Scan barcode
kakorveter's review against another edition
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Eating disorder and Mental illness
Minor: Ableism and Alcoholism
vi_violetrose's review against another edition
emotional
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
A cute, easy read. It was nice to read a coming-of-age story set in freshman year college.
The prose is charming but thoroughly unimpressive, which was a big disappointment for me, especially since writing was a central part of the story. Even the samples of other characters’ writing wasn’t very good. At first I thought it was on purpose, because Cath’s writing does feel very fanfic-y. Perhaps it’s just not to my tastes.
Prose aside, the characters and dialogue are strong. A lot of funny moments, and I was pretty surprised (in a good way) with the writing for Cath and Wren’s father. The characters feel pretty realistic, especially Cath. I liked that Levi isn’t a cookie cutter romantic interest… though the romance didn’t do it for me and I felt myself getting a little bored with the book by that point; but I’ve never been big into romance, so I’m not sure I can hold it against the book. The relationship between the sisters was by far the most compelling aspect of the novel.
I liked Baz a lot in all the fanfic excerpts, but that’s about it. Cath is so cringe… Good for her.
The ending felt rushed. I flipped to the next page and then had to flip back, confused that I had just finished the story. One of my favorite parts of reading a book is the sensation of reading the last line and knowing that you’ve reached the end, but the ending took me out of this one a bit.
The prose is charming but thoroughly unimpressive, which was a big disappointment for me, especially since writing was a central part of the story. Even the samples of other characters’ writing wasn’t very good. At first I thought it was on purpose, because Cath’s writing does feel very fanfic-y. Perhaps it’s just not to my tastes.
Prose aside, the characters and dialogue are strong. A lot of funny moments, and I was pretty surprised (in a good way) with the writing for Cath and Wren’s father. The characters feel pretty realistic, especially Cath. I liked that Levi isn’t a cookie cutter romantic interest… though the romance didn’t do it for me and I felt myself getting a little bored with the book by that point; but I’ve never been big into romance, so I’m not sure I can hold it against the book. The relationship between the sisters was by far the most compelling aspect of the novel.
I liked Baz a lot in all the fanfic excerpts, but that’s about it. Cath is so cringe… Good for her.
The ending felt rushed. I flipped to the next page and then had to flip back, confused that I had just finished the story. One of my favorite parts of reading a book is the sensation of reading the last line and knowing that you’ve reached the end, but the ending took me out of this one a bit.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism
carolineinthelibrary's review against another edition
emotional
funny
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
I wanted to like this book so badly and on the surface I think it’s a sweet story. Digging deeper, I was frankly sort of triggered by the book - which is absolutely a personal thing so I understand why others might enjoy it.
Cath’s relationship with her dad made my chest tight. While mental illness is so real and absolutely a reason to worry about a parent or loved one, the way Cath takes care of her dad struck me as parenting your parent and it hurt me. I desperately wanted Cath to live her life and have a healthy relationship with her dad but time and again she stepped away from being her own person to care for him.
I also just found Cath unlikeable at times. Her investment in a fandom was cringey to me (and this is coming from someone who wrote a Glee fanfic that had a few thousand hits), and it frustrated me to no end that Harry Potter exists in a universe where Simon Snow is being written. Cath is naive to an alarming degree, and when shetells Levi she hasn’t written her rewrite for her fiction class, I almost blew a gasket.<\spoiler> I almost liked Wren better but maybe because I sympathized a bit with her.
I love Rainbow Rowell so I certainly won’t stop reading her books, but this one just wasn’t it for me.
Cath’s relationship with her dad made my chest tight. While mental illness is so real and absolutely a reason to worry about a parent or loved one, the way Cath takes care of her dad struck me as parenting your parent and it hurt me. I desperately wanted Cath to live her life and have a healthy relationship with her dad but time and again she stepped away from being her own person to care for him.
