking on the above link!

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From the author of the New York Times bestseller Eleanor & Park.

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?

– Goodreads Synopsis (x)

Fangirl is a book I love so much that I have a hard time conveying why in words. This is definitely one of those times where I wish all I had to say is I love this book, read it but that wouldn’t be enough.

This book is one of those books where I automatically connected with the story and the characters, namely the main character. Cath is someone who struggles with change and social anxiety. She would much rather stick with what makes her comfortable, which is her twin sister, their love for Simon Snow, and her fanfiction. So, when she experiences the biggest change of her life, moving away to college, on top of her twin sister’s decision to not room with her it forces her to expand her world in a way she never anticipated.

At its core this book is about learning that change isn’t as scary as it seems and that even though thing’s do change in our lives it doesn’t mean we need to give up the thing’s we’ve always loved. In Cath’s case that happens to be her love for Simon Snow and writing fanfiction. Fangirl also explores a complex family dynamic that isn’t perfect but is beautiful in all of its flaws. I loved Cath’s relationship with her father and her relationship with her sister and how both grew and changed throughout the book. The character development was on point in this book. Also, beyond all of that, there is a fantastic friendship and a very adorable romance. Levi and Cath are still and will always be one of my top ships, they are so cute! Plus, it also brought back all of my memories from my fanfiction writing days. I loved it.

So, if you love any of the above things I mentioned in a good contemporary then I highly recommend this book! 

“In new situations, all the trickiest rules are the ones nobody bothers to explain to you. (And the ones you can’t Google.)”
― Rainbow Rowell, Fangirl

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Have you read Fangirl? Did you like it? If you participate in Standalone Sunday be sure to link me to your post so I can see it. 😊

 

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