Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

* * * *

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?

Rainbow Rowell seriously won me over with Eleanor & Park. And you know how you can love one book so much that you worry if you can love the next one as much? Well, I’m glad to report that I didn’t have anything to worry about here!

The first word to come to mind for how to describe Fangirl is “adorable”. It’s just chock full of adorable that I cannot stop beaming over that fact. Cath and her twin sister Wren have been stuck at the hip since always.  So Cath is shocked when they’re ready to start college that Wren decides to room with someone else, change her appearance and even starts to distance herself from her. It’s an odd feeling for Cath and she’s unsure if she can even make it at college without her sister as her sidekick.

I think almost anyone can identify with Cath’s fear and insecurities about starting at college not knowing anyone and having to create a whole new social circle. Her roommate Reagan is a bit of an imposing personality. Reagan's friend Levi who is constantly hanging out in their dorm room, is a charismatic, outgoing guy with a hipster vibe, is a personality that Cath just can’t quite grasp. Instead of trying to get out there and make friends, she confines herself to her room and her fan fiction writing.

As the school year wears on, Cath starts to break out of her shell a little thanks to Reagan who basically insists that she stop being weird. Levi even begins to get under her skin and before she knows it, these nutty people are her friends. The downside is that she and Wren have started losing touch with each other which concerns Cath.  And even though she’s started branching out, she’s still afraid to completely let go and claim her independence. She's constantly coming up with ways to leave school behind because she wants to avoid the changes that are happening.

Rowell excellently captures Cath's hesitation about being on her own for the first time. Little things like Cath surviving on granola bars in her dorm room to avoid the cafeteria exemplify her fragility. Discovering who she is away from being Wren's twin and learning not to hide behind Simon Snow to become a writer in her own right are pivotal growing experiences for her as a freshman. I felt so protective of Wren and had plenty of appreciation for her Reagan and Levi who looked out for her in their quirky way. But the biggest area of growth is her relationship with her sister as they learn to communicate with each other again and accept the differences that have sprung up between them.

Rowell also did plenty of research on fan fiction to capture that whole world. I'm not big into fan fiction myself simply because I don't have the time to read that much - believe me I wish that wasn't the case! But what I did read in Fangirl was quite entertaining and I also thought it was a great "thumbs up" to the fan fiction world from a fantastic author. 

If you read Eleanor & Park and enjoyed it, I know you'll absolutely enjoy Fangirl as well. It's story line is about the same speed and you just can't help but fall in love with Cath and Levi. It's another one of those that leaves you smiling and saying "you go girl!"

~ Bel

A Peek In The BiblioBin #65

Welcome to our Stacking the Shelves post! Stacking the Shelves (or as we like to call it, A Peek in the BiblioBin) has been created by the lovely ladies at Tynga's Reviews.

Stacking the Shelves is a way for bloggers to share what books they have won, received for review, bought from the bookstore, borrowed from the library or friend, etc.  
What's in your BiblioBin?

This week we have quite the collection. Our thanks to Goodreads, NetGalley, Edelweiss, the wonderful publishers, Amazon and our local libraries for keeping us busy and out of (too much) trouble ...

For Review:

Crown Of Midnight (Throne Of Glass #2) by Sarah J. Maas

The Chaos Of The Stars by Kiersten White

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

Purchased:

Spellbinding by Maya Gold

Icons (Icons #1) by Margaret Stohl

Throne Of Glass e-novellas by Sarah J. Maas

The Assassin And The Pirate Lord #0.1
The Assassin And The Desert #0.2

The Assassin And The Underworld #0.3
The Assassin And The Empire #0.4

Borrowed:

Gameboard Of The Gods (Age of X #1) by Richelle Mead

Rainbow Boys (Rainbow Trilogy #1) by Alex Sanchez

Rainbow High (Rainbow Trilogy #2) by Alex Sanchez

Rainbow Road (Rainbow Trilogy #3) by Alex Sanchez

Openly Straight by Bill Konigsberg

Rockoholic by C.J. Skuse

* * * * *

 

She's got it bad, and he ain't good -- he's in her garage?

"I'm your biggest fan, I'll follow you until you love me..."

