Fangirl: A novel

Fangirl follows Cath, an introverted uber fan of Simon Snow (a Harry Potter-like fantasy series.) She is also one of the most popular fan-fiction authors, with a large following for her series. She grew up with her extroverted identical twin sister and bipolar father in Omaha, Nebraska. (Their mother left them when they were in elementary school.) The story follows her in her first year of college at University of Nebraska. She tries to avoid people, yet has a super outgoing roommate that forces the issue. Her roommates's hometown boyfriend, Levi hangs out there a lot and is super friendly towards Cath. Her twin sister Ren also goes to school there, but seems to spend most of her time partying. Cath is taking a writing class where she excels. She partners with Nick to do a lot of writing. She has almost all As. Then her world starts to turn upside down. Her writing teacher gave her an F on an assignment because she turned in a fan fiction story in the Simon Snow universe. She gradually does more stuff with Levi and helps read Outsiders to him. (He has a reading disability.) They kiss. Then she goes to a party and sees him kissing somebody else. Her father suffers from an episode and is hospitalized. Nick decides to turn their story in as his. She hardly talks to her sister. Even her mom tries to reappear in their life. She goes home and decides not to go back to school. However, she is convinced to go back and things end up happily ever after. (She talks to mom. Her sister is hospitalized for drinking, is forced to go sober. The novel then has a whirlwind end. Cath gets back together with Levi, re-ups for next year with her roommate, reconciles with her sister, shames Nick, and finishes her writing. It seems that the author just ran out of steam and tied everything up. The ending destroys the book. Cath's heartless rejection of Nick's proposed co-writing credit invalidates much of her growth. The hook-up with Levi was telegraphed from the first time they met, so it had to happen. However, it would be nice to see some more growth in his character. The book had potential, but did not quite deliver.