Release Date: September 10, 2013
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Format: Hardcover
Summary from Goodreads:
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. Reading. Rereading. Hanging out in Simon Snow forums, writing Simon Snow fan fiction, dressing up like the characters for every movie premiere.
Cath’s sister has mostly grown away from fandom, but Cath can’t let go. She doesn’t want to. 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.
For Cath, the question is: Can she do this?
Can she make it without Wren holding her hand? Is she ready to start living her own life? Writing her own stories? And does she even want to move on if it means leaving Simon Snow behind?
What I thought: I love fandom. I’ve been immersed in a bunch of different fandoms at different times in my life since I was probably about 13. When I heard that Rainbow Rowell (of Eleanor & Park fame) was writing a book about fandom, I was terrified that she wasn’t going to get it,or that it’d be a book about growing up and how fandom is childish or something like that, so I was a bit hesitant.
Oh my god. Oh my god, you guys. Rainbow Rowell GETS fandom. She understands what it’s like to truly be a fan, and to want to talk about it and how you can really know the characters you’re a fan of, and just, yes. She get it.
The characters were amazingly written, I want to hang out with Cath & Reagen & Levi so bad. The sister relationship between Cath & Wren felt real and true and just. Good. Cath was truly a fangirl who was trying to find herself in the adult world and I love it.
As an aside, The Simon Snow series is very much a mockup of Harry Potter-almost comically so- but in a good way. It’s cute to see the Harry Potter fandom fictionalized like that, and I enjoyed making the connections between Simon Snow & Harry Potter. (And I REALLY enjoyed when Harry Potter was referenced alongside of it.)
Read this if: you have are, or have ever been in fandom, if you are curious about fandom in general, if you liked E&P, if you like good writing?! Just read this.
Out of 5: 5/5
This book was 93/120 for 2013
(Also, I made earrings based on this book. You can see that video here:)
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