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dreamyasgardian's review
5.0
I was surprised by the book, it had a lot of turns of events I didn't expect at all and I basically loved all the characters. it kind of reminded me of Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell!!!
melaniekarin's review
emotional
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
lbarsk's review
4.0
So fun, so sweet, and an interesting look at "when fandom collides with the actual show." I liked this BETTER than Grace and the Fever, which has similar... musings I guess, on fandom and shipping and real life consequences, in part because THIS ONE'S QUEER and in part because I just liked the tone of Britta Lundin's writing better. I really dug the "split POV" nature between our two protagonists, and it's so clear that this was written lovingly by someone deeply embedded in the fanfic/fandom culture of the internet.
samsays's review
emotional
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
lindaixchel's review
2.0
It's good! Hits you right in the fangirl feels. Not monumentally perfect, but so real and honest you can't help but love it and relate.
I really like the fanfiction that is shown here...loved that.
The thing that didn't let me fall in love with it completely was the fact that, for me, the love interest is shit. It's so fake and their connection is just so...toxic. I legit hated Tess, she sucked. She did some things that I cannot get behind and although the book is titled Ship It... I don't.
I really like the fanfiction that is shown here...loved that.
The thing that didn't let me fall in love with it completely was the fact that, for me, the love interest is shit. It's so fake and their connection is just so...toxic. I legit hated Tess, she sucked. She did some things that I cannot get behind and although the book is titled Ship It... I don't.
christiana's review
3.0
On one hand, I feel like this book sells itself (it's written by one of the screen writers for Riverdale). On the other, I'm very aware of the fact that this book can only live because of older (better) books like Fangirl. Not sure it'll stick around in my brain for very long, but I'm not mad I read it.
samrushingbooks's review
3.0
3.5 stars
I have read a few geeky or fandom based stories in recent months and most have been really good. This one was good, but I also didn't like main character Claire all that much. Still, this was a pretty quick read so that was nice. This is a decent contemporary read, especially as we enter Con season.
I have read a few geeky or fandom based stories in recent months and most have been really good. This one was good, but I also didn't like main character Claire all that much. Still, this was a pretty quick read so that was nice. This is a decent contemporary read, especially as we enter Con season.
serru's review against another edition
4.0
Inspired by a real life event at a Supernatural panel at a convention, the main character Claire attends a Comic Con panel for her favourite TV show -- only to get shut down by one of the lead actors when she asks him a question about her favourite gay pairing involving his character. What ensues is the TV show's PR crew inviting Claire along on their Comic Con tour to have her use the controversy she created with her question as a way to promote the (dying) show. Along the way, Claire works on her own secret goal of convincing the showrunner to make her slash pairing canon, while also grappling with her budding feelings with fellow shipper, con attendee and fan artist Tess.
The plot is fairly fast-moving and it's an entertaining story to read. I've seen the other reviews and I know Claire isn't a well-liked character -- but personally this did not bother me at all. Claire reads well as a fandom-obsessed teenage girl who mostly has selfish interests. She behaves in incredibly immature and cringe-worthy ways, and makes some absolutely terrible choices, but I kind of like seeing her screw up so badly. It's real, and humans are flawed and messy, especially when we're young and still under the belief that we know everything already.
In fact, I remember thinking while reading this that pretty much all the characters behaved poorly at some point in this book -- if this was a Reddit AITA (Am I the Asshole) post, the response would be ESH (Everybody Sucks Here) -- except for Rico (love him!).
I do think it would have been more satisfying to the reader for Claire to have grown more by the end of the book or to have her mess up less. But maybe I'm at an age where I can appreciate characters who stumble really badly so the immaturity and poor behaviour of the characters don't bother me at all. We all do stupid, selfish crap and hurt people and mess up relationships, and then we have to figure out how to redeem ourselves after. I can appreciate how absolutely human this is. I don't think I would have appreciated this had I read this book in my early 20s, for example, I would have wanted the character to be more likeable.
The other thing is -- it's pretty obvious that fandom is an escape for Claire, that her obsession with it is partly a result of her wanting to escape her real life isolation. She has no real friends, all she really has is her beloved show, Demon Heart, and her SmokeHeart ship. I think this kind of experience is true for many fans who end up in the deep end of online fandoms. That's why I can't really dislike Claire -- she and this book are an accurate portrait of a certain kind of fandom experience.
I didn't care for Claire's developing romance with Tess -- it felt a bit tacked on as there was enough going on in the novel already. I didn't feel like it got enough development or depth to make me really invested in their relationship working out. However, there were some other relationships depicted that I liked -- in particular, the way Rico mentored and encouraged Forest and their easy relationship (these are the two actors who played the characters that Claire shipped), and also the way Claire and Forest struggled to understand each other and make themselves understood to the other.
