Reading Review - Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell

Two misfits.
One extraordinary love.

Eleanor... Red hair, wrong clothes. Standing behind him until he turns his head. Lying beside him until he wakes up. Making everyone else seem drabber and flatter and never good enough...Eleanor.

Park... He knows she'll love a song before he plays it for her. He laughs at her jokes before she ever gets to the punch line. There's a place on his chest, just below his throat, that makes her want to keep promises...Park.

Set over the course of one school year, this is the story of two star-crossed sixteen-year-olds—smart enough to know that first love almost never lasts, but brave and desperate enough to try.

Rainbow Rowell

Eleanor & Park on Goodreads

Rating - No Rating Given

Major Pros - Writing

Major Cons - Not much side character development

How I Read It - Gifted

Today I'm reviewing a book that I've heard a lot of amazing things about, and that I'm very happy to have read. Eleanor & Park is a contemporary that it seems everyone has read and loved. I mentioned hype in my book blogger confessions, and I'll probably have a discussion post on it this fall, and if you know my thoughts on that you can guess why I was nervous about Eleanor & Park. Everyone talked about how this was one of the best contemporaries, etc. and honestly I really enjoyed it. I wasn't sure about my thoughts on the novel until I realized how beautiful a particular occurrence was, how realistic it was written, among other things.

Eleanor & Park isn't a perfect novel- I wasn't a fan of some of the character development, and I thought the side characters were missing some development to them. However, the writing and the story is memorable. There's some great qualities to this novel, and I think it's a beautifully written story. My heart broke for the characters at points throughout the novel.

There's not a lot to say about this novel that hasn't already been said, but Eleanor & Park is a unique, memorable book that I would recommend reading.

From the paper world,

V

The Five Star Spotlight - Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

From the author of the New York Times bestseller Eleanor & Park.

A coming-of-age tale of fan fiction, family and first love. 

Cath is a Simon Snow fan.

Okay, the whole world is a Simon Snow fan . . .

But for Cath, being a fan is her life — and she’s really good at it. She and her twin sister, Wren, ensconced themselves in the Simon Snow series when they were just kids; it’s what got them through their mother leaving.

Reading. Rereading. Hanging out in Simon Snow forums, writing Simon Snow fan fiction, dressing up like the characters for every movie premiere.

Cath’s sister has mostly grown away from fandom, but Cath can’t let go. She doesn’t want to.

Now that they’re going to college, Wren has told Cath she doesn’t want to be roommates. Cath is on her own, completely outside of her comfort zone. She’s got a surly roommate with a charming, always-around boyfriend, a fiction-writing professor who thinks fan fiction is the end of the civilized world, a handsome classmate who only wants to talk about words . . . And she can’t stop worrying about her dad, who’s loving and fragile and has never really been alone.

For Cath, the question is: Can she do this?

Can she make it without Wren holding her hand? Is she ready to start living her own life? Writing her own stories?

And does she even want to move on if it means leaving Simon Snow behind?

Fangirl on Goodreads                  Author's Website

Today is a Five Star Spotlight on a contemporary novel that has been talked about for quite awhile- Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell! I finally picked this book up in February, and I really enjoyed it. I wasn't sure if I was going to love it as much as everyone else, since I'm not a fan of contemporary, but I was impressed by this novel.

To begin, the main character Cath is written to be very life-like. Cath suffers from social anxiety and reading along in the beginning was even making me nervous for her! All of the other characters are written in such a way that the reader connects with them as well. They are interesting, dynamic, and don't have the cliches that I see in many contemporaries. There are problems in Cath's life, and they aren't perfectly resolved by the end of the novel. 

The book is very fun and lighthearted, but it's not all fluff. Cath really develops as a character in this book, and her sister does as well. Cath and her love interest don't have a perfect romance, but again it stays away from cliches. This really is a story about Cath, and who she is. Although there's romance, family drama, and other difficulties that come up in life, Fangirl shows how Cath learns and grows from these. A major aspect of this is also her writing, which was fun to see glimpses of and also what inspired it throughout. This book was so wonderful and unique that it was fun and romantic without being overbearing or overdone. Even if you aren't a fan of typical contemporary like me, I would still suggest you try reading this book. It's fun but with realistic characters, and I throughly enjoyed reading it!

Have you read Fangirl or Eleanor & Park? I've yet to read the latter so let me know your thoughts!

From the paper world,

V