Fangirl. Finished 7-5-19, 4.5/5, YA, pub. 2013

Unabridged audio read by Rebecca Lowman and Maxwell Caulfield.  13 hours.

In Rainbow Rowell’s Fangirl, 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.

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.  from Goodreads

I really got sucked into this book and was actually looking forward to my time driving Gage around for summer camps!  Cath was so very real, meaning that I identified with her and I wanted to shake her at the same time, as were all of the characters.  She and her twin sister were once very close, but the differences between them grew and now they are barely speaking.  Cath is not doing so well being thrown into the college life alone.  Good thing her roommate Reagan feels this way, “I feel sorry for you, and I’m going to be your friend.”

Cath was a popular fan fiction writer for a series that is loosely based on the Harry Potter series and excerpts from these stories was interspersed throughout the book.  I have to admit that was my least favorite part of the story, but I imagine if you like fan fiction it would be refreshing.  She is a talented writer, but thinks she needs the world already created for her.  Her professor tries to get her to spread her wings.

There were so many on point aspects to this young adult novel.  Being a social misfit, alcohol abuse, mental illness, plagiarism, friendship, and forgiveness just to name a few.  And did I mention there was a boy?  There’s a boy and he’s wonderful.  This was my first Rowell book and I can see why she’s so popular.