Book Review: All The Feels by Danika Stone

Publisher’s description

College freshman Liv is more than just a fangirl: The Starveil movies are her life…and her last tangible connection to her deceased father. Thus, 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 call that ignites the fandom. But as her online life succeeds beyond her wildest dreams, Liv is forced to balance that with the pressures of school, her (mostly nonexistent and entirely traumatic) romantic life, and her disapproving mother’s new boyfriend. A trip to DragonCon with Xander might be exactly what she needs to get away from it all… and figure out what (and who!) she really wants, in this geeky romance by Danika Stone.

Amanda’s thoughts

We sure are seeing an uptick in books about fandoms, fanfic, and cons, aren’t we? It’s about time.

Liv is in her first year of college. She’s living at home with her mother, who doesn’t approve of her involvement in the Starveil fandom. She thinks Liv dedicates too much of her time to it—it’s what ruined her grades senior year and it’s what’s threatening to tank her first year of college. But the Starveil fandom is Liv’s whole life. In her not-online life, she really only has one friend, bisexual steampunk cosplayer and “Victorian gentleman” Xander, whom she met at college. Xander has a girlfriend who shows up from time to time, but let’s be real: even without reading the book you know Xander and Liv are going to probably have a thing. They have a great friendship, though I’m not sure how Liv manages to look beyond Xander’s annoying as hell way of speaking (see: Victorian gentleman). Anyhow, Liv creates a super popular video/movement positing that maybe Spartan didn’t actually die at the end of the movie. She enlists Xander to act in her call-to-action film and asks fans to find further evidence that Spartan survived. The movement gets crazy popular. Liv keeps quiet about being the person behind the vid and watches the internet go wild for her idea. Even MRM, the creator of Starveil, seems to have paid attention to it. He’ll be at Dragon Con and is planning to make a major announcement. That all seems pretty cool, right? Except Liv is low-grade miserable. Her mom’s always on her case about her Starveil interest, the boy she likes rejects her, and the break she tried to take from vidding only makes her more depressed. So what will change things for her? A bunch of awkward dates? Further involvement in the fandom? Going to Dragon Con? Revealing her secret as the creator of the #SpartanSurvived movement? Meeting her idols? You’ll have to read it to find out. 

This will appeal to readers who like a little bit older characters, relationships that are like 98% sexual tension and 2% finally getting together, and anyone who identifies with any fandom. Want to make a display with other similar books? Check out Gena/Finn, A Geek’s Guide to Unrequited Love, Scarlet Epstein Hates It Here, The Only Thing Worse Than Me Is You, Kill the Boy Band, and Fangirl. 

ISBN-13: 9781250084095

Publisher: Feiwel & Friends

Publication date: 06/07/2016

Filed under: Book Reviews