Rainbow Rowell first made me wibble with Eleanor and Park. Fangirl has just
proved that wasn't a fluke.
A fan of the Harry Potter-like Simon Snow, Cath is just starting out at
college. Anxious and insecure, she's away from the father she's taken care of
since her mother left and her identical twin, Wren, has decided she doesn't want
to room with her. Left with an intimidating roommate, Reagan, whose easygoing
boyfriend Levi is always in their room even when Reagan's not, Cath isn't
getting to spend as much time as she'd like on her fanfiction (the fans of which do not include her Fiction Writing professor, who thinks it's for bottom-feeders).
And so Cath is slowly drawn out
of the comfortable worlds, both real and imaginary, that she ordinarily
inhabits.
At first my stratospheric expectations following Eleanor and Park worked
unfairly against this, and I was all set to find Cath irritating (especially early on whenever exhibiting any of the traits I have in common with her) but by the time
the wonderful Reagan (who I have a total girlcrush on, by the way) had decided
to be Cath's new best friend I was won over (and then totally pushed off into
the wibbles by the time Levi started yelling at her stories).
It's rare that I find books with romances at their centres so engrossing,
but something about the way Rowell writes about falling in love for the first
time hits me in my squishy place Every. Damn. Time.
I'm going to make sure I have some on back-up for whenever I need to
sigh wistfully for a while.
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