Book Review: Ship It by Britta Lundin

Publish Date: May 1, 2018
384 Pages [Kindle edition]
Published by Freeform

Synopsis:
CLAIRE is a sixteen-year-old fangirl obsessed with the show Demon Heart. FOREST is an actor on Demon Heart who dreams of bigger roles. When the two meet at a local Comic-Con panel, it's a dream come true for Claire. Until the Q&A, that is, when Forest laughs off Claire's assertion that his character is gay. Claire is devastated. After all, every last word of her super-popular fanfic revolves around the romance between Forest's character and his male frenemy. She can't believe her hero turned out to be a closed-minded jerk. Forest is mostly confused that anyone would think his character is gay. Because he's not. Definitely not. 

Unfortunately for Demon Heart, when the video of the disastrous Q&A goes viral, the producers have a PR nightmare on their hands. In order to help bolster their image within the LGBTQ+ community—as well as with their fans—they hire Claire to join the cast for the rest of their publicity tour. What ensues is a series of colorful Comic-Con clashes between the fans and the show that lead Forest to question his assumptions about sexuality and help Claire come out of her shell. But how far will Claire go to make her ship canon? To what lengths will Forest go to stop her and protect his career? And will Claire ever get the guts to make a move on Tess, the very cute, extremely cool fanartist she keeps running into? Ship It is a funny, tender, and honest look at all the feels that come with being a fan.

My Thoughts:
I was gifted an ebook via Netgalley.
After having finally read Fangirl, I really was drawn in by the fanfic/fandom aspect of this book. Ship It follows the tale of Demon Heart-obsessed, fan fiction writing Claire. Her fanfic is all about her favorite ship of the two male main characters of Demon Heart, Smokey and Heart, that she hopes will become canon. After asking the Demon Heart panel about the ship at a con (much to the chagrin of the actor who plays Smokey), she "luckily" wins an opportunity to travel with the cast to the remaining cons on their tour in hopes that it will save the show and get it a second season. It also follows the young actor who plays Smokey, Forrest, who just wants to be taken seriously and make it in Hollywood.

You get both perspectives, Claire and Forrest, and a little bit of the fanfic as well. I have to say that some of the events that happen due to Claire's immaturity and, at times, impulsiveness really made me cringe and that's why I didn't give the book a full five stars. There was definitely a huge lack of understanding of her actions. Otherwise, it was a pretty wonderful book. I loved Claire's liberal artsy and supportive parents. I enjoyed reading the fanfic immensely. And mostly, I just wish someone as charismatic and lovable as Rico existed in something as big as Demon Heart.

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