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perleerose's review against another edition
3.0
This book is meh at best.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism
barrettbooks's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
This book is so cozy! It deals with some heavier subjects like alcohol abuse and mental illness, but it generally is lighthearted. It's a love letter to fandom, and an exploration of finding yourself as a new adult, discovering how to be connected while still independent, coping with mental illness, and handling all kinds of attraction. Just a very cute college book all round.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Alcohol and Alcoholism
bookdreamer's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graduating from a rural party school this year, I found myself relating hard to Cath's experience transitioning to college. The social anxiety, confusion, and watching people rotate through drinking, friends, relationships, and roommates was spot on. (The comment about the difficulty of finding street parking to attend a house party? Yep, been there, done that.) The book covers some heavy themes- mental illness, parental abandonment, alcohol abuse- in an authentic take. The writing pulled me in and I kept wanting to keep reading.
What kept it from being a five-star review for me were just a few things: One, Levi and Regan. I'm glad Cath was able to overcome her anxiety and make new friends on campus, but the way Levi and Regan treated her in the beginning was a combination of annoying and unrealistic. It was great Regan and Levi showed her a few things like where the dinning halls where or checking up on her sister, but constantly trying to hang out with her? Acting like she has the same interests in drinking and partying when she's obviously much more introverted and sheltered? When Cath says no, I just wanted them to let her be. I get she needed to overcome her anxiety, but that's what therapy is for, not pushy roommates.
That brings me to how unrealistic it was: Cath constantly describes herself as frumpy and awkward, but Levi is head-over-heels in love with her. She's barely comfortable touching the guy, but he's completely kind and understanding and just wants to listen to her read fanfiction. Hm.
I also wish we had seen more of the community side of fanfiction, such as supportive online friends and conventions and meeting up with people of similar interests and having fun. This books spoke to me about transitioning from high school to college, and it could have spoke to me more about that aspect of being a fangirl as well.
What kept it from being a five-star review for me were just a few things: One, Levi and Regan. I'm glad Cath was able to overcome her anxiety and make new friends on campus, but the way Levi and Regan treated her in the beginning was a combination of annoying and unrealistic. It was great Regan and Levi showed her a few things like where the dinning halls where or checking up on her sister, but constantly trying to hang out with her? Acting like she has the same interests in drinking and partying when she's obviously much more introverted and sheltered? When Cath says no, I just wanted them to let her be. I get she needed to overcome her anxiety, but that's what therapy is for, not pushy roommates.
That brings me to how unrealistic it was: Cath constantly describes herself as frumpy and awkward, but Levi is head-over-heels in love with her. She's barely comfortable touching the guy, but he's completely kind and understanding and just wants to listen to her read fanfiction. Hm.
I also wish we had seen more of the community side of fanfiction, such as supportive online friends and conventions and meeting up with people of similar interests and having fun. This books spoke to me about transitioning from high school to college, and it could have spoke to me more about that aspect of being a fangirl as well.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness
Moderate: Alcoholism
Minor: Religious bigotry
btg's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I devoured this book in, like, a day.
Cath just hits. It's easy to relate to her; to borrow Rowell's words, she "jumps off the page." But the even more astounding part of the book is that Rowell manages to put words to experiences that are rarely talked about and that rarely get representation -- fic authors moving into original fiction, anxious first year college students who don't party, children of adults with mental illness. I found Cath to be intensely relatable, and Rowell's depiction to be very truthful. Rowell's tone is free and easy; she writes as though she has lived experience in this world. While Rowell admits to being a fic author early, I don't know enough about her personal life to guess about the rest. What I can say is that I felt a lot of me reflected in Cath that I don't see in a lot of stories, and I didn't know I needed to hear.
I'll admit I didn't originally love Levi as a love interest at the beginning of the book; I found him too forceful. But as Cath gained her own confidence, he grew on me. They developed their banter and their language. I'm not sure the romance would have cemented if it wasn't a slow burn, if Cath didn't have time to grow before she and Levi got together. I think where Rowell succeeded here is in thinking ahead; she didn't give Cath a love interest appropriate for her beginning. She gave Cath a love interest appropriate for when she was ready, and I think that's super powerful. And Rowell's handling of the love triangle, normally a tired trope, was absolutely masterful.
Fic authors, put down the fic for a bit and read this book. You won't regret it.
Cath just hits. It's easy to relate to her; to borrow Rowell's words, she "jumps off the page." But the even more astounding part of the book is that Rowell manages to put words to experiences that are rarely talked about and that rarely get representation -- fic authors moving into original fiction, anxious first year college students who don't party, children of adults with mental illness. I found Cath to be intensely relatable, and Rowell's depiction to be very truthful. Rowell's tone is free and easy; she writes as though she has lived experience in this world. While Rowell admits to being a fic author early, I don't know enough about her personal life to guess about the rest. What I can say is that I felt a lot of me reflected in Cath that I don't see in a lot of stories, and I didn't know I needed to hear.
