Down With This Ship

by Katie Kingman

Overview

Kole Miller is the best writer at the prestigious Crystal Lake High. But no one knows it—not her creative writing classmates, or even her academic arch nemesis Colin (aka Mr. Valedictorian). That’s because Kole’s best work is a secret fanfic based on The Space Game, her favorite show.

When Kole’s fanfic wins a major contest, her readership skyrockets. Suddenly, Kole finds herself stuck in the heated ship wars, as her new readers pair characters from the show together as romantic couples. Worse yet, Kole’s classmates discover that she’s the fanfic’s author. Now it isn’t just The Space Game everyone is arguing about: they start shipping Kole with her classmates.

With her romantic life in shambles and her anxiety through the roof, Kole must face both her inner demons and the ones at her school. She has one chance to reclaim her fanfic—and the guy that Kole now realizes she’s shipped herself with since episode one of the school year.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781635830675
Publisher:	North Star Editions
Publication date:	06/08/2021
Pages:	344
Product dimensions:	5.25(w) x 8.00(h) x (d)
Age Range:	14 - 18 Years

About the Author

Katie Kingman has wanted to be a writer since freshman year when her English teacher read her story out loud. The experience was mortifying, but it led to a lifelong love of classic literature and writing fiction. She now lives, teaches, and geeks in Phoenix, Arizona, with her husband, two kids, and three cats. When not writing, she can be found gardening and scrolling Netflix for a new OTP.

Editorial Reviews

"A delightful novel that is wholehearted in embracing geek culture." —Foreword Reviews

“A fun, escapist read.” —School Library Journal

From the Publisher

2021-04-08
Kole Miller’s one true pairing is not up for debate; unfortunately, not everyone else in the fandom agrees.

High school junior Kole, like the rest of Crystal Lake Prep, is obsessed with the television show The Space Game and which characters should be in a relationship, or ship. But only Kole has her own fan-fiction blog on Stumblr, Spacer. Kole loves sharing her favorite ship in regular posts with her dedicated readers, but, fearing the social fallout if her uncool pastime were revealed, her identity remains a secret except to her family and best friend, Michaela. When Spacer wins a Stumblr contest for Best Ship, it becomes instantly famous among the fandom—and at school. When Kole’s classmate Damian discovers her secret and blackmails her, she is forced to give up control of her story, be his unwilling date to the Harvest Ball as he attempts to seduce another girl, and get involved in a plagiarism scheme. Kole, who deals with anxiety, has to navigate her way out of the mess. She gets caught up in her own blogworthy love triangle with cute baller Noah and nerdy kid Colin. The light narrative, told from Kole’s point of view, contains a lot of unnecessary, if entertaining, drama. Unfortunately, character motivations are often lacking in believability and depth. Main characters default to White; Michaela is Black and bisexual.

A lukewarm story of a teenage fangirl navigating both real and fictional shipping wars. (Romance. 14-17)

Kirkus Reviews