So here you go: another review where I explain how I got in my own way while reading this book. I'm beginning to think I only ever review myself anymore, but it's so transparent - at least with my recent reads - that my reaction is all about ME. This was a sweet (maybe too sweet) well-written book, and I did enjoy it, but it kept pissing me off because it didn't reflect MY freshman year reality. 
 I mean, how self-centred is that? Super self-centred. 
 But that was a painful year for me. A very painful year, one that is burned indelibly into my brain. I don't like revisiting it, and there's so much similar here (social anxiety! Scared of sex! Family trauma!) that it makes the dissimilar stuff jarringly dissonant. 
 I think, maybe, this is part of why I prefer fantasy to realistic fiction: there's more wiggle room. Everything is potentially metaphorical, so the story reflects your reality even though it isn't identical. With this kind of photorealism, you see the details that don't match, and they're not as open to interpretation. So when Cath doesn't end up with a Bad Boyfriend (not discussing it here), I fear I'm prone to sneering and thinking the author has pulled her punches. 
 And she hasn't, right? In what universe is mentally ill father and sister almost dying a pulled punch? Nowhere. Cath suffers too, and I can't just grant her Levi because I am a giant sourpuss. 
 So yes: this is a delightful book unless you had a particularly terrible freshman year and find it triggering. I enjoyed the fanfiction excerpts best. And Reagan.