There are snippets of Claire's fanfiction peppered throughout the novel, which are a fun diversion and let us peek inside the mind of a shipper. It's also abundantly clear the author Britta Lundin is not only familiar with the workings of fandom, but that likely she is or was an active participant in it, because she absolutely gets it. Through her depiction of Claire (and to a lesser degree, some of the other characters), we see just how passionate fans can be about the thing that they love. And I love that. Fandom was a huge part of my life as a teen, so I have a particular place in my heart for books that deal with it. And I really enjoy seeing when authors can represent it well -- both the good and bad sides of it. Which this novel does in spades.
I'm also not surprised to find out that Lundin is a TV writer for a teen drama -- because this book read like one. In fact, the acknowledgements at the end indicate that this story was originally adapted from a screen play. I think that explains why there is so much going on in this book and why Tess behaves the way she does -- it all served to create tons of messy and escalating drama, some of which seemed really unrealistic, only for it all to be wrapped up a little too neatly at the end -- much like a season of your typical teen show.
Overall, this was a pretty bold debut novel that tries to depict both the good and ugly sides of fandom (and I think it succeeded), and also tries to write a better ending for the Supernatural controversy. I couldn't put this one down. Thanks, Britta Lundin!
The plot is fairly fast-moving and it's an entertaining story to read. I've seen the other reviews and I know Claire isn't a well-liked character -- but personally this did not bother me at all. Claire reads well as a fandom-obsessed teenage girl who mostly has selfish interests. She behaves in incredibly immature and cringe-worthy ways, and makes some absolutely terrible choices, but I kind of like seeing her screw up so badly. It's real, and humans are flawed and messy, especially when we're young and still under the belief that we know everything already.
In fact, I remember thinking while reading this that pretty much all the characters behaved poorly at some point in this book -- if this was a Reddit AITA (Am I the Asshole) post, the response would be ESH (Everybody Sucks Here) -- except for Rico (love him!).
I do think it would have been more satisfying to the reader for Claire to have grown more by the end of the book or to have her mess up less. But maybe I'm at an age where I can appreciate characters who stumble really badly so the immaturity and poor behaviour of the characters don't bother me at all. We all do stupid, selfish crap and hurt people and mess up relationships, and then we have to figure out how to redeem ourselves after. I can appreciate how absolutely human this is. I don't think I would have appreciated this had I read this book in my early 20s, for example, I would have wanted the character to be more likeable.
The other thing is -- it's pretty obvious that fandom is an escape for Claire, that her obsession with it is partly a result of her wanting to escape her real life isolation. She has no real friends, all she really has is her beloved show, Demon Heart, and her SmokeHeart ship. I think this kind of experience is true for many fans who end up in the deep end of online fandoms. That's why I can't really dislike Claire -- she and this book are an accurate portrait of a certain kind of fandom experience.
I didn't care for Claire's developing romance with Tess -- it felt a bit tacked on as there was enough going on in the novel already. I didn't feel like it got enough development or depth to make me really invested in their relationship working out. However, there were some other relationships depicted that I liked -- in particular, the way Rico mentored and encouraged Forest and their easy relationship (these are the two actors who played the characters that Claire shipped), and also the way Claire and Forest struggled to understand each other and make themselves understood to the other.
There are snippets of Claire's fanfiction peppered throughout the novel, which are a fun diversion and let us peek inside the mind of a shipper. It's also abundantly clear the author Britta Lundin is not only familiar with the workings of fandom, but that likely she is or was an active participant in it, because she absolutely gets it. Through her depiction of Claire (and to a lesser degree, some of the other characters), we see just how passionate fans can be about the thing that they love. And I love that. Fandom was a huge part of my life as a teen, so I have a particular place in my heart for books that deal with it. And I really enjoy seeing when authors can represent it well -- both the good and bad sides of it. Which this novel does in spades.
I'm also not surprised to find out that Lundin is a TV writer for a teen drama -- because this book read like one. In fact, the acknowledgements at the end indicate that this story was originally adapted from a screen play. I think that explains why there is so much going on in this book and why Tess behaves the way she does -- it all served to create tons of messy and escalating drama, some of which seemed really unrealistic, only for it all to be wrapped up a little too neatly at the end -- much like a season of your typical teen show.
Overall, this was a pretty bold debut novel that tries to depict both the good and ugly sides of fandom (and I think it succeeded), and also tries to write a better ending for the Supernatural controversy. I couldn't put this one down. Thanks, Britta Lundin!
hayleybeale's review
4.0
Set in the world of comic cons and fanfic, this warm-hearted and funny debut novel takes a sharp look at identity and representation. High school junior narrator Claire is obsessed with Demon Heart, a TV fantasy show, and she writes romantic and explicit fanfiction about the two male leads, Smokey and Heart (in the vernacular, she ships SmokeHeart). Second narrator Forest plays Smokey and is openly appalled when Claire asks at a con panel about the possibility that his character is gay. See my full review here.