Gonna have to face it: Jody's addicted to Jackson Gatlin, frontman of The Regulators, and after her best bud Mac scores tickets, she's front and center at his sold-out concert. But when she gets mashed in the moshpit and bodysurfs backstage, she's got more than a mild concussion to deal with. By the next morning, the strung-out rock star is coming down in her garage. Jody -- oops -- kind of kidnapped him. By accident. With a Curly Wurly candy bar. And now he doesn't want to leave.
defrrrrrrr-0xs/pd
It's a rock-star abduction worthy of an MTV reality series...but who got punk'd?! (GoodReads)

 

Doesn’t the above summary make you think this will be a silly light hearted read?  I sure thought so.  I was expecting some hilariously ridiculous misunderstanding between two people that looks like a kidnapping but really isn’t one.  Boy was I wrong.  Sure, our rock star, Jackson, is so wasted and high that he mistakes the Curly Wurly Jodie is trying to offer him for a knife.  But our heroine, Jodie, realizes his mistake right away and instead of correcting him, she recognizes an “opportunity” and ACTUALLY kidnaps him.  Which I guess could be silly had she been a fun and silly character (Stephanie Plum comes to mind) but she isn’t.  She is a teen in a bad place and she does this bad thing that left me completely flummoxed. 

 

We learn a few things early on in this story.  One, Jodie’s granddad was one of the funniest free spirits ever.  Two, Jodie is very insecure and has a penchant for making really bad decisions.  She is also unhealthily obsessed with her favorite band The Regulators and their lead singer, Jackson Gatlin.  And three, if it wasn’t for her best friend Mac (Mackenzie), Jodie would be even more of a mess (if that’s even possible).  

When Jodie decides to liven up Granddad’s wake, her mom rips up her ticket to the Regulators concert.  Jodie runs away and moves into the spare room behind the pub owned by Mac’s parents.  Being the amazing friend he is, Mac gives Jodie his ticket and drives her to the concert.  A concert that should have been an epic one time chance to see her hero in the flesh becomes a series of disasters that ultimately land her in a makeshift triage room.  When a very high Jackson makes an unexpected appearance and speaks to Jodie personally, a misunderstanding between them gives Jodie the idea to kidnap the love of her life and take her home with her.  What starts out as a thoughtless crime ends up being a lesson in life, reality and love for Jodie and her hero, Jackson. 

This book just wasn’t what I was expecting.  I was in the mood for light hearted and silly.   And I was disappointed.  So disappointed that I sent a message to my fellow Bibliojunkies bitching about it.  I even considered putting it aside to read something else.  But I decide to move forward and keep reading.  

And in the end…as much as I tried to resist liking this book and as disappointed as I was in the beginning (simply because it wasn’t what I was expecting)…I caved.   At every turn of the page I became more and more sucked in.  It was as if C.J. Skuse was saying, “You WILL read this and you WILL like it!”   

I surrender, Ms. Skuse, I surrender.  I read it.  And not only did I like it, I LOVED it.  And when I say I loved it, I mean that Rockoholic has a guaranteed spot on my Top 10 of 2012.  So there you go.  Thank you for giving me a brilliant dramatic novel (with admittedly hilarious moments) that I had no choice but to embrace.  That was very sneaky of you, dear author.  I applaud your sheer awesomeness.

 

Nat

Boy Meets Boy by David Levithan

*** 1/2

Have you ever been interested in an author but then put their books off in favor of something that more suit your immediate mood.  And then when you finally got around to reading that author you wonder to yourself "Why on earth did I wait this long?!?".  If you have done this then you know how I feel about David Levithan.  I had been interested for quite some time but just never got around to it.  Then Shel and I had the opportunity to see and meet him at a YA  panel at Anderson's Bookshop and we both were absolutely charmed.  Before the panel began I had bought his latest novel Every You, Every Me.  Of course after meeting him I put it at the top of the "To Read" pile.  And enjoyed it immensely.  Since then I have had the opportunity to read a couple more of his books (Boy Meets Boy and The Lover's Dictionary) and he continued to charm me even more.  Now I have added all his other books to my BN Wishlist...hint, hint Mr. Executive Officer.

So now that I have shown you how much of a fangirl I have become let's get on with this review. 

Boy Meets Boy takes place in an unnamed utopian town.  A place where the LGBT community both young and old live openly with little to no social censure. A town where "P-FLAG is as big a draw as the PTA."  Our hero, Paul is a gay teen who has always known who he is and has never doubted it for instant.  He knows what he wants out of life and love and he isn't afraid to grab it. 

The story is fairly simple.  Paul meets Noah at a bookstore concert.  They have an instant connection.  Unfortunately the joys of first love are quickly put to the test with the re-entrance of a past bi-sexual boyfriend, a gay friend from another town that is struggling with how his parents view his sexualtiy, and a female BFF that is ignoring Paul for her new narrow minded boyfriend that is responsible for cruelly breaking the heart of the transgender star quarterback. 

Hey, I told you it was a Utopia of sorts.  But it works.  It really does.  I finished this book feeling upbeat and hopeful which is always a wonderful feeling to have when finishing a book.

Don't grab this book if you are looking for emotional read with high drama.  This is a lighter read meant to make you smile, meant to show us how we should and should not be as a society and meant to give a little hope and sunshine to teens out there that struggle everyday with coming out.

Nat