The 52 Book Club 2022 Challenge Prompt: 8. Involving the art world (both writing and manga art style!!)

Other Possible Prompts: 4. Title starting with the letter “F”, 11. A book with less than 2022 Goodreads ratings, 43. Author who’s published in more than one genre, 45. A book with illustrated people on the cover, 52. Published in 2022

Ahhh, Fangirl. The comfort food of books. This story is one of my favorites to absorb around the holidays, in particular, but given this recent release of Volume 2 of the manga version, I’ll read this in the dead of summer. Or pretty much anytime at all!

This second book picks up mid-emergency dance party – a first sweet moment between Cath and Levi. Their flirtation builds in this second book, with Levi requesting that Cath read him her fanfiction, and Cath helping him study for class. Levi is always hanging around her dorm room, it seems, but Cath doesn’t really think it means anything… and Levi belongs to her roommate, Reagan, right?

Even when I read volume one, I felt like the decision to make Fangirl a manga series was an odd one, and this book doesn’t really shake that for me. Of course, I’m still enjoying it, because Cath is every book nerd ever and this story is the warm hug we all need. But, I’m definitely not a manga reader in my everyday life, and I don’t necessarily think the art style translates well with the tone of the story. Manga to me speaks of action and harsh lines, something sharper. Fangirl is a warm, soft hug.

That said, Maggs is a fabulous artist. This is certainly no criticism of their work. It’s impressive art that I do certainly still enjoy from that objective point of view.

This is one of my favorite chunks of the book to read normally, so naturally I really liked this one. It’s really, really short though. I bought the Kindle edition and read it on there, and I couldn’t believe when less than an hour had gone by and I was already done. I thought the other one had taken me a bit longer, and I figured that, given the time between books, there would be a lot more content here than there was. From what I understand, there will be two more volumes.

These are my major thoughts, which I’m sure seem very critical for a four star rating, but truthfully it’s very difficult to mess up Fangirl. It’s just one of my favorites, and I can’t imagine reading it and not getting that warm and cozy feeling from it in any form. It’s a cute story, with great characters, and the perfect ambience. I can’t wait for volume three.

Have an awesome week, friends!