From the Bookshelf of Challenge Corner…

Carry On (Simon Snow, #1)

Rainbow Rowell

Start date: June 1, 2019

Finish date: June 30, 2019

Discussion: Book of the Month

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What Members Thought

Nov 23, 2018 Jude: The Epic Reader rated it really liked it

I love a gay Harry Potter fan fiction, and this was extremely fun and adorable. It's so fun to read this as a Harry Potter fan and be able to see all the parallels. Honestly, I see some Twilight in it as well, which is hilarious. I love Simon and Baz, I can sometimes stand Agatha and Penelope but definitely didn't care about them as much. All the POVs besides Simons and Bazs were pretty useless to me.

I still cant tell if this was always intended to be a series or not.

I so happy about this new ...more

7 likes · Like · see review

Apr 09, 2021 Diana rated it really liked it

Okay, this is my second time taking a crack at reading this and I finally finished it. I think there was just so much hype surrounding this book the first time around that I was disappointed when it didn't immediately meet my expectations. This time around, there were a few moments where I almost decided to dnf it again, but I really enjoyed it in the end. My biggest problem was how long it took for anything to really happen. I love a good enemies to lovers romance, but it took almost four hundr ...more

5 likes · Like · see review

Oct 10, 2019 Heather rated it it was amazing

This was my second attempt at completely reading this book and I’m glad that I did give it another chance. Simon Snow lives in a magical world that’s loosely based on the Harry Potter world. I loved the setting of the book and I only had issues with the very first chapter of the mage. I felt like that chapter was incredibly cheesy otherwise it was a cute book. It could be a good one for someone looking to cross over into the fantasy world.

3 likes · Like · see review

Aug 09, 2015 Connie rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, owned, read-in-2015

Source: I own this book.
Cost: Preorder

Title: Carry On
Author: Rainbow Rowell
Genre: YA, fantasy, romance
Overall Rating: 4 stars

I am so happy that this book was made to exist.

Thank you for that Rainbow. The best parts of Fangirl was this story and despite it basically being Harry Potter, I'm okay with that.

The reason it got four stars and not five was because Baz wasn't even in the first book. Like...this is their love story. Isn't it kind of vital to have the main lover in the love st ...more

3 likes · Like · see review

Oct 21, 2019 Damselflies rated it liked it

Shelves: fantasy, ya, lgbtq, romance

Fanfiction style | Cheesy | LGBTQ+ | Oblivious Chosen One

(view spoiler)

True rating: 3.5 stars, rounded downwards because of the first 35%-45% of the book.

First book in what recently became the prom ...more

2 likes · Like · see review

Sep 20, 2016 Rebecca rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: paperbacks-i-own, favorites, 2016

This book was literally the best thing I have read all year and will most probably become one of my all time favourites forever. I loved Fangirl and this book epitomizes every reason why I did! The book was expertly written and honestly couldn't help but picture Cath (the main character in fangirl who could have been the author of this fan fic) getting giddy with excitement about what she was writing. Rainbow Rowell made sure no pop culture references were left out of this book pulling in fans f This book was literally the best thing I have read all year and will most probably become one of my all time favourites forever. I loved Fangirl and this book epitomizes every reason why I did! The book was expertly written and honestly couldn't help but picture Cath (the main character in fangirl who could have been the author of this fan fic) getting giddy with excitement about what she was writing. Rainbow Rowell made sure no pop culture references were left out of this book pulling in fans from every fandom as was intended. Consider this review my love letter to this book!

The main characters were Baz, Simon, Agatha, Penelope, Lucy and the Mage. Although my favourites were Baz, Simon and Penelope; Baz is the vampire roomate of Simon Snow, missing for whole of the first book and coming back only at the very end, he and Simon have until this book shared a love hate relationship and are only now realising that they actually like each other. This book is about how they explore those feelings and how they defeat the hundrum at last. Simon notaces the absence of his roomate all the way through the first book his is neither glad nor upset when he finally appears at the end of book 1; however deciding to help Baz with his mothers death mystery the two become involved. Penelope is the tough talking best friend who is always honest sometimes brutal, she gets left behind slightly as Baz and Simon get closer but that doesn't dismay her and she still kicks serious arse.

The secondary characters are much the same as the main however I will take this time to comment on the main characters who I didn't mention. Agatha is the first love interest of Simon however she kisses Baz before Carry on starts and the two have a falling out; Agatha is I felt self obbsessed and annoying. The Mage is the teacher that takes Simon under his wing to train him to beat the Hundrum however he turns out not to be the mentor Simon really needed. Lucy the partner of the Mage completely in love with him however seems blind to the bad things that she encouters with him.

The storyline and pacing were superb, I really cannot stress how much I love this book!!!

5 stars a fantastic read!!! ...more

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Feb 27, 2018 Natalie rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: magic, paranormal, young-adult, first-in-a-series, romance, fantasy, lgbtq, vampires

After reading and loving both Fangirl and Eleanor & Park, I had high hopes for this novel and was really looking forward to it. Unfortunately, it kinda fell flat :/

There were definitely aspects that I liked (such as the relationship between Baz and Simon, Ebb the Goatherd, and the characters of Penelope, Baz, Simon, Ebb...) but I found it really hard to enjoy as an original novel due to how similar everything seemed to be to Harry Potter. So much of it seemed to be a parody of J.K. Rowling's inc ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Mar 26, 2016 T.J. Burns marked it as to-read · review of another edition

Shelves: young-adult-teen, fantasy-sci-fi, ng, preferred-publisher, 2016-08-august

BUDDY READ: Contemporary/Romance > Carry On By Rainbow Rowell - Restarting June 6th 2016
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

I received a copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. ...more

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