Admittedly, I was one of those fans who skipped over all that Simon and Baz business when reading Fangirl. So when Carry On came out, I was hesitant to buy it. But because I like anything Rainbow Rowell writes, I decided to bite the bullet and get it on my Kindle. It stayed on my Kindle unread for some time. I made excuses to read anything and everything else before finally settling on this story.

I began reading and immediately started seeing similarities to another chosen one boy wizard. I became extremely ragey so I went online to see what the deal was. There was some buzz around it being sort of a “fan fiction” type story and most were giving their blessing. I decided to power on, especially given how much I trust Rainbow.

I am so happy I kept going. The story really is quite original and fresh and just good. The friendship between Simon and Penelope is as sweet as the adversarial relationship between Simon and Baz is pernicious. Or is it? There are some surprises there. There are some surprises almost everywhere.

The characters are likable, even Baz, who has our main character in a constant state of paranoia. I saw where someone tweeted that if Carry On were ever made into a movie, Ezra Miller would make the perfect Baz. Oh my gosh, yes he would. I would watch that movie an unhealthy amount of times. I will probably give this book another read too once I catch up some on my TBR.

It was a great book and I recommend it highly, not just to specfic type of readers. There’s fantasy, but there’s mystery and sweet romance too. Oh, and magic. Yes, lots of magic. I should have never doubted Rainbow Rowell. I will not make that mistake again.