I admit it: I'm a nitpicky reader. And I found plenty of things to nitpick, and annoying writing habits to obssess over in this book. But after a while I no longer cared about those things. I became so immersed in the story that I refused to stop reading until I finished it at 6 in the morning. I haven't read straight through a book like that in ages.
Things I liked about this book:
a) Cath. She was a protagonist that I had to warm up to. I immediately felt connected to her because of our shared insecurities but there was a frequent disconnect as she had this unusually outspoken bad attitude. She didn't come across as unfriendly because she was shy- she was just flat out unfriendly. I couldn't identify with that. But I enjoyed watching her grow.
b) Levi. What an odd love interest. I loved every moment he was on a page.
c) The roomate, Reagan. I admired her no-nonsense-no-drama approach to everything.
d) The fanfiction. I read fanfiction, I'm a fangirl- this is something I identified with immediately. It's why I picked up the book in the first place. At first I was more interested in the pseudo-Harry Potter fanfic than I was the actual story. Then the book reached a point where the fanfic became the least interesting thing about the story. I had a hard time investing myself in a magical, fictional world that we were only getting bits and pieces of. But, like Cath, the fake fandom grew on me and by the end of the book I felt like I was a fan of a series that didn't exist- to the point of being mortified when Cath toyed with the idea of some life- altering changes for one of her fictional characters.
e) I cried a few times throughout this book.