Author Addiction: Rainbow Rowell

Author Addiction is a feature where Kaja at Of Dragons and Hearts and I talk about authors we love who may not have gotten the attention they deserve on our blogs. It is an opportunity to declare our love for them and basically fangirl over how great they are.

This month we’re announcing our love for Rainbow Rowell. I know everyone on the internet loves her, but we want to explain why we do too. I’m going to be honest with you all now, I forgot to write this post until Sunday. My months have all started to blend together slightly and it completely escaped my notice I was due to write another one of these… oops? It’s okay, though, I can write posts like nobodies business, I just need to remember what I want to say.

So Let’s Start With How I Fell In Love With Rainbow Rowell Before I Ever Read A Book By Her

I was not a book blogger when I first heard of Rainbow Rowell. I had read none of her books but a book blog I followed mentioned her new book, Fangirl, which was due to be released in a little over a month and as soon as the words fanfiction were mentioned I was down to read this book. It completely spoke to me because I was once an awkward 18 year old going to uni with no clue how to speak to people who I hadn’t known forever, or when drunk (I am a social butterfly when drunk, thankfully I swiftly remembered to make friends without requiring alcohol, I’m not an alcoholic). I was also an avid fanfic reader. I even wrote a few back when I was younger, although I will never tell you where to find them because it is embarrassing to say the least.

Anyway, I wanted to read Fangirl as soon as I heard about, but the book wasn’t due for release for a while yet, so I was left pre-ordering on my Kindle and anxiously awaiting release (I stayed up until midnight waiting for it to be automatically delivered… that is how excited I was for this book).

I knew I was right in being so rabidly excited for this books as soon as I began reading. Cath was absolutely perfect, she was awkward and strange, but she also had some sense of who she was, even if she struggled to get this across to new people. Her issue was her shyness and she didn’t know how to overcome it and I enjoyed following every step of her story. I loved the friendships and the family and every part of this book, and it really made me want to go back to uni.

So I Read One Book, But What About The Rest?

After reading Fangirl, I then investigated all of Rowell’s other books. I knew everyone had been raving about Eleanor and Park, so I bought that, and I pre-ordered Landline, although I wasn’t sure what to expect from that book. And I bought Attachments. You’re probably wondering what I thought of all of these books, well let me tell you.

I liked Eleanor and Park, I could see why everyone raved about it, but I just didn’t connect with the characters the same way I did with those in Fangirl, so sadly that book was not an instant favourite, instead it was a book I enjoyed and am glad to have on my shelf because I want my friends to read it (there is a distinction between love and book pushing upon friends, just so you know). There are plenty of elements of the book I enjoyed and the story was good so I was just disappointed it was not insta-love.

Then I read Attachments, and the concept was amazing, someone who falls in love with someone from their emails? What isn’t there to love? But I instantly saw the flaws in this book, I began questioning how this could end well for our characters at about two thirds of the way through. Luckily, Rowell is an amazing author who managed to finish this book without me losing interest. This book was a grower on me. I liked it at first, and the longer it went on the more I began to love it. That’s what I like about Rowell’s writing, she writes characters that feel so genuine you can relate to them and you can’t help but like them (even when you don’t).

Then there was Landline. I had been so eager to read that book, I even pre-ordered. But the excitement of reading that book built, and it built, and it built, and then it became too daunting to read book. As such, that book is still sat by my bed waiting to be read and I feel terrible about it. Have you ever had a book you were so excited for for so long that you find yourself unable to pick it up? That's mine, the anticipation was too much and I knew I was building that book up far too much, so I took a step back… or ran swiftly from it and I haven’t quite gotten back to it yet.

How Can you Claim To Love Her Writing If You Only Love 2/3 And Haven't Read A Couple Of Others?

Well that's easy, I don't need to love everything an author writes to include them in my absolute faves, I'm not that fickle. And as I said before, her books grow on you. Even when you don’t fall completely in love with a book the first time, you will grow to love it after you’ve read. These are books which stay with you long after finishing both because of the strong characters, but also because the emotions in her books.

Look, You Should Read Her And Here’s Why

Rainbow Rowell is a fantastic writer who writes books about people. The stories are also good in her books, but it is the characters she writes that are stand out. So many people love her books because they love her characters as they relate to them. Much like I love Cath because I can see parts of me in them, others will read some of her other books and see some of themselves in these characters. I saw myself in Eleanor her love of music and reading. I saw myself in Lincoln and his detachment from people, witnessing people from a distance (I am a bit of a people watcher, you don’t even understand how fun it is). Her characters are so relatable, and how could you not an author who writes characters like that?

I could not recommend one single book to you, because I don’t know which book you will connect with the best, but I can tell you you would be hard pushed to find a book you won’t like from her. My favourite is Fangirl, probably because it is the first book I read by Rowell and the one I could most relate to, but I’ve enjoyed all the books I’ve read from her. It’s pretty difficult to go wrong.

And, because I forgot to originally, credit for the art goes to Simini Blocker because she is as much a Rainbow Rowell fangirl as anyway, as shown by her tumblr and website.

Don’t forget to check out Kaja’s post and I hope I’ve convinced you to read a few of Rainbow Rowell’s books. You can obviously tell Fangirl is my favourite and I am so excited to get started on Carry On. Have you got a favourite Rainbow Rowell book? Which one and why?