When I was reading Fangirl, I realized that there are really three reviews that needed to happen. One for Rainbow Rowell's third novel, one for the Simon Snow series, and one for Cath's fanfiction. 
 Fangirl: I freaked out when I heard that there was a book devoted to a girl who was a diehard fangirl. You might say that I could relate. It's not a subject that gets talked about very often. Cath, our main character, is obsessed with the Simon Snow books. So is the rest of the world, for that matter, but Cath is more than just your average fan. She writes fanfiction and she's actually a pretty big deal in the fanfic world. Cath is supremely confident in her online community, but once you take her outside of that, she's...kind of a mess. Here's the best part--she's not a mess in the sense of being an unrealistic wreck of a YA heroine, the kind of girl that gets into trouble at the first sight of a cute boy and makes mistakes but can write them off as part of her quirkiness. Cath has some major social anxiety stuff going on. Her issues are real and painful and accurate. In her first year at college, she avoids her problems like a pro. Reading about this made me want to weep with relief and familiarity. Relief because I almost couldn't believe that a book this true would get published, and familiarity because, well, you know. My particular brand of social anxieties aren't quite the same as Cath's, yet there was so much about her that I understood on a fundamental level. 
 So Cath goes off to college with her twin sister and finds that she can't keep her life the same as it was before. Surprise! Her twin sister, Wren, gets involved with the party scene, her roommate is super intimidating, and her cute writing partner only wants to talk about writing. (Sidebar: Nick, the writing partner, is a hilariously spot-on portrayal of the kind of d-bags that write about the aforementioned messy, quirky girls. Oh, and Reagan, the intense roommate, is beyond fantastic and one of my favorite characters.) Back home in Omaha--where I like to think that all of Rainbow Rowell's characters exist in the same universe, so Beth and Cath could both be conceivably buying music at the same time from the record shop that Park manages these days--the girls' dad is struggling with problems of his own. Their mom is long gone, which accounts for Cath's trust issues. You've been warned--this is not an overly happy book. 
 And then there's Levi, who keeps hanging around the dorm. Levi is proof that it's acceptable to like the person that you didn't expect to like. Levi, with his thatch of blond hair and knowledge of nearly everything, is just what Cath needs in her life. 
 Fangirl takes place over the course of Cath's freshman year. I wish we had books for the rest of her college years, too. I'd gladly follow along. Maybe someone should write a story about that. 
 The Simon Snow Series: Simon Snow is a magician. He goes to a special school for magic, has smart friends, and an archenemy. Sound familiar? To be fair, Harry Potter exists in Cath's world, too. We don't know if Harry Potter has the same levels of fame as Simon Snow in this world, but based on the release dates of the Snow books, I'd wager that Simon Snow was a series vaulted to fame due to the success of Harry Potter and even Twilight. Gemma T. Leslie, the "creator" of Simon Snow, is no J.K. Rowling--magic spells are along the lines of literally saying Hocus Pocus. Her writing, which we see in snippets between chapters, is far from great. It made me think about how people are devoted to series and products that are subpar. But if this were a real life series, I would totally be on board. I can't resist a good cultural obsession. 
 Cath's Fanfic: So I know a thing or two about fanfic and Cath is a very good fanfic writer. She's famous for a fic named Carry on, Simon where Simon and Baz, his rival, have a thing going on. It's her take on the unreleased final book in the series. We get more of her work than we do of the original books, which is so much fun. Cath falls prey to some of the more egregious fanfic tropes, like...falling in love with your enemy in a slash-y sort of way, but it's easy to tell that she understands these characters and really loves them. And that's a defining feature of all of the best fanfic. 
 Ultimately, my status as a Rainbow Rowell fangirl is still intact.