Be prepared to dive into the world where writers live. I love how Rowell depicted what it's like to be a writer. The late nights slaving away at the keyboard, the feeling of writing in general, and the labor of love each written piece truly is... She teaches us, through Professor Piper, that all writing starts with wisps of truth and then are bent into fiction. We learn that writers do their best writing when they are taken out of their comfort zones.

One of my favorite quotes in this book is about drafting. "This wasn't good, but it was something. Cath could always change it later. That was the beauty in stacking up words--they got cheaper, the more you had of them. It would feel good to come back and cut this when she'd worked her way to something better."

I love that description of drafting because that's exactly what it is. It's putting word-vomit on paper, just to have it written out. Just to be able to come back to it later.

Aside from the gift Rowell gave us in terms of writing lessons, this was a beautifully crafted novel. We have a strong plot, complete with unpredictable twists. We have strong characters, whom are painfully relatable. You cannot call yourself a book nerd if you haven't cried over the release of a book, gone to a release party (midnight or otherwise), or if you don't "...prefer fictional worlds to the real one." If you are a book nerd, you will feel represented by Cath.

I've never been to a full-fledged university, but it feels like I have while sharing a dorm room with Cath and Reagan. The setting was crisp and you could feel the seasons pass, as if you were watching them through your own window.

Rowell's most endearing quality as a writer, in my opinion, is her ability to show you things rather than tell you. We, as writers, learn this right off the bat in writing classes. Show, don't tell. Her writing is an amazing example of that.

One thing that I do have to mention is that if you have not read The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton and want to, read that first. There are some pretty hefty spoilers in Fangirl.

The only critique that I would give this book has already been rectified. I would want more information about the books within the book. I loved that she revealed Cath's fanfiction through reading it out loud to Levi, but I wanted more. I also wanted a better frame of reference for the fanfiction versus the original work. She fixed that by writing Carry On, which I will be re-reading very soon!