I also just found Cath unlikeable at times. Her investment in a fandom was cringey to me (and this is coming from someone who wrote a Glee fanfic that had a few thousand hits), and it frustrated me to no end that Harry Potter exists in a universe where Simon Snow is being written. Cath is naive to an alarming degree, and when she
I love Rainbow Rowell so I certainly won’t stop reading her books, but this one just wasn’t it for me.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Alcoholism, Mental illness, Sexual assault, and Abandonment
blewballoon's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
If you enjoyed this, then I'd recommend Alice Oseman's novels, which are more somber and tense than the Heartstopper comics. This reminded me of Loveless in particular with regards to the setting and general character dynamics, but the main character in that book and the one in this book have quite different problems. This book is also a bit of a product of its time and some of the dialogue and attitudes are bit less culturally sensitive than a more contemporary book would probably be. I usually give books that I had a pretty good time with but didn't get really excited about 4 stars, but I can't quite give this book that rating. I started the book disliking all of the characters at least a tiny bit and none of them managed to fully grow on me. I mostly felt uncomfortable and worried while reading, right up until the end I just didn't trust that anything would be resolved or that Cath was going to make good decisions. I will say that it was interesting to read this after having read Carry On, since a decent percentage of the book is references to that story and the Simon Snow in-universe series. The audiobook narrator was a little too monotone for me, I had her sped up to 1.7 speed.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Alcoholism, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Abandonment, and Alcohol
Minor: Eating disorder, Homophobia, Sexual content, Vomit, and Sexual harassment
mrsherrera's review against another edition
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Mental illness, Medical content, Abandonment, and Alcohol
Moderate: Vomit
katie0528's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
relaxing
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Cather is going through a lot her freshman year of college. Her twin sister Wren is more interested in partying than spending time with her, her dad is bipolar, her mom abandoned them, her roommate Regan seems to hate her, and her fiction writing professor doesn't seem to think that fanfiction can be anything but plagerism. Cath does her best to juggle everything whilst balancing a school schedule and trying to finish her queer retelling of Simon Snow, a psuedo-Harry Potter series, before the final book releases. If that's not enough on her plate, Cath also finds herself pulled between Nick, her fiction writing classmate, and Levi, Regan's sort-of boyfriend. What's an anxious freshman to do?
It's definitely a cute coming of age YA romance with a fun fandom twist, alternating between Cath's daily life, snippets of the "real" Simon Snow books, and Cath's own fanfiction.
It's definitely a cute coming of age YA romance with a fun fandom twist, alternating between Cath's daily life, snippets of the "real" Simon Snow books, and Cath's own fanfiction.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness and Abandonment
Moderate: Alcoholism and Alcohol
hopearianna's review against another edition
emotional
funny
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
The first quarter of the book was really difficult for me. The characters felt very unreal and irritating how they were acting. However, the more I read, the more my rating of the book increased. I think when real life things started happening to these characters and they started to act more like real people with real experiences, histories, and emotions, that I started to actually care for them. Also, I really appreciated the kind of love letter to fandoms and fans that it became in the end.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness and Abandonment
Moderate: Addiction and Alcoholism
Minor: Rape
mapleleaf_rag's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Devoured this. Really good.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, and Abandonment
joseph_al's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Mental illness, Blood, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Alcohol
jeslis's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Notes:
- Sweet romance with all my fav tropes :') Pure escapism, my beloved.
- Levi is a top tier book boyfriend: gentle with Cath, outgoing, enthusiastic, AND passionately supportive of Cath's love of books?! Insanely top tier.
- Writing was good (compared to a lot of other romances at the moment maybe..) and I liked the exploration of the characters' aspects/struggles outside of the relationship. Cath's family situation, her social anxiety, fandoms, etc.
- Simon and Baz origin story!! I love them :')
- Sweet romance with all my fav tropes :') Pure escapism, my beloved.
- Levi is a top tier book boyfriend: gentle with Cath, outgoing, enthusiastic, AND passionately supportive of Cath's love of books?! Insanely top tier.
- Writing was good (compared to a lot of other romances at the moment maybe..) and I liked the exploration of the characters' aspects/struggles outside of the relationship. Cath's family situation, her social anxiety, fandoms, etc.
- Simon and Baz origin story!! I love them :')
Content Warnings
Moderate: Mental illness
Minor: Alcoholism and Sexual harassment