Britta LundinCritiques

*I got this book for review for the publisher for my honest thoughts*

I really enjoyed this novel so a lot. It def focused on LGBTQ characters but focused so much more on fandom and hollywood life and also normal struggles of teenagers. I grew to love these characters throughout this book. It was really quick read. It had some predictable moments but I loved how we also got to see fan fiction chapters as well as the duel POV. I thought the book was prefect summer read and got me super excited to attend my bookish conventions at the end of the month. I found it to be a really quick read and will def. check out more by this author in the future.

*I got this book for review for the publisher for my honest thoughts*

I really enjoyed this novel so a lot. It def focused on LGBTQ characters but focused so much more on fandom and hollywood life and also normal struggles of teenagers. I grew to love these characters throughout this book. It was really quick read. It had some predictable moments but I loved how we also got to see fan fiction chapters as well as the duel POV. I thought the book was prefect summer read and got me super excited to attend my bookish conventions at the end of the month. I found it to be a really quick read and will def. check out more by this author in the future.

Lovely novel about the tensions between creators, performers and fans. Everyone is a fan of something, be it a sci-fi show, video game, or fast food chain. Plus i am a sucker for books set at cons; queer romances; and stories that explore thorny ethical issues. Ship It check all those boxes.

Claire lives in a place where being out is a rarity, she's unsure about her sexual orientation, but when it comes to the two main characters on her favorite TV show, there's no ambiguity in her mind. They're attracted to each other and her fan fiction blog makes no bones about it. With a second season of Demon Heart in doubt, the show goes on the road to three comic cons to drum up interest. When they hit one in Boise, Idaho, Claire's there and starts a firestorm by pushing her idea of Smokey and Heart as a pair. The ensuing controversy is seen by Demon Hunter's PR staff as good buzz, so they fake a contest and make Claire the winner of a trip to the two remaining cons in Portland and Seattle.
No matter what reality screams from then on, Claire persists in trying to get the actors and producer to open the door to something romantic between the main characters. Meanwhile, she meets Tess at the Boise con and despite her fear of exploring her own sexuality, feels an attraction that grows and wanes, then grows again through the other two cons. Claire's reality and behavior are messy and borderline irritating at points in the story, but by the end, you can't help but want to pat her on the back for her determination.

A delight to read, solid all the way through. This is not only a great story about a girl coming up with an innovative way of dealing with her suspension for hitting a basketball teammate, it's about a closeted girl coming to grips with herself as well as learning to navigate the scary waters of a small town and becoming the person she needs to be. It's a worthwhile book for any public or school library to have on their shelves.

DNF @ 59%

Two things made me have to DNF - comparing being openly queer to openly liking fanfic and cult tv shows, as though that is AT ALL the same struggle, and Forest getting a little two interested in the sex life of a literal child? Like, what? You've never seen queer people before, and have so much internalised homophobia, but then when you see a child possibly dating a girl, you're suddenly wide open to the idea, I'm -

No.

It reminded me of Fangirl in some of the best ways, I love reading about fanfiction even though i don't have a passion to write about it myself.

One of my students loved this book.
I did not. I wanted to, but just no.

This book may be the most nuanced take on fandom I’ve seen yet. Other books have felt more fannish, but this one? This gets the debates and the fandom splits and the moral greyness of fan campaigns, while still being largely about geeking out and loving a thing SO MUCH and capturing the vibe of a good con. Also, there is fanfic in the book and it’s actually good.

It’s also a different story from the queer YA I’ve read so far, and it tackles the Standard Gay Narrative a little too. You know, the one where you always know and that you have to know your label, and that having a label means being just one way always. Claire starts the book convinced she’s straight and ends it questioning, and her story’s less about coming out or getting the girl, and more about how fandom can help you realize your orientation. There’s other positive queer rep, including Claire’s pansexual Black love interest, and nebulous gay rep in Forest.

There’s a lot of other stuff I could say about how this book tackles identity and conflicting points of view, about how outward appearances don’t always match who we are, about how it tells the story, about how it takes on Hollywood, but I won’t. That’d spoil things. You’ll just have to read it.

Warnings: Homophobia, internal and external. Misogynistic characters and snide adult attitudes towards teens and, especially, fangirls. General Hollywood and dudebro douchebaggery.

8/10

This was like bad fan fiction.

