The YA's Nightstand: REVIEW: Geekerella

GEEKERELLA

by Ashley Poston

Pages: 320

Publisher: Quirk Books

Publication Date: April 4th 2017

ISBN: 9781594749476
Received From: Quirk Books

Summary

Geek girl Elle Wittimer lives and breathes Starfield, the classic sci-fi series she grew up watching with her late father. So when she sees a cosplay contest for a new Starfield movie, she has to enter. The prize? An invitation to the ExcelsiCon Cosplay Ball, and a meet-and-greet with the actor slated to play Federation Prince Carmindor in the reboot. With savings from her gig at the Magic Pumpkin food truck (and her dad’s old costume), Elle’s determined to win…unless her stepsisters get there first.

Teen actor Darien Freeman used to live for cons—before he was famous. Now they’re nothing but autographs and awkward meet-and-greets. Playing Carmindor is all he’s ever wanted, but Starfield fandom has written him off as just another dumb heartthrob. As ExcelsiCon draws near, Darien feels more and more like a fake—until he meets a girl who shows him otherwise. But when she disappears at midnight, will he ever be able to find her again?

Part romance, part love letter to nerd culture, and all totally adorbs, Geekerella is a fairy tale for anyone who believes in the magic of fandom.

Review

I'm SO SO SO excited to share my thoughts on this one with you! I'm a sucker for a fairytale retelling and Geekerella spoke to my inner nerd and made me so unbelievably happy I'm going to struggle putting it into coherent words. There is so much buzz about this book and I was stoked when the publishers got in contact and asked if I wanted to read it because it has become one of my favourite books of all time!

Geekerella is told from two points of view, firstly we have our Cinderella Elle Wittimer who lives with her stepmonster and half sisters Chloe and Cal who have all made her life hell since her father died. Then we have soap opera star Darien Freeman who is set to play the lead in a reboot of Elle's favourite sci-fi show Starfield. Our two characters worlds unexpectedly collide when Darien texts Elle's Dad's old phone which leads to a Cinderella story that will have you desperate to read more.

I think the thing I liked the most about this book is it stays close to the original. I'm all for retellings that really push the boundary between adaptation and some other story entirely but I feel the reason this worked is because it is quite simply a modern, geeky version of the original. It is jam packed with nerdy references that will make everyone smile and has a prince that will leave you swooning for days!

I really liked the fact we as readers got to have Darien's POV as well as Elle's because there was something rather vulnerable about his character that made me connect more with the book than I originally thought I would. We get to know him just as much as Elle which was a refreshing change of pace and seeing how both characters open up to each other made them all the more endearing. There was a depth to both protagonist and it was their mistakes that made them real for me.

Overall Geekerella is pure genius and it made me smile all the way through. There is something very Hilary Duff about Elle, if you put her in a blender with the Firefly box set, about 7 Pop! Funko's and a few dozen comics that is. The flow of this Cinderella adaptation is very similar to that of A Cinderella Story and that isn't a bad thing! It connects with today's pop culture and made me laugh, cry and at one point even shout at it. I was able to connect with the characters and they now have a permanent place in my heart! I'm so excited for you lovely lot to read it and PLEASE tell me what you thought, I need someone to fangirl over it with!!