basementdweller's review against another edition
2.0
Graphic: Abandonment, Alcoholism, and Infidelity
Minor: Eating disorder
I was so disappointed with this book, but I dragged my way to the end in the hopes it would at least have a decent ending. It doesn’t. The MC never really learns how to fix her own problems or set boundaries. She starts off rather pathetic, and eventually become a little less pathetic…Plus half the book is filled with unnecessary Simon Snow passages.chaos_and_chapters's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Mental illness
Moderate: Abandonment, Vomit, Addiction, Panic attacks/disorders, Alcohol, Medical content, Grief, and Alcoholism
Minor: Eating disorder, Incest, Suicidal thoughts, Homophobia, and Misogyny
nonidude's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
2.0
First off the writing was just weak; it had moments near the end where it got better, but overall - too many cringe moments. A couple examples...
"His eyes were that color you can't see in the rainbow. Indigo."
"Levi giggled. (Did guys 'giggle' or 'chuckle'? Cath hated the word 'chuckle.')"
"...leaning over her left shoulder. He smelled good. (Breaking news: Boys smell good.)"
There was also a couple moments in which the writing was very repetitive. One here where she restates things you mentioned just 10 pages earlier.
P. 231
"She started coming downstairs every morning when she heard the coffeemaker beeping. To check on him, to see him off.… Cath would make him breakfast while he ran—and after he ate and left for work, she'd fall back asleep on the couch. After a few days of this it already felt like a routine.... Cath would usually wake up again when Wren came downstairs or came home."
P. 242
"Their dad got up to jog every morning. Cath woke up when she heard his coffeemaker beep. She'd get up and make him breakfast, then fall back to sleep on the couch until Wren woke up."
Also, I thought this book talking about a fandom was supposed to be a spoof of Harry Potter - it's pretty clear from the way Rainbow talks about books, movies, the author, the plots, etc. and yet! Harry Potter is alive and well in this universe bc the characters mention it?? Weird...
My final complaint is on the characters - I personally didn't find them likable. There was a scene in which they talked about rape too lightheartedly. There's scenes in which the men seem to act chivalrous almost to the point of being offensive. Idk I just don't think I would hang out with any of them by choice (maybe the dad; he seems alright).
Graphic: Abandonment and Mental illness
Moderate: Vomit, Alcoholism, and Alcohol
Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Eating disorder, Rape, and Homophobia
anne_shouseofdreams's review against another edition
- 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
4.5
Graphic: Mental illness
Moderate: Abandonment and Alcoholism
Minor: Homophobia, Rape, Vomit, Eating disorder, and Medical content
leonormsousa's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
- will fall shortly of the expectations since YA books are not really my thing anymore
- ended up loving it even more than the first time (2013)!
WHAT I ENJOYED
- It’s just so funny and wholesome and cute → it made me feel so incredibly happy reading it
- Even though this is YA, I related to the MC much more this time around, maybe because she’s in uni (like me) and suffers from social anxiety (which I started having a couple of years ago)
- The fast pace just kept me completely glued to the pages
- As a bookworm, I felt a lot of myself in Cath and the nerdy vibes are immaculate
- Having read Carry On just made me more nostalgic (?) reading Fangirl again
- The characters are well-developed and feel very real (no one is perfect!) and it’s interesting seeing Cath navigate through her relationships
READ IF YOU ENJOY
- cute fun and lighthearted YA contemporary romances
- bookish and nerdish references
- the topics of writing and fanfiction
Moderate: Eating disorder, Alcoholism, Abandonment, Infidelity, and Mental illness
abcangelcake's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
OH! And don’t get me started on Cath… Wren…
Graphic: Mental illness
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Addiction, Alcohol, and Vomit
Minor: Drug use, Ableism, Eating disorder, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Abandonment, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Incest, and Medical content
gentleprocrastination's review against another edition
- 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
3.75
Graphic: Alcoholism, Mental illness, Addiction, and Alcohol
Moderate: Grief
Minor: Eating disorder, Incest, and Ableism
Multiple drunk characters mention twins as a "fantasy come to life" and wanting them to get drunk enough that they'd kiss each other.tkatt20's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
After reading a lot of fantasy lately, I wanted a slow-paced contemporary to change things up a bit, but that’s pretty much all this was. I didn’t like the characters, the plot was non existent, and I felt like nothing was resolved in the end. It was unsatisfactory and I feel like I wasted my time.
This book starts with the main character starting college with her twin sister. It’s no surprise that there’s immediate problems when she meets her roommate Raegen, who is older and makes fun of the MC for her interest in the popular book series Simon Snow. The author included excerpts from the Simon Snow series and some fanfiction before the start of each chapter which I did like since it was a bit of a tempo change. The MC is very obviously a huge fan and she’s the author of some very popular fanfiction within the fandom. Right off the bat I didn’t see too many problems, it seemed to start okay and the MC was relatable, but I could not get past her name; Cather. If they had called her Cat I wouldn’t have minded, but Cath was just to hard for me to say/understand and Cather makes me think of medical equipment and I just don’t like it. I can usually get past names I don’t like , but Cath had some very questionable morals. There is some extremely questionable dialogue a few chapters in between Cath and Raegen and I felt gross just reading it. Cath is extremely judgmental and rude and has a very strange obsession with eyebrows and hairlines like that’s all that matters on a person, you could actually play a really good drinking game with how much she mentions eyebrows. Cath also describes Raegen as a heavier person, but also seems surprised at how confident she is, like a heavier person can’t be confident. The whole thing just left a bad taste in my mouth.
I am honestly not sure if there’s many characters I actually liked in this book. Wren plays a big part for fairly obvious reasons, but she treats everyone horribly. She comes across as stuck up and spoiled with zero empathy for anyone else, and especially not Cath. She is almost never held accountable for her actions until the end, and even then she fights with everyone and it’s extremely immature for someone in college. You meet the main love interest Levi early on in the book as well. Levi is one of the few characters I did like, but he didn’t have much dimension. He just felt like the stereotypical hot "golden retriever" boyfriend that is insanely nice to everyone and somehow falls for Cath even though she’s extremely rude and unpleasant to be around. I honestly don’t know if Cath even thought he was attractive with how much she nit picked his appearance. The guy deserved better.
This book did an exceptionally good job of dancing around important topics like mental health and learning disabilities. It is fairly rare finding a YA book that includes these topics but it isn’t the main focus so I was excited about that but then they just don’t deal with them at all. The issues come up but the characters just find loopholes or flat out refuse to deal with their problems and I feel that just encourages bad habits for the readers. I also feel like this book didn’t do a great job portraying fan culture, it pretty much just talked about how you’re judged if you’re a big fan of a popular series, which I’m sure many readers can relate to that, I just wish it could have included Cath actually being proud of who she is and what she enjoys. By the end of the story it felt like absolutely nothing was accomplished. There was almost no character development aside from Cath actually standing up for herself at the end. It felt like it ended the same way it started, and any of the big conflicts that happened just didn’t have a very satisfying ending.
The only reason I didn’t rate it lower was that I did manage to finish it and it wasn’t an all around unpleasant read. The middle of the book was not that bad and I did end up finding Cath to be somewhat relatable and I enjoyed the few good role models she had, but I can not see myself reading this book again. I probably wouldn’t recommend this book unless you wanted a simple coming of age story with an okay romance since that’s really all there is going on here.
Graphic: Alcohol, Mental illness, and Vomit
Moderate: Eating disorder, Medical content, and Panic attacks/disorders