Fangirl ~ Rainbow Rowell

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

5+++ sweet and beautifully romantic stars!

Wow. Rainbow Rowell has hit one out of the park with Fangirl. There were so many things that i loved about this book I don't even know where to start!


  "What the fuck is 'the fandom'?!"



For those of us who not only love to read...and in fact would much rather spend our time in made up worlds then inside our own reality...but have ever found ourselves consumed with a particular book series, movie, musician etc, Fangirl is like a gift. It so realistically and completely captures what it feels like to love something so much that you pretty much schedule the rest of your life around it. And it does it with so much nerdtastic love that I almost couldn't stand it. :)

Much like our heroine Cath, I too have dabbled in the "art" of writing fanfiction. It is a much maligned, but creatively freeing endeavor that I loved and was downright obsessed with for quite a long time. Reading this book brought me back to those days (which admittedly were not that long ago), and i found myself reading most of this book with a huge grin on my face.

I gave my poor Nook a workout reading this book. It feels like I highlighted every other paragraph. But when there are little treasures like the following quote, how could I help myself?

  "Cath? It's your dad. It's still late, but I couldn't wait to tell you this.You know how you guys want a bathroom upstairs? Your room is right over the bathroom. We could put in a trapdoor. And a ladder. It could be like  a secret shortcut to the bathroom. Isn't this a great idea? Call me. It's your dad."



*I LOVE Cath & Wren's dad. To pieces. In many ways he reminded me of a crazy combination of both my parents. And that just made me love the story even more.*

There were several times when I found myself wondering if Rowell was some kind of Mind Ninja. Like she had found a way to crawl around inside my brain and put so many aspects of my personality into the character of Cath. We share many of the same insecurities and obsessive tendencies. And I have no doubt if I had a Levi of my very own....I would have been "all mouth" as well.

Speaking of Levi.
*swoooooooooooon*



Talk about the most perfectly imperfect guy. Levi wasn't a bad boy. He wasn't sex on two legs. He was simply the sweetest, kindest, most adorable boy I have come across in...well, forever.

Cath & Levi's relationship was so incredibly sweet to watch unfold. It wasn't insta-love. It started out as this really funny, awkward friendship that just blossomed into a sweet, romantic kind of love that makes me feel all girly and swoony just thinking about it.




  "I'd give you the moon right now," she said.
Levi's eyes flashed happily, and he hitched up an eyebrow.

"I want to touch you. Hold you. I want to sit right next to you, even when there are other options."




Rowell is just a beast of an author. She managed to find the perfect balance of romance, humor, and drama without the stifling amount of angst that seems to be in   EVERY

other NA/YA book around. I loved the fact that she incorporated the  Simon Snow stories, and that they became so important to the plot.

If I have any kind of criticism it would be that Rowell loves to leave us with an open ending (something that drove me crazy about Eleanor & Park.) I'm someone who likes to have closure, and as with E&P, the book just sort of...stopped. And while I appreciate that she likes for the reader's imagination to fill in the blanks about the characters and their future...i would have liked to have a little more of a completed ending. But...other than that? This book was just about perfect.

  "Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow..."