Book Review | Geekerella

Title: Geekerella

Author: Ashley Poston

Publication: April 4th, 2017
Publisher: Quirk Books
Source: Received a finished copy from the publisher for review - Thank you Quirk!!
Series: No

Rating: 3.5 out 5 stars

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Synopsis |   Cinderella goes to the con in this fandom-fueled twist on the classic fairy tale. 

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. 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. Not they're nothing but autographs and awkward meet-and-greets. Playing Carmindor is all he's ever wanted, but the 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.

-From Goodreads

*Disclaimer: I received this book in exchange for an honest review. This did not influence my feelings on the book. All opinions are my own.


Review |   When I heard about Geekerella, I was stoked. A re-telling of Cinderella centered around a con that is about a sci-fi show!? Yes, Please! There has been so much good hype around this book. So many people are loving it, and I see why. I didn’t love it as much as others, but that could have been partly because I’m cursed as a mood reader. 

This is a huge character driven story. And I really enjoyed reading about the characters. Ella is a fairly classic Cinderella character; working hard and overrun by her stepmother and stepsisters. But she also had this element of confidence about her that she knew she could do better even if she didn’t believe it all the time. A trait that’s really relatable to just about everyone. I really enjoyed Ella as a main character. There’s another character we follow through alternating view points, and that’s Darien. I wasn’t sure about Darien at first, but as I got to know him, he grew on me. This is an aspect that’s meant to happen, I don’t think you’re supposed to like what you first hear about Darien. What you see is often not what’s actually there. I loved that there were some side character story lines as well. Although they were small and sometimes I was wishing they would have been developed more, I was still happy to see the tidbits that we did get to see. It’s always great to see a diverse group of characters, I loved seeing that here. 

I liked the overall story; especially the plot. It was cool to see the story played out the way that it did and the way that the con and the sci-fi show, Starfield. I love the quotes that came from Starfield - “Look to the stars. Aim. Ignite”. I loved the nick-names that came from the show. It was so well done and put together that I was wishing the show was real and I could watch it. 

I also loved the bits of references of fandoms throughout the book. There are a ton referenced, I’m sure there’s plenty that I didn't catch. One of my favorites was this moment when Sage comes to pick up Ella and she says, “Get in loser we’re going…” A tribute to Mean Girls, and a quote that made me laugh out loud, literally, as it was placed perfectly. This is truly a book for fandoms and those that love to be a part of a fandom. 

The small qualms I had with the book were mostly in the telling of the story. I felt that the story was a little bit long. It felt like it was dragging along at points. There were parts that felt there was so much detail in what the characters were doing that I found myself falling out of the story. I also felt there were points that we were being told what characters are instead of being shown. 

Have you read this one and if so, what did you think of it? What was your favorite fandom mentioned in the story? If you haven't read this, what is your favorite book featuring a fandom you love?