currently reading: fangirl by rainbow rowell

i actually finished this book a little while ago, but so much is going on at one time that i tend to stockpile post ideas for when i have the time...

      fangirl by rainbow rowell

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ps. i can't believe there are only 40 days until christmas. 

sarah (my agent) suggested i read some from the young adult/new adult world of fiction alongside of my standards (emily giffin, nicholas sparks, jane green, elin hilderbrand, kristin hannah etc.) to get an idea of where i really live in my writing. because i'm 28--don't remind me--my recollections of high school and college are just out of my reach, in a good way. 

i am old enough to have some perspective on both of those structured times in my life, which is why i tend to write about it. it's something i remember like it was yesterday, but the mistakes and crappy (and tragic) situations you just have to go through as a teen and early 20 something...they don't sting anymore. at least not much. time heals, but i would change the cliche to "time lessens the blow" for my particular age. it's still there in my memory, and that's why i write about it. and i'm able to write about it because i'm not still in it. does this make any sense. i feel like i'm writing in a circle. either way, the point is this: my genre is "new adult", we have discovered (18-24 age range). and at first i wondered why i would be writing for girls younger than me...the above rambling is what i came up with for an answer. 

*if you're an experienced, published writer, you're probably thinking...duh, ashlyne. but hey, this is a blog, and i'm not afraid to look silly and show what i'm going through as an amateur.:) 

fangirl was a great read. it took a minute to get into, but it's probably because you have to get into two stories, cath's present and cath's passion: a harry potter-like series. so you kind of have to take a second to get the flow down, but once you do, it's smooth sailing. 

you know the author is a good writer when you start feeling like you're the character. i actually made the university of omaha (somewhere i've never been) belmont university in my actual freshman year. i took every situation she was in, every classroom, every dining hall and put it to my experience. and it fit perfectly. i felt the same freshman-y emotions all over again. some good, some bad...but all real and all part of making it a book i could believe in. 

the only thing i wondered about was the ending...and maybe it's just because i didn't want it to end. i wondered what happened to this, to that, to them, etc. and again, maybe it's just me mourning the ending of a great novel...i have a hard time every time i get to the last 25% of books i read. and because i am reading on an ipad, all i have are "locations" and page numbers based on my font. so for this book, i was blindsided by the end...i thought there was more! but no. :( 

all in all: recommended! rainbow rowell knows what she's doing!