So, my biggest issue with reading this is that I was unsure if it was meant to be a fanfiction from the book [b:Fangirl|16068905|Fangirl|Rainbow Rowell|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1499565420s/16068905.jpg|21861351] or the actual story that was fanned over in the book. So I found this on the author's site:

Wait a minute -- is Carry On fanfiction or canon?

The most common question I’ve been asked is whether I’m writing as Cath or as Gemma T. Leslie … The answer is, I’m writing as me.

After I finished writing Fangirl, I kept thinking about Simon and Baz and the World of Mages … I wanted to write more about them, but I didn’t want to write the full series GTL-style. And I also didn’t want to write through Cath’s hands and brain.

I wanted to explore what I would do with this world and these characters.

So, even though I’m writing a book that was inspired by fictional fanfiction of a fictional series …

… I think what I’m writing now is canon.

Basically, I don't dislike the story, but the way it was written frustrated me a bit. If she had claimed to be writing Cath's fanfic, it would have been much more enjoyable for me in the end, but she's not. It's a fanfic-inspired now-canon story. And I'm all for meta, but that's a bit much even for me. I like Rainbow's books, but not when written like this. I was constantly checking to see who the narrator was, trying to make sure of what was going on, and just generally having to work at reading. Hopefully there isn't another Simon Snow book, at least like this, in the works.