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kristinabrune_author 's review for:
Carry On
by Rainbow Rowell
For the first 150 pages, I thought for sure I hated this book. Like a 1-star kind of hate, which is rare for me. Because I could not get past the Harry Potter parallel. This book is SO.MUCH. like HP, that I just kept thinking how disappointed I was in Rainbow Rowell, whom I love. Because she's more creative than this! This is just like HP! I l already know and love HP, I want RR!
But then two things happened. The book started to depart (a bit) from HP and I did something I never do in the middle of a book - I went online to read interviews w/ Rainbow Rowell and other reviews of the book. And found that RR acknowledges that this is a weird mix of fan fiction (which of course makes sense if you read Fangirl, which I did), canon, and story-within-a-story. She wanted to see what she could do with Simon Snow. It was only then I was able to really let the HP parallel go and enjoy Carry On for what it is.
It's fun and it's fast-paced. I felt like there were some holes in the plot and I could have done with some more explanation of certain aspects of the story. But overall, I enjoyed it. Just definitely not typical RR. So if you (like me) go into this expecting to be blown away like you were with Eleanor and Park or Fangirl, you'll be disappointed. It's not bad, it just is what it is.
But then two things happened. The book started to depart (a bit) from HP and I did something I never do in the middle of a book - I went online to read interviews w/ Rainbow Rowell and other reviews of the book. And found that RR acknowledges that this is a weird mix of fan fiction (which of course makes sense if you read Fangirl, which I did), canon, and story-within-a-story. She wanted to see what she could do with Simon Snow. It was only then I was able to really let the HP parallel go and enjoy Carry On for what it is.
It's fun and it's fast-paced. I felt like there were some holes in the plot and I could have done with some more explanation of certain aspects of the story. But overall, I enjoyed it. Just definitely not typical RR. So if you (like me) go into this expecting to be blown away like you were with Eleanor and Park or Fangirl, you'll be disappointed. It's not bad, it just is what it is.