Fiction for Teens

Twins Cath and Wren both share a love for Fanfiction: their Simon Snow stories are a global hit. Growing up without a mother, they find themselves relying on each other as they go through their teenage years. When they both head to university, Wren reveals that she doesn’t want to share a room with Cath. Without the support of her sister, Cath is forced to deal with her anxiety and adapt to life as a freshman at college.

Fangirl is a really relatable book on many levels – it shows how finding new friends and fitting in can be hard and take time. Cath finds herself much more confident online than in real life and finds it easy to get lost in the fantasy worlds she writes about, which is true for many teenagers. Cath’s feelings and what she is going through are shown really clearly. You also get an insight into Cath’s fanfiction, with excerpts throughout the book – although they were rather lengthy they did add to the story.

Although the story gets off to a slow start and takes a while to get going, there are some events which really challenge the twins’ relationship. There are a few different types of relationships in the book, like the friendship between Cath and Reagan as well as Cath taking care of her dad when she gets the chance to go home. All of the relationships between the characters were different and the way they all interacted with each other was unique.

Overall, I enjoyed this book, as the characters were really well developed. I’m definitely going to have a look at other books by Rainbow Rowell – Eleanor and Park has got really good reviews.

Have you read Fangirl? What did you think?