Cath is leaving home for the first time to attend college. As if this wasn’t hard enough, Cath’s twin sister, Wren, doesn’t want to be roommates. She wants to find herself and become her own person away from Cath. Burn.

So off to college Cath goes, meeting a new roommate and her hot boyfriend, as well as secretly writing her Simon Snow fan-fiction. She isn’t just a fan of Simon Snow, a Harry-Potter-esque magical book series. She’s the BIGGEST fan, writing fan fiction that thousands of followers read every week. She can’t let the fascinating world of Snow go. After all, it’s what she and her sister clung to after their Mom left them years ago. Most of all, Simon Snow lets Cath dive into a world that’s not her own, and continue being the girl she was back at home.

But challenges arise when her writing professor dumps on her fan fiction. Then she falls for the hot boyfriend of her roommate, and her sister gets herself into some serious trouble. Add in her Dad and his own bouts of mental illness, and it’s enough to make any freshmen lose it. Can Cath keep it all together? Can she grow up and still be the same Cath who loves Simon Snow and her thousands of fans?

This is a really fantastic read – definitely my favorite contemporary YA. I’m not usually a big fan of the genre, but this one was so unique, and so well written, that I immediately fell in love. As a HUGE Harry Potter nerd myself, I identify with a character who has a hard time letting go and growing up. I thought Cath was accessible and likable, and I rooted for her the whole way. You should definitely pick up this book today!