Overall, I really liked this novel, even if at times, I didn't like any of the characters. Claire is a huge fan of the TV show Demon Heart and in her fan-fiction, she ships the two lead male characters. However, when she poses a question about her favorite ship to the show's actors and show-runner at a convention, she gets hostile pushback. One of the lead actors, Forest, is offended by the idea that his character might be gay. Claire also meets another fan Tess, who thinks that cannon and fan-fiction should remain separate. Claire, however, is determine to use whatever leverage she has to try to make her vision of the show reality. The discussions of fan-fiction, ships, and what might be going on behind the scenes of cult TV shows are fun and I was happy with the conclusion, especially since the ship I was hoping for did come to pass.

1.75

I loved that this was about fanfiction, about conventions and a girl coming to understand her sexuality. I also love Lundin, a fanfiction writer herself, writing an ode to slash fiction and it's place in the community. It features positive involved parents, which seem to be lacking in YA. These are where the positives for this book end, though.

The characters were all bullies or bullied into understanding, which I wasn't okay with. They also remained quite one note. The plot was kind hollow at best.

The message seemed to be the star of the book, marketed as such, and the thing is I have a BIG issue with the message. Yes, this is a book with a message. One which the author in an interview had said she hoped would bridge a gap of understanding, but with this message...I don't think that's accomplished in the most positive way.

Forced diversity isn't diversity. Sexuality shouldn't be reduced to fixation and fetishization, and there is a point where being the wrong kind of SJW can pull back movements instead of coax them further. I really am not okay with this being a book held up as any kind of example.

This was like bad fan fiction.

A contemporary YA novel about Claire, a young woman who is a Big Name Fan in a new fandom with a strong contingent of the fandom vocal that they believe the male leads on the fandom's show should be in a romantic relationship. When Claire presses the issue at the Q&A at a panel at a con, she sets in motion a series of minor crises in the show's fandom and within the ranks of the show's show runner and actors.

I enjoyed this book a good deal, and was especially happy to find that I was equally interested in both point of view characters--the second pov is that of one of the actors on the show--especially as in books that switch povs that is often not the case. I liked the depiction of fandom, and there were passages where I felt super "seen," as we say now. The book wasn't without its flaws however, chief among them being some questionable behavior on Claire's part toward her love interest. I also wish the book had examined a little more thoroughly the questions it raised about fandom and what a show does or does not "owe" its fans. The story raises great questions, but it didn't always follow through as well as I would have liked. And ultimately I'm not sure I'm really on board with a lot of the conclusions it kind of sort of makes.½

I wanted to love it. I really did. I'm such a sucker for fandom books, and YA contemporary is my sweet spot. And there were some aspects of this that I liked. But there were far too many more that made me feel deeply uncomfortable and that could even be called problematic. I won't go into those things here; I'm having a really hard time putting my feelings into words. It's too fresh right now.

I will say: As an enthusiastic fangirl, Claire is not how I want to be represented.

Ultimately, the measure of a great book, for me, is that I want to reread it over and over again. This is not a book I will reread.

Many years ago now, a friend commented about the film Ginger Snaps that it felt directly addressed to her interests and concerns, and that this must be what many cis white guys felt all the time. Now I too am hailed by a mass market production that feels like it was made just for me (and the hundreds of thousands of fangirls just like me in this way). Claire, the primary narrator, is a passionate fan of the show Demon Heart, and specifically of SmokeHeart—Smokey and Heart, the demon hunter and titular demon and the only two recurring characters on the show. Forest, the other narrator, plays Smokey; he is basically Jensen Ackles (’s public persona) after libel review/serial number file-off. When Claire prompts an anti-SmokeHeart outburst from Forest on a con panel, the show promoters’ damage control includes taking Claire along on the rest of their con tour as they wait to see whether the show will be renewed. Now Claire’s got 440,000 followers and a mission to make SmokeHeart canon. Also, Claire met a really cute girl, but she’s not sure she’s attracted to girls, or to anyone really; her love interest is totally out and proud about being queer, but ashamed of her fandom and fanart.

Claire is a junior in high school, so she makes some dumb, dick moves, but she’s also the best of young activism—passionate, articulate, and willing to learn from her fuckups. Forest is only eight years older, and he’s got a different interior life but also some of the same questions about who he is and how people see him, and whether he can exercise any control over either. His journey learning about who his fans really are (girls; more importantly, people) and what he really wants from his acting might actually be more affecting to me because his insecurities are tangled up, professional and personal, in a more adult way. Both Claire and Forest screw up because they haven’t thought enough about others’ own interests and plans, and they’re both understandable and ultimately likeable people, as is almost everyone else in the story (the showrunner plays the real villain, with a director in a secondary villain role). The actors’ perspectives on people writing porn about them/the characters they play, and the industry pressures that fans don’t often think about, get clear airing, though the book comes down firmly on the “the story belongs to anyone who cares about it” side of things.