From the Bookshelf of Addicted to YA…

Carry On (Simon Snow, #1)

Rainbow Rowell,

Jim Tierney (Illustrator)

Start date: November 1, 2015

Finish date: November 30, 2015

Discussion: Stand Alone

Why we're reading this: Won the poll for the stand alone BOTM
[close] Won the poll for the stand alone BOTM

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Stand Alone

* Stand Alone- Maybe Meant to Be
By Bailey · 3 posts · 30 views

last updated Aug 18, 2025 12:04PM

* Stand Alone- The Summer of Broken Rules
By Bailey · 4 posts · 49 views

last updated Jul 08, 2025 08:57AM

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What Members Thought

Dec 19, 2017 Mercedez rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

At first I didn’t think I was going to like it because I’m a huge Harry Potter fan. Who wants to read about a group of kid magicians at a magic school and the chosen one? But I’m glad I finished it! Fun read about a world of vampires and magic!

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Jan 25, 2016 E. Ardell rated it it was amazing

Rainbow Rowell... you are a genius! Did you actually publish a fan fiction about your own fiction?! Brilliant. I read Fangirl, loved it; read Kath's fan fiction, loved it, and by the end of the book, wanted to read Carry On. So, of course, when I saw it in stores I bought it, at first, out of disbelief.

I love this book. The word spells. (My favorites: "You can't touch this" and "Make way for the king!!"), the parallel to Harry Potter, the darkness of the story, the complicated relationships. Not ...more

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Dec 07, 2017 Rachel rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I haven't read Fangirl yet, but I get that this is the book that everyone is fangirling over in that book. It's a take on Harry Potter, and later, Ms. Rowell decided to actually write the Simon Snow book... So it's super meta, and still, Harry Potter fan fic.

I didn't know the backstory going into it. The description, though enticing, doesn't make that clear. So as I was reading, (listening), I kept thinking...

Harry Potter. Harry Potter. Harry Potter. Harry Potter.

It's so similar, it's impossible I haven't read Fangirl yet, but I get that this is the book that everyone is fangirling over in that book. It's a take on Harry Potter, and later, Ms. Rowell decided to actually write the Simon Snow book... So it's super meta, and still, Harry Potter fan fic.

I didn't know the backstory going into it. The description, though enticing, doesn't make that clear. So as I was reading, (listening), I kept thinking...

Harry Potter. Harry Potter. Harry Potter. Harry Potter.

It's so similar, it's impossible to NOT draw connections between them, which sucks, because it made it hard to see this as its own book when the entire world was copied from one of the most popular book series of all time.

For me, it fell into this gray area of, is this satire? Then it needs to be more satirical. Is this a different book? Then for magic's sake, some more things need to change.

What makes it a good book is Rainbow Rowell's unbeatable writing style that truly captures the inner turmoil of teenagers trying to make their way through life, fall in love, do well at school, keep their parents happy, and find themselves all at the same time with the added travesty of being the chosen one. Or the best friend of the chosen one. Or hopelessly in love with the chosen one. This took a much deeper look at the emotions and problems with being prophesied as the one to save the world in a really entertaining and clever way.

So in the middle, once it started to veer from Harry Potter, I was hooked. And like Harry Potter, there is some magical mystery that needs to be solved. And that's where I kind of lost interest again.

You know how J.K is fantastic at leaving little breadcrumbs and clues and everything ties together so neatly? This...not so much. The ending was kind of rushed and switched narrators so quickly, I'm not clear on a lot of things like...

(view spoiler)

Still, this was really clever. I love the characters. I loved them in Harry Potter, and I liked some of the more "teenage" aspects being explored. Definitely worth reading and now I'm going to check out Fangirl.

...more

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Jan 26, 2020 Michelle DeFields-Gambrel rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: own

If you are one of those people who take everything you read super seriously, then you will be disappointed in this book. It IS a parody of Harry Potter. It is supposed to be. It is like “shipping” fan fiction. It is over the top. And it is fabulous!

I can’t give it 5 stars because I thought it wasn’t always super obvious whose viewpoint some of the chapters were written in, and I had to go back to the beginning of the chapter a few times to remember who was talking. Or maybe it was just because I ...more

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