Fangirl

#1 New York Times bestselling author!\n\nIn Rainbow Rowell's Fangirl, 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.\n\nReading. Rereading. Hanging out in Simon Snow forums, writing Simon Snow fan fiction, dressing up like the characters for every movie premiere.\n\nCath's sister has mostly grown away from fandom, but Cath can't let go. She doesn't want to.\nNow 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.\n\nFor 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? And does she even want to move on if it means leaving Simon Snow behind?\n\nA New York Times Book Review Notable Children's Book of 2013 \nA New York Times Best Seller!\n\nEditorial Reviews\n\nRowell...specializes in young misfits charting their way in the world. She doesn't disappoint here. Though the theme of a young writer finding her voice may be familiar, Rowell brings to it fresh humor, heart and more than a few surprises. Cath's relationships, tender and untidy, ring true.\n- The New York Times Book Review - Jessica Bruder\n\nCath Avery's life has two polestars: Wren, her identical twin, and the Simon Snow series, a Harry Potter-like publishing phenomenon that Cath has been reading--and rewriting, as a hugely popular fanfiction author--for years. While Cath is an expert on Simon's life, she finds her own difficult, especially now that she's starting college and Wren doesn't want them to room together. Since Cath would rather stay in her room and write than do anything involving other people, that first year is terrifying, which she expected, but also heartbreaking and romantic, which she did not. Rowell (Eleanor & Park) blends Cath's first year of college with excerpts of both the "canon" Simon Snow books and Cath's distinctly non-canonical fanfic, to create a funny and tender coming-of-age story that's also the story of a writer finding her voice. Rowell makes all of Cath's relationships--with her father; Wren; her acerbic roommate, Reagan; and, especially, Reagan's ex Levi (who practically takes up residence in their room to woo the skeptical and extremely nervous Cath)--touching and utterly real. Ages 13-up. Agent: Christopher Schelling, Selectric Artists. (Sept.)\n- Publishers Weekly\n\nRowell shows us the beauty in the broken.\n- author of You Have Seven Messages on Eleanor & Par Stewart Lewis\n\nSweet, gritty and affecting...an unforgettable story about two misfits in love\n- author of This is Not a Test and Cracked Up To Be Courtney Summers\n\nA breathless, achingly good read about love and outsiders.\n- author of Anna and the French Kiss and Lola and th Stephanie Perkins\n\nThis sexy, smart, tender romance thrums with punk rock and true love. Teen readers--not to mention their Gen X parents--will swoon for Eleanor & Park.\n- New York Times bestselling author of If I Stay and Gayle Forman\n\nKirkus Reviews (starred review)\n\n"Absolutely captivating."\n\nPublishers Weekly (starred review)\n\n"A funny and tender coming-of-age story that's also the story of a writer finding her voice...touching and utterly real."\n\nBooklist (starred review)\n\n"The magic here is cast not with wands but with Rowell's incredible ability to build complex, vivid, troubling and triumphant relationships...Fans of Eleanor & Park and other bookish, nerdy types will thrill at finding such a fantastic and lasting depiction of one of their own."\n\nSchool Library Journal (starred review)\n\n"A charming coming-of-age novel...filled with complex subjects (such as divorce, abandonment, and mental illness) handled in a realistic manner, and the writing effortlessly and seamlessly weaves these threads together."\n\nPraise for Eleanor & Park:\n\n"Eleanor & Park reminded me not just what it's like to be young and in love with a girl, but also what it's like to be young and in love with a book."\n\n-John Green, The New York Times Book Review\n\n"This sexy, smart, tender romance thrums with punk rock and true love. Teen readers-not to mention their Gen X parents-will swoon for Eleanor & Park." \n\n-Gayle Forman, New York Times bestselling author of If I Stay and Where She Went\n\n"A breathless, achingly good read about love and outsiders." \n\n-Stephanie Perkins, author of Anna and the French Kiss and Lola and the Boy Next Door\n\n"Sweet, gritty and affecting...an unforgettable story about two misfits in love." \n\n-Courtney Summers, author of This is Not a Test and Cracked Up To Be\n\n"Rowell shows us the beauty in the broken." \n\n-Stewart Lewis, author of You Have Seven Messages\n\n- From the Publisher\n\nWith an unflinching voice, Cath navigates the lonely road of her freshman year at college, untethered from her gregarious twin sister's orbit and unsure whether her wild popularity as an author of fan fiction makes her more--or less--of a "real" writer. The novel's brilliance comes from Rowell's reimagining of a coming-of-age story's stock characters (the reclusive writer, the tough-talking friend, the sweet potential boyfriend) as dynamic and temperamental individuals--which adroitly parallels Cath's own fan-fiction writing process. Rowell challenges readers to love characters who are loyal, vulnerable and funny--but also realistically flawed. Cath's gruff exterior protects her easily wounded and quite self-conscious heart, but her anger is sometimes unreasonable. Roommate Reagan is a fiercely loyal friend but an unfaithful girlfriend; Cath's crush, Levi, has a receding hairline rather than the artificial movie-star perfection bestowed upon the brows of so many romantic heroes. The nuanced characters help the novel avoid didacticism as it explores the creative process and the concept of creative "ownership." Though Cath's Harry Potter-esque fan fiction (excerpts of which are deftly woven into the novel) has a devoted following of more than 35,000 readers, a professor deems the stories plagiarism and stealing because, "These characters, this whole world belongs to someone else." Cath's struggles to assess this conclusion's validity give readers much to consider. Absolutely captivating. (Fiction 14 & up)\n- Kirkus Reviews\n\nNarrator Rebecca Lowman creates another stunning portrayal in Cath, a fanfiction writer who deals better with her thousands of online friends than the real people who surround her during her first year of college. Lowman begins by expressing Cath's snarky dialogue as well as her unvoiced fears about separating from her identical twin, caring for her emotionally fragile father, and adjusting to college life. Gradually, Lowman demonstrates Cath's tentative warmth as she falls in love and begins to trust in others and in her own abilities. Narrator Maxwell Caulfield delivers periodic snippets of a Harry Potter-like series and fragments of Cath's fanfiction. His crisp British tones provide exquisite contrast to Lowman's more emotive narration. S.W. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2013, Portland, Maine\n- AUGUST 2013 - AudioFile