Fangirl

Identical twin Cather (sister's name is Wren--get it?) writes popular slash fiction in the world of a Harry Potter like series where the lovers are the Harry-like character Simon Snow and his enemy, a Draco Malfoy stand-in Baz (who is also a vampire). Cath is also an introverted college freshman and virgin from Omaha at college in Lincoln. Her twin sister/best friend is blowing her off, their estranged mother is poking her head into their lives, and their dad is fragile. Plus there are some boy issues, what might be an anxiety disorder and a little schoolwork to worry about.

I was taken in by this book from the title page, where I saw that one of the LCSH assigned is Groupies--Fiction. Groupies? Really? The cataloger could have chosen Fan fiction. I wonder why they didn't? Maybe because Fan fiction--Fiction would have been too weird? Fans (Persons) was also an option. I wish they'd chosen one of the Fan headings. Groupies seems demeaning and feminized. Right--fans are men who drink beer at sporting events and groupies are girls who have sex with band members? The second heading, Authorship, is more representative of the problem of the novel, Cath finding her voice.

Merwolves are creatures in the Simon Snow series. I love that. And this passage:

"I find Ugg boots really comforting," Cath said.
"Why? Because they're warm?"
"No. Because they remind me that we live in a place where you can still get away with, even get excited about, Ugg boots. In fashionable places, you have to pretend that you're over them, or that you've always hated them. But in Nebraska, you can still be happy about new Ugg boots. That's nice. There's no end of the innocence."

Huge points also for this comment from Rowell in her acknowledgments section. "My editor, Sara, who is fucking awesome." You gotta love that realness, especially in a YA book.