Ship It Hardcover – May 1, 2018

THIS IS THE WORST BOOK THAT I HAVE EVER READ.As an avid fangirl, I was optimistic about a book that focused on fandom. Especially, given how this mirrors a certain event that occurred in the supernatural fandom back in 2013. However, what I read was the worst representation of fandom I have ever seen. The main character is entitled, cruel and never faces ANY consequences for any of the awful acts that she commits. Reading this was like watching a train wreck. The main character, Claire, is so unlikable but she is supposed to be sympathetic.She' not.(SPOILER ALERT AHEAD)The romance is also awful. It may be gay but it's unhealthy and Claire treats Tess more like an inconvenience (she literally calls her a distraction) and keeps being slightly homophobic and never really learns her lesson. She also humiliates Tess and out her as being a fan of the show (even though Tess had explicitly told her she wanted to keep it a secret.) Claire is just so self-righteous and doesn't know boundaries. She is an awful person a deserved to get consequences for all the awful things she does.Oh boy, does she do awful things... she tries to literally and explicitly BLACKMAIL the executive producer to make her ship canon, SABOTAGES the panel at the convention, releases private information about one of the actors (which was given in confidence) and even gets said actor eventually fired.She faces no consequences about these actions and even gets treated like a hero. This book is disgusting. She is that toxic part of tumblr that everyone hates. Don't waste your money on this, there are way better books that deal with fandom than this one. The writing is also so bad and cringy. Reading it will just frustrate you and fill you with anger.

I loved this book on so many levels.I loved it as a person who loves fandom. The love and care with which Britta approaches fandom is rare and special. She knows the good and bad of fandom and she does an excellent job of bringing that to life.I loved it as the mother of a queer teenager. Knowing there is a book out there with such sweet, relatable, confused, queer narrator is a gift.I loved it as the mother of a child that loves fandom. My daughter and I both read this book and squeed over it together. It’s unusual, in my experience, to be able to share a book with my teenager meets us both at an intersection of interests. While my daughter was reading it I got constant updates on the state of her feels. While I was reading, she would grill me on which parts I had reached. It was such a fun bonding experience.Finally, I loved it as someone who enjoys watching talented, creative women succeed! I’m excited to watch all the places Britta goes in the future!

This is a fun book about the ups a downs of fandom -- part cautionary tale, part romance, part celebration of fangirl culture (even though sometimes it goes too far). One thing I love about it is that Britta Lundin really knows her stuff on both sides of the aisle and manages to make (almost) everyone sympathetic. There are different points of view, not just the obvious fangirl vs actor, but also different views on each side.Although there is definite drama -- like, major drama -- the Demon Heart fandom is an idealized one. There are no ship wars, no racism that we see among the fandom (the central ship is IR -- brown Latino and white -- and the entire fandom loves it, which is honestly fantasy), and, without spoiling too much, the ship isn't entirely in the girls' heads.It's also fun because you, the reader, start shipping the protagonist, Claire (who hasn't figured out her sexuality yet), small-town white fangirl, and Tess, a slightly more down-to-earth pansexual fangirl who is the personification of "Black girl magic." As a Black fan myself, I appreciated the representation, and the fact that Tess brought up fandom issues that Claire -- who doesn't have an overtly racist bone in her body -- had never considered, like the lack of Black representation on her favorite show.I thought about giving it 4 stars for being soft on the fandom racism issue, but you know what? It's a kind of fantasy, and I couldn't put it down.

When I was a teen like Clare, I was deeply ashamed of my love of fan fiction. When I was older, I started watching a show called Teen Wolf. Teen Wolf fandom was a wild ride, mostly centered around trying to convince the showrunner that two of his main male characters should kiss. Needless to say, I related to this book with every single part of my heart.This novel is a story told with the tenderness that only comes from knowing. Britta clearly has two hands in fandom, and her story is crafted from a caring and empathetic standpoint. She's not writing about something she finds interesting from the outside in. Her fandom details rang so, so true for me.This story has such a richness, both in detail and plot, but most importantly emotion. Our hero, Clare, is certainly on a journey of her own, and it's so incredible to watch her grow. Plus, the ending was amazing. This book will spend a very long time in my heart.

When I first started reading this book, I put it down again because I'm not enough of a fangirl to get into the emotions of a fictional fandom.Or so I thought, until I luckily picked it back up.Sadly, this book still does that thing where the protagonist thinks they can determine someone's gender by just looking at them; but it does acknowledge there are more than two genders, racism is a thing (that white people literally can not fully understand), different kinds of attraction are real, and, y'know, figuring out your own queer identity is CONFUSING as shit.I've outgrown my lonely highschool time a while ago and also I've been out for a while, but this book still had me crying shamelessly on the train.If you want a book that feels just so REAL because it's full of queerness and social insecurity and also modern technology like Tumblr and Netflix, this is a good go-to.

I wanted to like this book SO BADLY. As someone who has been active in different fandoms (to an obsession point) for years — it was seemed like it would be near and dear to my heart.However, this book is just full of cringe-worthy moments... and I couldn’t even bring myself to finish it. Claire’s reaction to everything in the first twenty-some chapters I managed to get through is very “my opinion is the RIGHT opinion, therefore you’re all wrong if you don’t agree and I’ll make sure everyone knows it” and trying to force her ideas of WHY she’s right onto everyone. This is not a good behaviour to idolize. One Direction fandom Larries, anyone?Her character is very much like a Mary-Sue from fan fictions, in which she can do no wrong. To sum it up... I’d honestly rather re-read Twilight or something else that’s slightly less problematic.On the plus side, the writing is well done and easy to follow... if that could be considered a plus, considering the content isn’t that great to be following in the first place.