I actually really enjoyed reading this. I didn’t know what to expect since I haven’t read the carry on series yet, but it was very enjoyable. To me it read a little like fan fiction (I love fan fiction) so it was really easy to get through. I also enjoyed the cheesy romance lol. Some moments reminded me of Harry Potter as well which made it an even better read for me.  It was honestly really cute and since I’m around the age of Cath I found her easy to relate to as well. It gave pretty good insight into the life of a fan girl, especially one who writes  fan fiction. I really enjoyed the moments between her and (*him* I don’t want to spoil) that made it feel even more to me like I was reading fan fiction. fan fiction, cheesy romance, and Harry Potter references are all my favorite cup of tea. 

Read this for the first time when I was in college, and even tho the prose is clunky at times, Rowell has a talent to make you feel the love in love stories. Absolutely recommended to feel that mushy feel of first loves, and to maybe throwback to the time you wrote fanfiction on the library PC.

What is there to say other than: LEVI 😍. Okay, fine, there are other things to say. This book is so cute and fluffy and fun and it makes me have fandom feelings and writing feelings and family feelings and, of course, romance feelings. All the feelings! 

Cath and her twin sister, Wren, may look alike, but in most ways they are completely different. Wren is excited to start college with a new roommate, parties, and cute boys. Cath doesn't like change and prefers to spend her weekends holed up in her dorm writing fanfiction. Cath must learn to navigate the campus, including her relationship with her unfriendly roommate and her over-friendly boyfriend, and balance her schoolwork and her popular Simon Snow fanfiction.

I read Carry On, the book-within-the-book (meta, I know) a few years ago and really enjoyed it, not knowing that Fangirl came out first (not that it really matters). I decided it was finally time for me to get the full picture, and I'm so glad I did! I'm not sure what it was about this book, but it made me so emotional. Reading about Cath's freshman year of college brought me right back to my own, and I was picturing her dorm room and dining hall and class buildings as ones from my college's campus. When I read Carry On, Simon Snow and the world of mages immediately reminded me of Harry Potter (if Harry had ended up with Draco), and reading Fangirl only enhanced that impression, only adding to the nostalgia. There were so many similarities that it was jarring when a character actually mentioned Harry Potter, and it was honestly a little weird to hear Cath's professor in the book criticize fanfiction for not being original enough (maybe that was the point?). As frustrating and oblivious (or thoughtless) as the characters could be sometimes, I really liked them and ended up binging this book in 2 days!

Happy ending meter (no specific spoilers, just my judgement of how happy the ending is because I always wish someone would tell me that before I read books):

Happy endings all around! :)

I liked it as I could really relate to Cath’s obsession with a fandom and especially fan fictions.
The Simon universe gave me a big Harry Potter vibe tbh.