If you've been a follower for a while, you know how much I LOVED Geekerella by Ashley Poston. So when the sequel, The Princess and the Fangirl, based on the the Princess and the Pauper (or is it prince? Who knows!) was announced, you bet I was preordering as fast as I could.
The book came in and I devoured it within the day at work. Also, look at this beautiful cover!
The book follows geek girl Imogene, who is campaigning to save her favorite character Amara from Starfield from being "fridged" (a term used to describe a female character whose death is only used to further the male character's plot). This is the same Amara from the first book, portrayed by Jessica Stone.
The book is told in dual perspective between Imogen and Jessica Stone, the actress portraying Amara who is very against the entirety of Starfield and wants it her character to stay "dead".
At the beginning of the novel, I HATED Jessica and it was very different from the first book, because of how much I loved all the main characters in Geekerella. I honestly thought it would make me not love this book as much.
I was dead wrong.
Jessica's hatred of Starfield doesn't come from the actual show itself, but instead stems from the hate lobbed towards female actresses in sci-fi/fantasy (a la Kelly Marie Tran, Daisy Ridley, Brie Larson, Gal Gadot, the new Ghostbusters.....do I need to go on?)
I think in this time, this book is so impactful because it really delves into an idea of what it would be like to be a star and get all sorts of hate for not being what fans (read: angry nerd trolls) picture as the perfect princess, ghostbuster, or hero.
This book also has so many queer relationships which I am SO here for. I'm so in love with Imogene's mom's and want an entire mini story around them and Figurine It Out.
It also doesn't pander to geek girls. Ashley Poston herself is a geek who writes the way fangirls talk. I go more in to detail about this in my Youtube review (link TBA). But, so much of the dialogue is authentic fangirl speak and the references are hilarious and lovely.
Also, hella throwbacks to the OG book and so much cute Dare and Elle <3
Overall, I gave this book a 5/5 and it joins Geekerella as being one of my all time favorite reads! I cannot wait to see if more comes to this series!
Have you read this book? Let's chat about it!
Always, Raineedayze
It is only the beginning of January and I think I have found one of my favorite reads of the year.
Seriously.
Geekerella by Ashley Poston is a Cinderella-meets-Star Trek novel, published in 2017. When the book came out, so many people were in love with it and made a ton of positive reviews for it. I put it on my TBR and forgot about it.
It luckily had no wait list this year and I managed to borrow a copy from my library, and boy that was the best thing to happen to me.
Geekerella follows a girl named Danielle, or Elle for short, who lives with her evil stepmother and two bratty stepsisters. She works in a food truck called the Magic Pumpkin (get it?) and is OBSESSED with a Star Trek-like show called Starfield. Elle runs a pretty small blog dedicated to the show and when she hears they will finally announce the man playing Carmindor (the main captain-like character), Elle is insanely excited. Only to find out teen hearthrob Darien Freeman is playing the lead role.
Elle is NOT happy (imagine if Justin Bieber was playing Kirk?) but decides to enter the cosplay contest at ExelsiCon because of her love of the show and what it means to her.
Darien, on the other hand, is a secret Starfield nerd who is playing the role of a lifetime. However, when he is ambushed by fans who accuse him of being a "fake geek" and is roped into doing the convention, he needs to figure out how to deal with feeling like a fraud and come to terms with his life.
This book was fantastic! I am a huge Star Trek nerd myself and I saw myself in these pages so much. The author captured the feelings of being a fangirl so perfectly. This book deals with using these fandoms and other worlds as your home, your sanctuary to feel like there is something bigger than you in this universe, and it does it so wonderfully.
I loved the characters, loved the familiar feelings of excitement and passion from being a fangirl, and I also totally need Starfield to be a real show. The descriptions of the episodes were fantastic and I would bingewatch the crap out of that.
There is one thing I want to mention but it is a pretty big spoiler so, if you have not read this book, avert your eyes for the paragraph between the lines!
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Can we just talk about how when the cosplayers all helped Elle and mentioned how much the convention meant to them? That entire section of cosplayers helping a fellow fan out, while talking about how the show and the convention gave them a home and a community and a place to be themselves?? I sobbed so hard. That feeling of community hit so close to home for me. I love being a fan of things and to see the community come together, it was amazing.
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I gave Geekerella 5/5 stars because it was just that fantastic. I plan on picking up a physical copy soon enough because I definitely will be re-reading this when I need that fandom hug.
Always, Raineedayze