I'll admit I didn't originally love Levi as a love interest at the beginning of the book; I found him too forceful. But as Cath gained her own confidence, he grew on me. They developed their banter and their language. I'm not sure the romance would have cemented if it wasn't a slow burn, if Cath didn't have time to grow before she and Levi got together. I think where Rowell succeeded here is in thinking ahead; she didn't give Cath a love interest appropriate for her beginning. She gave Cath a love interest appropriate for when she was ready, and I think that's super powerful. And Rowell's handling of the love triangle, normally a tired trope, was absolutely masterful.
Fic authors, put down the fic for a bit and read this book. You won't regret it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, and Medical content
Minor: Infidelity
Minor: A secondary character admits to previous infidelity with the primary love interest. It is past tense, only mentioned a couple of times, and both characters have moved past it as of the beginning of the story. Moderate: A secondary character is committed to a mental health ward for a short period of time at the midpoint of the book. A secondary character is hospitalized with alcohol poisoning towards the end of the book. She is heavily implied to be alcoholic and a binge drinker, but it's never directly stated. Graphic: Multiple primary and secondary characters are heavily implied or directly stated to have a mental health disorder, and symptoms are described in detail. A main character is heavily implied to have social anxiety disorder and regularly engages in both avoidance behaviors and thought spirals. A secondary character is hospitalized for alcohol poisoning, implied to be an alcoholic and forced to both attend counseling and AA meetings (no counseling or AA meetings are shown). A different secondary character is explicitly bipolar; hypomanic states and discussions of medication/management are depicted. The character is hospitalized for a manic state towards the middle of the book. The main character is a child of someone with serious mental illness and regularly explores the caretaking and worry that involves. A primary character is implied to have a learning disorder, most likely dyslexia but potentially also ADHD, and references it several times. There's also some stuff that's not quite enough to tag, or a tag isn't available: Emetophobia: One line, "You smell like x." Abandonment: A major and secondary character were abandoned by a parent early in life, which factors heavily into the plot of the book.starlessnights's review against another edition
1.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, and Panic attacks/disorders
Moderate: Bullying, Cursing, and Genocide
Minor: Vomit, Toxic friendship, and Sexual content
jamiejanae_6's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Mental illness
Minor: Alcoholism
manarnia's review against another edition
emotional
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
What is there to say other than: LEVI 😍. Okay, fine, there are other things to say. This book is so cute and fluffy and fun and it makes me have fandom feelings and writing feelings and family feelings and, of course, romance feelings. All the feelings!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism
Moderate: Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, and Cursing
claudiamacpherson's review against another edition
emotional
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Cath and her twin sister, Wren, may look alike, but in most ways they are completely different. Wren is excited to start college with a new roommate, parties, and cute boys. Cath doesn't like change and prefers to spend her weekends holed up in her dorm writing fanfiction. Cath must learn to navigate the campus, including her relationship with her unfriendly roommate and her over-friendly boyfriend, and balance her schoolwork and her popular Simon Snow fanfiction.
I read Carry On, the book-within-the-book (meta, I know) a few years ago and really enjoyed it, not knowing that Fangirl came out first (not that it really matters). I decided it was finally time for me to get the full picture, and I'm so glad I did! I'm not sure what it was about this book, but it made me so emotional. Reading about Cath's freshman year of college brought me right back to my own, and I was picturing her dorm room and dining hall and class buildings as ones from my college's campus. When I read Carry On, Simon Snow and the world of mages immediately reminded me of Harry Potter (if Harry had ended up with Draco), and reading Fangirl only enhanced that impression, only adding to the nostalgia. There were so many similarities that it was jarring when a character actually mentioned Harry Potter, and it was honestly a little weird to hear Cath's professor in the book criticize fanfiction for not being original enough (maybe that was the point?). As frustrating and oblivious (or thoughtless) as the characters could be sometimes, I really liked them and ended up binging this book in 2 days!
Happy ending meter (no specific spoilers, just my judgement of how happy the ending is because I always wish someone would tell me that before I read books): Happy endings all around! :)
I read Carry On, the book-within-the-book (meta, I know) a few years ago and really enjoyed it, not knowing that Fangirl came out first (not that it really matters). I decided it was finally time for me to get the full picture, and I'm so glad I did! I'm not sure what it was about this book, but it made me so emotional. Reading about Cath's freshman year of college brought me right back to my own, and I was picturing her dorm room and dining hall and class buildings as ones from my college's campus. When I read Carry On, Simon Snow and the world of mages immediately reminded me of Harry Potter (if Harry had ended up with Draco), and reading Fangirl only enhanced that impression, only adding to the nostalgia. There were so many similarities that it was jarring when a character actually mentioned Harry Potter, and it was honestly a little weird to hear Cath's professor in the book criticize fanfiction for not being original enough (maybe that was the point?). As frustrating and oblivious (or thoughtless) as the characters could be sometimes, I really liked them and ended up binging this book in 2 days!
Happy ending meter (no specific spoilers, just my judgement of how happy the ending is because I always wish someone would tell me that before I read books):
Content Warnings
Moderate: Alcoholism, Mental illness, and Vomit
Minor: Panic attacks/disorders
fjcreads's review against another edition
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Mental illness, and Vomit
bien's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism and Vomit