"Fangirl" by Rainbow Rowell

It's official, I love Rainbow Rowell! Cath is beginning her first year of college, though she isn't really looking forward to it. Her sister, Wren, is ready for the new challenge of being away from home, but Cath isn't nearly as social or into changes. She would much rather spend her time working on her fan fiction novel, Carry On, Simon Snow, based on the popular Simon Snow book series. Fangirl follows Cath through her first year of college and the ups and downs of dorm life, making new friends, adjusting to the changing relationship with her twin and the difficulties her father is going through that began when her mother left but have intensified since the girls have gone off to school.

This book was excellent. Something that I really enjoyed was that it wasn't structured in such a way where the characters simply went from Point A to Point B and that was the end of the book. There were many layers to this novel and several plot lines, but Rowell wrote it in such a way that it worked and kept me interested. Real life doesn't follow a predicable timeline where everything falls into place at the right time and neither did this book, something I appreciated. I really felt for Cath as she goes through the struggles of starting over in a new place and figuring out how to adapt. The only part of this novel I wasn't particularly a fan of was the excerpts from the Simon Snow novels and Cath's fan fiction. The only reason for this is that I'm that interested in that genre, so it says nothing about the writing. Rowell has created wonderful characters and I wouldn't mind seeing more in this universe. This book is yet another must read!



Happy Reading!
-Melly

NaNoWriMo Day #1

I'm well on my way with my first NaNoWriMo attempt.  I'm currently at 2300 words (over my personal goal of 1700 words for today) and still going.  If you were to take a peak in my window (which I would find very creepy, just saying) you would see an extremely tired twenty-something girl in leopard print pj bottoms and a Bedrocks City Rocks sweatshirt consuming soda to help me stay awake while I try to find a stopping place so that I can go to bed (work tomorrow).  I may very easily up my goal to 2000 words per day with a higher goal for weekends/days I don't have to work.  Considering I'll have a few days off for Thanksgiving, I feel like this may really be possible.  And I might even get a book review or two done in the midst of this.

I am extremely happy that I have the support of my awesome boyfriend for this.  I think I would have done the same thing as in the past; had too many doubts about the project and lack of ideas and end up quitting before I even started if it weren't for his encouragement.  However, I am already questioning my story and have a feeling that the audience I am writing for will change-therefore changing the entire story, but I am okay with that.  Even if I just get some solid plot and character ideas out of this, I will be happy.

Sorry if this blog rambles and doesn't quite make sense.  NaNoWriMo will do that to a girl.

Happy Writing!
-Melly