Book Review: Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

 Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

Title: Fangirl

Author: Rainbow Rowell

Number of Pages: 445

Genre: YA Contemporary

Overall Rating: 4.5/5 stars

Summary From Cover: 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

Discussion: Right from the start of this book, I was hooked. I. Could. Not. Put. It. Down. [Mind you, there were some slow parts. But I pushed through!] Let’s do this as a list.

1. Cath. She is super-sweet, and absolutely brilliant. I’m very surprised she’s not a blogger, because as I was reading, I was thinking, Hm, sounds like something Emily would do. Oh! Sam would so do that. Cath is the very definition of “fangirl” and “bookish.” This is Cath talking about Simon Snow. Imagine that she’s saying “Simon Snow” instead of whatever else.
2. Cavi/Leth. Those are supposed to be ship names. IDK. :P But I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE Cath and Levi’s relationship. I just wish Cath wasn’t so secretive and closed off sometimes. Grr. Super-introverted people annoy me sometimes. [I couldn’t find a GIF for this, so, whatever.]
3. The writing. OMG. Have I mentioned before that I love Rowell’s writing? Because I do. It is truly awesome.

This is a really bad review. I’m sorry. I’m kind of rushed, so this is hard. I don’t do well under pressure.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this book!

Here are some negatives:

• I didn’t like when there were excerpts from Simon Snow. They were boring to me. Boring, but clever.
• It makes college seem really scary! O.O Like, really.
• There were some slow parts. But only a few.

I recommend this book to people that like:

a) love stories

b) fanfiction

c) fangirling

d) fandoms

and

e) contemporary

This was the lamest book review ever. I promise to try harder next post. Gimme a break, anyway. It’s 9 AM. I haven’t had my tea yet.

Re-thinking My Negative Feelings and Criticisms Towards “The Hunger Games”

I know, a long title. A mouthful.

Ever since I completed The Hunger Games trilogy in the spring of 2014, I have disliked it. I didn’t like the writing style of Suzanne Collins, I thought the second and third books were unnecessary–I didn’t even like Katniss! [Notice this is all past tense.] But I recently popped over to Musings From Neville’s Navel to read Engie’s newest post about THG. It was her reaction to the trailer for Mockingjay Part 1. She included the trailer in her post, so I thought, well, why don’t I watch it? I haven’t seen the first two movies, but I’d seen the first movie trailer.

This trailer, though.

As soon as it finished, I was just, OMG; I have to see this. I have been told the movies are better than the books, a rare occurrence in book-to-movie adaptations, so maybe I should just watch the movies! But then I decided to give them a second chance. Why?

Here is a Pros and Cons list for THG.

Pros:

• Sweet little Prim.
• The plot is unique.
• I actually liked the first book!
• There is [mostly] constant action.

Cons:

• I dislike the writing.
• Some parts are slow.
• In Mockingjay, Katniss spends a good amount of time in a basement. Doing nothing.
• How time passes is weird.
• I don’t like Katniss.
• I don’t like Peeta.
• I don’t like the Districts.
• The second and third books are unnecessary.
• I was really confused in some parts!

As you can see, the cons overwhelm the pros. But I am willing to give it a second chance! I am just that type of person!

As soon as my TBR list as been…read a bit more, I’ll buy THG and reread them. Maybe I’ll get them for my birthday…? [Which, BTW, is October 24. Frankly, all I want is to celebrate with my bestest bloggy friends, but I doubt that will happen…]

Here is the trailer:

What are your reactions to the trailer? Will you be watching Mockingjay Part 1? Of so, are you going when it first comes out, the premiere, or just when you feel like it? Tell me in the comments below. [There is more of this post, BTW.]

I just realized…September is fading away! Quite fast, actually. And that means October, my absolute favorite month of the year. Because where I live, the weather gets warm-ish, but not too warm like this week, there’s Halloween [a.k.a. Fangirls Unite!], and…my birthday!!! Which I mentioned above. It’s on the 24th, exactly a week before Halloween. October is actually a pretty exciting month this year.

Oct. 6: Start of fall break!

Oct. 7: The Blood of Olympus comes out! YAAAY!!!

Oct. 13: I meet Marissa Meyer! YAAAAY!!!

Oct. 14: End of fall break, a.k.a. school, which is pretty fun. I’ll miss it by then.

Oct. 24: My birthday!

Oct. 30: My friend Celeste’s birthday!

Oct. 31: Halloween!

The Blood of Olympus comes out during fall break, I just realized. That is good and bad. Good, because I don’t have to wear my uniform and can wear orange/blue instead (!!!), but bad because we might not be at home. We might be in a cabin, camping, without WiFi. :( Better check with my parents. ‘Cuz I have to do a major fangirling post on that day.

This post was supposed to be about THG…Oh, well. :P

And: HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO DANYA!!! YOU ARE A TOTALLY AWESOME PERSON AND I AM SO GLAD I’M YOUR FRIEND AND THAT YOU’RE BACK FROM DENMARK.

Are you looking forward to anything in October? Tell me in the comments below.

Fangirling on Friday While I’m Home Sick PLUS a Poll About My Novel!

Yes, you read it. I am sick. Bleh. And I’m missing school, which is not fun at all! But I have my kitty at my feet and my computer in my lap, so I’ll live another day. Probably. Just kidding. Anyway, I’ve decided to make every Friday not only a day where I post on both blogs AND have a poll on each one, a day to fangirl. Because who doesn’t like a little time to flip out about your OTPs, fandoms, and the supercute fangirl clothing? In honor of this being my first Fangirling on Friday, today’s fandom is all abut my first–Harry Potter. And, because of my current clothing obsession, it will be all about the clothing and accessories people have made in honor of Harry Potter.

I went to Pinterest and collected some of my faves. Take a look!

My first accessory is a cute pair of earrings for Quidditch fans:

I mean, really, how spectacular are these?! I would totally wear them every day!

I could definitely rock these every day of my life! Will some kind soul buy them for me?

Simply cute.

Okay, two more!

The coolest shoes ever!!! Must. Have. These.

Just, OMG. OMG! Love this.

Which of this clothing is your favorite? Tell me in the comments below!

I mentioned a poll above, so I give you…the “How should I end my novel?” poll. [Because I tend to live in the future.] The endings are based off of other writers. Please vote!

Have a great day, night, whatever, and I’ll see you tomorrow.

Love you! Bye!

Chloe