Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell
Publisher: Macmillan Childrens
Publication Date: September 10th 2013
Source: Bought

Cath and Wren are identical twins, and until recently they did absolutely everything together. Now they're off to university and Wren's decided she doesn't want to be one half of a pair anymore - she wants to dance, meet boys, go to parties and let loose. It's not so easy for Cath. She's horribly shy and has always buried herself in the fan fiction she writes, where she always knows exactly what to say and can write a romance far more intense than anything she's experienced in real life.

Without Wren Cath is completely on her own and totally 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.

Now Cath has to decide whether she's ready to open her heart to new people and new experiences, and she's learning that there's more to learn about love than she ever thought possible.

After reading Eleanor & Park, I knew I had to get my hands on another Rainbow Rowell book. Fangirl had just came out and I'd seen so many people raving about it. And then Jess from JessHeartsBooks recommended me it and I knew I had to get it asap.

As soon as I started this book I was hooked. I loved that it was about this girl called Cath who was obsessed with a book series that was coming to an end (it brought back all my HP feels), and I could just totally relate to her. I knew exactly how she was feeling and I loved how easy it was to connect with her. Cath was a brilliant character. She really shy and going to University really scares her. It's made even worse by the fact that her twin Wren doesn't want to room with her, so Cath is on her own. I loved seeing Cath develop throughout the novel and start to become a little less shy. She starts to make friends and experience the real world for once instead of the world she writes in her fan fiction. 

Oh, Levi. Levi makes my heart melt. He's so charming and adorable! Levi manages to wriggle his way into Cath's life and he helps her a lot. He helps her come out of her shell and encourages her to live in the real world. I just adored Levi so much. Even though he did make a really stupid mistake that caused a lot of trouble for him and Cath, I still loved him.

Reagan was such an amazing character! Seriously, I love this girl. She was so hilarious and irritable, but I freaking loved her. Reagan worked really hard to get Cath to live in the real world and experience life, and she succeeded. Cath and Reagan became really close friends and I just adored their friendship. Reagan has some hilarious lines that had be laughing so hard.

I was unsure of how I felt about Wren for most of this book. She'd completely changed when she went to University, but I understood that. She wanted to experience new things and make her own friends instead of always relying on Cath. She wanted to make her own life. I understood all of that, but I didn't like the way she did it. Wren got herself into a lot of trouble and caused a lot of people to worry about her. There was something deeper going on though and that's why Wren was acting out the way she was.

I adored every single part of this story. I loved seeing Cath adjusting to University life; learning about Levi and Reagan; Cath's family problems; Cath's obsession with Simon Snow and of course, Cath's fan fiction. By the end of the book I'd grown to love Simon and Baz. The one thing I was slightly disappointed about with it was that I never got to find out what happened at the end of the last Simon Snow book! After all the build up with the snippets from the books and Cath's fan fiction, I was slightly disappointed that I didn't get to know what happened. But, oh well. It wasn't anything major, but I would have liked to have found out.

Fangirl has been one of the best contemporaries I've read this year. Rainbow Rowell has now earned a place on my auto-buy list. I'll buy anything written by her now! If you haven't read Fangirl or you haven't read a Rainbow Rowell book yet, I seriously recommend that you do. She's such a fantastic author.