Gena/Finn

cw: trauma, grief
(Full review to come on my book blog.)

Super cute story! Probably easier to read in a physical form, the kindle format just didn't do it justice. I felt like it ended kind of abruptly and I did roll my eyes a few times at the characters, but it was mostly good!

(third time reading) 5 stars realistically this time around I would give it more of a 4.25 stars, but I cannot bump this rating down because this book means too much to me. The relationship between Gena and Finn is just so... I just relate. And how fandom can be such a big part of someone's life... these thoughts aren't that coherent, but I write these reviews for myself so it's not that important. (second time reading) 5 stars This gives me all the feels. It simultaneously breaks and heals my little fangirl heart.(first time reading) 4.5 stars maybe 5 I'll have to think about it if I fail my quiz tomorrow, this is the reason why.I can't even express how relatable this book is. To me.

The more I think about this book, the more it frustrates me.

Maybe I was just under the wrong impression about what this book was going to be, but I expected more of a F/F romance than what it actually was.

The leap between friendship and feelings happened so suddenly, and then ended as quickly as it happened. It just felt... really strange. I didn't think either Gena or Finn knew what they actually wanted from each other and that just left me feeling confused about what I wanted from it.

It almost felt like two books; a fandom novel, and a F/F romance had kinda been diluted and mixed together. It left it being overly dramatic with weird payoffs. There were definitely unexpected twists and turns but I'm not sure that's a good thing.

The fandom elements of this book were great in the first half, but then it just got incredibly unrealistic and weird and kinda like a runaway train.

I'm sure this is going to garner comparisons to [b:Fangirl 16068905 Fangirl Rainbow Rowell https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1355886270s/16068905.jpg 21861351], the current landmark YA novel about fandom. But this book gave me a lot of what Fangirl was lacking–the importance of fannish FRIENDSHIPS and how intense they can be. I really loved it for that. I'm still chewing on the ending–I think it functions as a kind of critique of the hurt/comfort tropes that are so beloved by fandom. While also... kind of... being that?I saw some criticisms of this for the two girls not ending up together romantically, but I think I'm glad that they didn't? I totally feel that intense online friendship doesn't necessarily have to equal a romantic relationship, and I think this book just really strongly values the friendship.Anyway, overall, I really enjoyed this for its strong fandom friendships. I thought the mixed media inclusion of fanfic and message boards worked, and I think this will have NA crossover the way Fangirl does.