As much as I love a good “fandom writer grapples with dual identity” plot, the writing style of Down With This Ship was not up to par. All the characters feel like over the top caricatures, especially the antagonists and supposedly-responsible adults. The Spacer fandom is simultaneously social suicide and the most hotly debated topic in the school. And frankly, I don’t understand how such an immature protagonist is supposed to be such a stellar writer.

If you’re interested in the core premise, it’s better to check out “Eliza and Her Monsters,” “Fangirl,” or “Spoiler Alert.”

I really enjoyed this novel. The plot was well written to the point that I read the book in one sitting. That has been happening a lot recently. I've read so many good books. The plot...great. Characters...entertaining. Overall, I'd recommend this one. Great job!

This is such a clever book. I’ve read many awesome fan fiction books, but what is unique about this one is the way it utilizes fan fiction conventions in the actual book. Three homecoming offers, a food fight instigated by ship wars, and an evil blackmail because of fandom might not seem realistic in other YAs, but it fits so perfectly for this book. I know this will be some kids’ all-time favorite book, and I’m overjoyed that it’s in the world for them

I feel so guilty giving a DNF, but whether it was my age, fan fiction, or extremely snarky dialogue, I got to 8% on my Kindle, and wrote, "at 8% I'm ready to give up... let's see..." At 10% I gave up. There was a lot of snarky banter with no discernible plot. I felt no connection to any one of the characters. I'm sorry, but this didn't work at all for me.

Can I take a moment and say that FANFICTION becoming accepted enough to the point that there are novels about people writing fanfics is both 1) TERRIFIC and 2) MIND-BLOWING!

I love, love, love Kole's growth throughout this book. Seriously. Learning to embrace an unconventional passion/hobby takes strength and as someone who hid just how nerdy I was, and would NEVER have admitted that I read or wrote fanfics, I adored this book.

And her friends, family, and love interest supporting her in her endeavors? Ugh. So many feels. They're terrific!

Kole definitely makes some bad decisions and hides some things that she shouldn't have...don't you just love when you wanna reach into the book and shake the characters and say "TELL THEM THE IMPORTANT THING!!!" and fix all of the problems?

Very enjoyable, I would definitely recommend this!

I was super excited to start this book. A book about fangirls? Sign me up! However...
I do not have much good to say about this book so I'll start with the thing that I did like. I appreciated how the author emphasized how we are all human despite our differences. It was so refreshing to see this theme in a young adult book.
Now on to what I did not like...
~First off, I think that Kole needs to mature a bit before she gets in a relationship. She constantly came off as immature throughout the whole novel.
~Secondly, Damian's motivation seemed a bit flimsy...like, a lot flimsy. I know there are crazy people out there but I did not buy into the situation with him.
~Honestly, a lot of the characters came off as rich and spoiled kids.
~I am not going to even elaborate on my thoughts on love quadrilaterals other than NO!
~One thought that struck me was, "Why is every Christian a villain?"
~I hope this gets edited, but the SAT scoring discussed was inaccurate. I have taken the SAT and PSAT a combined total of five times within the past two years. I can assure you that scores are given in multiples of ten. One of the characters got a 1519. I am not quite sure how that is possible.
~These last two things are more of a personal preference for me but I found it unnecessary for characters to introduce themselves with pronouns.
~And last, at the risk of sounding like a kindergartener, Kole kissing a guy in front of hundreds at a fancy event is just a nope.

Rating: 1/5
Language: some
Romance: kissing
Spiritual: the 'bad guys' are Christian
Violence: n/a

*I received a copy of this book from the publisher. All thoughts are my own and a positive review was not required.

This review will be published to my blog on May 8, 2021.