All the Feels by Danika Stone

Book: All The Feels
Author: Danika Stone
Other Books by this Author: Edge of Wild, Icarus, Intaglio, Ctrl Z, Internet Famous (coming soon)
Goodreads

Summary: College freshman Liv is more than just a fangirl: The Starveil movies are her life… So, when her favorite character, Captain Matt Spartan, is killed off at the end of the last movie, Liv Just. Can’t. Deal.
Tired of sitting in her room sobbing, Liv decides to launch an online campaign to bring her beloved hero back to life. With the help of her best friend, Xander, actor and steampunk cosplayer extraordinaire, she creates #SpartanSurvived, a campaign to ignite the fandom. But as her online life succeeds beyond her wildest dreams, Liv is forced to balance that with the pressures of school, her mother’s disapproval, and her (mostly nonexistent and entirely traumatic) romantic life. A trip to DragonCon with Xander might be exactly what she needs to figure out what she really wants.

This book started out a little slow for me, it took me a little while to get hooked.  I actually started this book and couldn't get into it, read another book and then came back to it. It took me a while to get behind Liv's meltdown over the death of Spartan, but as the story continued I really got into the book.

I am a HUGE Harry Potter fan and I am no stranger to literary heartbreak. Grey's Anatomy is one of my favorite shows,  so I'm used to producers doing evil things to our hearts (Mark and Lexi...Callie and Arizona...sigh!) I completely understand shedding tears when a beloved character meets their demise, and I totally get being in a bit of a daze and unsure how to move on. And maybe I would react similarly if Harry Potter ended with Hermione's death, so I guess I can't judge too much. But it was hard for me at first to understand how Liv let her entire life slip away for months, lost completely to this particular depression.

I'm a Harry Potter fan extraordinaire, but I'm not really part of the fandom, per se. I follow (and have submitted confessions to) Harry Potter blogs on tumblr, I collect wands and wear my Ravenclaw scarf with pride. But I have never done the fanfic thing, or vids or cons or anything covered in this book.  But this book has me re-thinking that - except for the fact that I absolutely don't have time to get sucked down that rabbit hole!

Once I got past my original uncertainty, I fell very quickly into the world of fandom and found myself completely immersed.  I loved the way the #SpartanSurvived movement blew up overnight and Liv found herself fandom famous. I was so happy that this book, which started out a little flat for me, completely picked up and did indeed give me - maybe not not ALL, but - tons of feels.

Xander was a high point of the book for me.  His character was well developed and quirky, in a way that is very different from the typical love interest, which I found refreshing.  Another high point for me was DragonCon. I've always somewhat secretly wanted to attend a convention, so I loved living vicariously through Liv.

This book is a must-read for anyone deep into a fandom, or others like me who are fandom-curious.  Enjoy the feels!