BOOK REVIEW | Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

5 squealing stars.

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell follows the story of Cather Avery, a 18-year-old college freshman hailing from Omaha, Nebraska who is obsessed with a franchise called Simon Snow. (Think Harry Potter.*) Cather is a twin who was raised by a mentally unstable father and an absent mother, and suffers from anxiety. She finds solace, comfort and acceptance in the world of Simon Snow, but has sort of forgotten how to live in her own.

When I was younger, I loved writing fanfiction. I never "fangirled" over books (that would happen when I was older and started reading Game of Thrones...) but I fangirled like craxy over video games. My fanfictions were various stories using the characters from franchises like Kingdom Hearts, FFX, FFVII, most of the Final Fantasies... and even a few anime, like Sailor Moon. But then I got older and my fangirl tendencies seemed to have faded away. (For the most part. Damn you, George R. R. Martin.) (Just kidding, I love you.)

That being said, I really couldn't identify with Cather. She is reclusive, scared and avoids nearly all human contact, which is about as opposite of me as it gets. To be honest, when the book first began, I was afraid I was going to end up disliking the novel because I couldn't get over how clingy she was. However, Rainbow Rowell has a gift. Not only did I get over Cath's imperfections, I ended up really liking her, even before she began to open her eyes to the real world.  This speaks wonders about the author, because she was able to create a sense of empathy in me for a character that I originally found irritating.

Cath somehow got me rooting for her. I wanted her to go out and have fun with her room mate. I wanted her to be a regular 18-year-old girl and not have to worry about her possibly-alcoholic twin, disappearing-and-now-reappearing mother and her wonderful-but-sadly-disturbed father.  I became invested in her problems and her terrible coping skills.

Watching Cath grow was fulfilling. When she finally began going out with her room mate, Reagan (who was a hilarious and very real character), and starting her own romance with Levi (a sweet, adorable 21-year-old with the patience of a saint), I felt really satisfied as a reader. Rowell gently led into Cath's growth and I felt like I was growing with her. Of course she still did things I didn't understand (like hold a kiss over Levi's head for three months... get over yourself, girl), but by then I understood her so thoroughly that it made sense.

Cath also grows as a writer. As her personal world is broadened from the world of Simon Snow to her own, she realizes the endless possibilities that she could write. About herself. About her world. That was a great metaphor for how she had finally accepted her reality.  She grows as a writer as she grows as a young adult, subtly yet powerfully.

Overall, I absolutely adored this book. The characters were so fleshed out and real that I felt like I was reading a book about my own friends. Rainbow Rowell, next to having a fantastic name, has a fantastic writing style that is easy to read, easy to relate to and funny.

* There is mention of Harry Potter in this book, which sort of confused me. She set up Simon Snow as the Harry Potter of that universe and then threw in HP randomly... I sort of wish that had been edited out. I don't understand the reasoning for that inclusion

BOOK REVIEW | A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin

There's not much I could say about this first installment of A Song of Ice and Fire that hasn't been said. The allegories I noticed don't come into play until later in the series and would be spoiler-y to include here.

That being said, I thought I would give my two cents in terms of recommendations: the types of people who I think might want to steer clear of this saga.

Don't Read A Song of Ice and Fire If:

• You don't like fantasy. This is a fantasy series and will bore you to tears if you don't already like or have any interest in the genre, whether in book form or movie form.

• You are offended by relatively graphic sexual scenes and ample nudity. I would not say the sex scenes in A Song of Ice and Fire are all that graphic, but I've read the works of Kresley Cole and Larissa Ione so my opinion means jack squat in this regard. That being said, I've seen some people be turned off by the book because there is a lot of nudity, sex and allusions to sex. And they're not scenes you can skip either because important plot points come up during these scenes.

• Politics makes you want to jump off a cliff. These books span a literal game of thrones: people are trying to 1) rules all of Westeros (the main continent), 2) break off from the monarchy and rule their own section of Westeros, 3) rebel, 4) stay the hell out of it. Although the politics is fictional, there is still quite a bit of it in certain characters' POVs and could potentially be boring.

• Complicated scenes - particularly complicated sex scenes - freak you out. This is a medieval world. There are thirteen year olds being sold to thirty year olds and they have sex with each other. I saw a reviewer write about how Dany and Khal Drogo's relationship was a glorified version of Stockholm Syndrome and it completely ruined her enjoyment of the book. If these types of things will upset you to the point where you can no longer enjoy the rest of the book, you might want to steer clear.

• You like it when the good guys win. LOL. Sorry. You're not going to find that here.

• Graphic depictions of violence make you squeamish or even mentally ill. Just don't put yourself through that, because there's a lot of it.

• You need to like or relate to characters to enjoy a story. There are a lot of characters in this series and they all have their flaws and their good points... except for the crazy ones who just have flaws. You may love all most of them, but you may not like a single one.

• You've seen the show and you don't like it. You probably won't like the book, either.

I hope that this list of people I think might not enjoy ASOIAF is helpful for those of you who have been toying with read the series. From my 5* review, I am sure you've gathered that I loved this book, but I do realize that the series isn't for everyone.