Author: Danika Stone
Publisher: Swoon Reads
Publication date: June 7, 2016
Pages: 336
Source/format: ARC from Kristina from Gone Pecan
Rating: ☆☆☆☆ 1/2
Synopsis (from goodreads.com):
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.
M Y T H O U G H T S
Liv Walden of Boulder, CO is a huge fan of Starveil. The latest movie is out and one of the main characters dies and everyone in the fandom is devastated including Liv. As Liv tries to mourn the death of one of her favorite characters, people around her are giving her a hard time. Can't a girl mourn about a beloved character in peace?
I totally know how Liv feels when people make it a big thing that she is too old for the fandom. There is no such thing as that. It's great to see her passionate about a fandom whether it be on the big screen or through fan fiction. I am a huge fan girl of Harry Potter so I can relate to Liv fairly well.
I connected with Liv right from the start. She is a promising character with growth who knows what she likes. Although her mother and her mom's boyfriend tells her let go of the fandom, Liv can't let go. Starveil means so much to her. So instead of wallowing in misery for the whole book, she starts a revolution with the help of fellow best friend, Xander Hall, not knowing how it will change the Starveil fandom.
All the Feels is a fangirl's dream book! Not only do I love seeing passionate people fangirling over a fandom but I like how the fandom love spreads beyond canon. I love how people are writing fan fiction, setting up campaigns and cosplaying at conventions. I feel like Danika Stone is writing a story for all the fangirls out there who are misunderstood. It's like she knows how we feel about fandoms. She just gets it! Stone describes fandoms to a tee.
Although the pace of the novel is consistent for the most part, I find the summer being only a couple pages quite short. I wish the transition from one school year to the next was a bit more fluid. I enjoyed reading about Liv's first experience at a convention and seeing her meet other Starveil fans. The banter between Xander and her is perfect too. Although Xander isn't a fan of Starveil, he supports Liv.
Stone weaves instances of social media conversations within the book. She includes tiny urls, twitter handles and forum posts. Stone even includes chat bubbles. Her chapter titles are brilliant! Each chapter title has a quote from a popular fandom which I found unique and very fitting.
All the Feels is a must read if you are looking for a cute contemporary! It's a fun, coming-of-age story for all the fangirls, geeks and nerds that is unforgettable.
I'm ashamed to say that this book sounds a lot more substantive than I expected. (Major case of judging a book by its title!) It reminds me a lot of a campaign Torchwood fans started a few years ago (which I won't elaborate on for fear of spoilers). It doesn't sound like the same genre at all and it's not YA but this also reminds me In Some Other World, Maybe by Shari Goldhagen a little bit. That book also starts with a franchise movie release and has some interesting intersections with fandom.
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