That Time My Fangirl Heart Was So Happy: A YA Book Review

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. Now 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.

Morning Lovelies!

I’m so excited that I get to FINALLY share this review with you! I read this book as an ARC way back in the Fall of last year when I was working at my love of a bookstore & *spoiler alert* I absolutely loved it! I hope you enjoy my review below 🙂

ALSO THIS BOOK RELEASES TOMORROW!!! So yeah haha there’s that too 🙂

Ownership: ARC from work  
Genre: YA; Fairytale Retelling; Contemporary
Publisher: Quirk Books
Published: April 4, 2017
Pages: 320
Price: $18.99 (hardcover);
Place: Amazon,  B & N, Book Depository, GoodReads, IndieBound

Synopsis from GoodReads:

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.

~

I have to admit that I read this at a time when I very much needed cheering up. I needed a book I knew would have a happy ending. Geekerella by Ashley Poston did not disappoint.

The overarching storyline was predictable as it followed most of the Cinderella cues, but this story felt so much better to me.

It appealed to my love of fandoms; my love of Cons, and those moments I had of not feeling so alone & connecting with others over our weird geeky loves–of believing in the best of certain characters and believing in the impossible.

Darien and Elle were great characters. I enjoyed reading from each’s POVs. Both characters were the products of their environments and the people lording over them and I loved how each of them finally began to break through those chains.

Elle seemed very relatable. I understood her insecurities and her lack of trust in people. I connected with her over her love of Starfield & her general fangirlness. I wish she stood up for herself more, but I connected with her when she didn’t because I didn’t use to have that strength or belief in my worthiness at one point too. I’m glad she had the opportunity to grow and find hers.

Darien had his “omg stop being a stupid boy” moments, but also his swoon-worthy I-love-you-cause-your-geeky-too moments as well. He has his own self struggles as well and it was nice to read about a non-2D “prince”.

I really enjoyed all the geeky references that the book includes. I definitely shouted in glee at a few of them (my former co-worker can attest to this ?). It made the book so much more entertaining and lovable each time I came across one.

I loved that another person/people find a happy ending too. And I won’t say who ?

So some might say this book is fluff and predictable and not the best thing out there, but for me it’s exactly what I needed when I was feeling low. It made me laugh and tear up and be filled with silly happiness because it combined my love of cheesy romance with my love of scifi and fandoms. It was a book written for me. I am the indented audience for sure.

So you might not love it as much as me but I definitely fell hard for this one.

That isn’t to say that there weren’t some problems with the story. I was a little upset that one of the “mean” stepsisters was a beauty vlogger which seemed to put a bad connotation on those who do that. I love a lot of beauty vloggers out there so it was a little uncomfortable to see that. With that said, the stepsister was still mean overall as a person and I’m sure her being a beauty volgger was just to connect the story to today’s time–someone wanting to be popular/famous in another way.

Another thing I had a slight problem with was that the book had one or two inconsistencies (which might be cleaned up in the full version of the book; since I read it from an ARC back in November).

And basically that is all. Everything else was absolutely wonderful down to the orange pumpkin food truck. So if your looking for your next happy read with romance and fandoms then pick this up! I absolutely loved the ode to fandom throughout it and I can’t recommend it enough to those who love their fandoms. So go out and buy this one; then read it and love it! ? And then comeback and flail over it with me!

Have you read Geekerella? Did you love it as much as me? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below! Also, shout out to your fandoms! I’d love to hear what everyone loves 🙂 

Happy Reading!

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