I had been eyeing this book for a good while, and was so happy when I finally picked it up. EVERYONE was raving about it, there were NO exceptions. 
 So I went into this book expecting to love it too. To be fair, I should have known better as I didn't love E&P as much as everyone else, but I thought it was alright. Now, by reading this book, I also re-evaluated E&P in a way. Because I remembered what I disliked so much about that book. 
 After about 50 pages I already knew I was going to hate the book. I already disliked the main character, Cath(er), and I thought her obsession with gay fanfiction was weird (for a straight girl). 
 So let me tell you why I disliked the book so much. I figured I would sit it out to the end so I could formulate an appropriate review and who knows, maybe I'd be pleasantly surprised. 
 * Like I said, I strongly disliked the main character. I understand (social) anxiety and I understand escapism. however, she was not open minded. She was close-minded and just not an interesting person in general. I did not want to get to know her better. Sure, she was socially awkward, but this could have been saved if her thoughts were interesting, or at the very least witty. She had no spine. She had no substance. Everything was about Simon Snow and her whole character was based on her love for him and she had no interests apart from him. She could not even do simple tasks without reverting back to her fan fiction. She could not kiss a boy without reading fan fiction first, she cannot write a story that is not based upon Simon Snow and his 'World of Mages'. 
 Not to mention, she was condescending as fuck. When Levi told her he had not read the SS books, she was completely bitchy about it. 
 She was also so touchy about her fan fiction to the point that it became straight up embarrassing. When her sister made a witty remark about her love for SS and Baz, she went completely drama mode about them being untouchable . Woman, grow a spine. You're 18. You're not supposed to cry over someone, who by the way loves your precious SS and Baz as much as you do, making a witty remark. 
 And this is something that ties in with Eleanor too, RR's female characters do not act their age. Eleanor was 16 IIRC, and Cath is supposed to be 18. They both read like 12 year old girls and I am not exaggerating. When you hit 16 in this modern world, you are expected to be someone, and circumstances have caused you to be someone. No one of that age is still in their 'safe space' all the fucking time . 
 Not to mention she was condescending to Nick (who I will come back to later) about him writing about a quirky female. She doesn't like that. She seems to dislike quirky females to the fact that she ridicules Nick writing about it. 'Oh my god, why is this 22 year old wishing on a dandelion , that is so cliche' > says the 18 year old who is literally living a cliche (the good old assuming that Levi is Reagan's boyfriend even though this was never mentioned anywhere and just made me roll my eyes when we found out he wasn't, like duh). Regardless, she is criticizing that girl for wishing on a dandelion but at least she has quirks that make her interesting. I'd rather hang out with a 22 year old girl that would want to park the car to wish on dandelions like YES, show me some lust for life, than hang out with Cath in her sweaty room watching her write gay fan fiction. 
 Then let's talk about the case of Nick. He was set up to be a love interest for Cath and she seemed to really be into him. I don't know why he was even incorporated in the story except for being some sort of love interest red herring or to trick us into thinking her and Levi is not gonna be anything even though that was obvious since like page 1. He was such a nice guy throughout the whole books, until she suddenly started something with Levi. RR kinda had to phase him out, so he became the 'bad guy'. I mean, the eye-roll that followed that situation really fucking hurt. 
 And what did Levi even see in her anyway? She had no strong opinions on anything, only had a passion for SS and Baz and just had no general direction in life. She was boring, never even went to a party and he became head over heels in love with her anyway. THAT IS NOT REAL LIFE. A boy is gonna give up on you if you dodge him all the time, never say 'yes' when he invites you to go somewhere, he'll get the hint and give up. And I can't fucking blame them. All these boys in YA adult novels written by women are straight up unrealistic . Maybe I'm just not a romantic. I know boys can be amazing to girls and treat them like princesses, but these books just give young women false expectations of what guys are really like and it just seemed like Levi's life was completely revolve around Cath and her stupid library 'dates' and whatnot. He basically carried her narrative. No, the Levi character was just a RR fanfiction based on nothing. And the emphasis on his receding hairline all the time was just unnecessary. Like yeah we get it, he's 2,5 years older than Cath, the ultimate fantasy that makes young girls swoon. Stop the weird allusions to the hairline. It's sad enough that men start losing hair so early. Don't be a bitch about it. 
 * I thought it was really fucking weird that Levi wanted her to read him gay fan fiction before getting touchy with each other. I'm sorry but if you are both straight, it's just weird. And that has nothing to do with homophobia, it just does not make sense. If I started reading my boyfriend gay fan fiction he would completely lose interest in sex for a while. And so would I. 
 I am ALL FOR LBGT representation in books. I think it's amazing. But they deserve better than this. They should not be represented in a fictional world of a straight girl. They should have their own story. I felt this may have been a tacky attempt by RR to make the book appealing to that community - and I cannot blame her because lately the LBGT genre has been very much in demand and I'm glad more authors are catering to that demand. 
 And then my last rant; she gets TWO chances to finish her Fiction course with an A, but she doesn't take it because she is not allowed to write about SS. Is she that non-versatile? And the tantrum she threw when her professor accused her of plagiarism. life is sooo unfair . No, that's University. Of course you cannot take the world of an established author and twist it for your own 'fiction story'. That is not academic. She completely refused to write anything of her own creation and she was even flabbergasted when her professor expected her to; raving about her talent. Throwing your talent away like that is just a shame. 
 Maybe I'm too old for this book. Maybe I'm too much of a realist rather than a romantic. Maybe i have lived 'real life' too much and cannot understand the mindset of someone who flees into a magical world. I was not a fan.