Synopsis: 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?
Shannon's review: 5/5 stars
This book is 433 pages of pure gold! I will be singing praises about this book for a long time, it will definitely be one of my favorite books of the year, if not THE favorite. I started this book on a Monday before heading on vacation the next day. Over the next two days I binged this book and finally finished it shortly after midnight on Thursday, because I just could not sleep until it was finished. This book has so much going for it: an awesome coming-of-age story, some very lovable characters, and a fictional world within this already fictional book.
The plot of this story is one that is relatable to many teenagers who are just out of high school about to embark upon the world of college. Entering college is like entering a whole new world; most teens are away from home, discovering new found independence, and discovering themselves. This can manifest itself differently in everyone. Rowell does a great job of showing some of these different manifestations. We see those who throw themselves into their studies, those who hid away in their dorms to avoid social interaction, and then we see those who stretch the limits of their new independence by partying and drinking. I liked how this book was split up between the Fall and Spring semesters. This allowed the reader to easily see the passage of time, and it also allowed for Rowell to show how the characters grew as the year progressed.
The characters in this book were probably my favorite part. Rowell did an amazing job of creating characters that were uniquely themselves, but also very relatable to a wide variety of readers. The character I most related with was Cath. She is introverted and studious; she struggles with social anxiety and because of this can very much "get inside her own head". Cath is a writer and loves to get lost in the fictional world of her writing. Then we have Wren, Cath's twin sister, who despite begin identical is very different in personality. Wren is outgoing and confident; she quickly takes advantage of her new independence by separating herself from Cath. Wren was not one of my favorite characters in the beginning but I did start to like her better by the end of the story. Cath's roommate Reagan, an upperclassman, doesn't seem to care much for Cath at the beginning, as they are very different, but I did enjoy how their relationship grows. Lastly their is Levi....and oh my! I am in love! Levi is a "happy go lucky" kind of guy, who seems to have a smile for everyone, he's more of a country boy, with a super sweet personality. The more I encountered him in the book the more I fell head over heels.
The last really unique aspect about this book was that Rowell created a fictional world within a fiction book. What I mean by that is Cath is obsessed with Simon Snow, a fictional character in a book series written by Gemme T. Leslie. So obsessed that she writes fanfiction with the characters as an escape and to keep the story alive. I loved that this book included excerpts from the "books" by Lesile as well as parts of Cath's fanfiction. It was like watching the movie Inception, but instead of a dream inside of a dream, it was a book inside of a book. I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a cute, coming-of-age story that is bound to make you smile.
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