Title: Geekerella
Author: Ashley Poston
Format: Hardcover
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 320
Date Published: April 4, 2017
Publisher: Quirk Books
Date Published: April 4, 2017
Publisher: Quirk Books
Description:
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 Wittier 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.
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 Wittier 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.
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THE REVIEW
Reviewer: Sam
Reviewer: Sam
Rating: 4/5 Stars
Source: Purchased from Barnes and Noble
Well, guys. Sometimes you know exactly what you want from a book. Sometimes you visit the bookstore with a very specific narrative in mind, and you are uber-prepared to scan the shelves until you find precisely that. And because every story has already been told, sometimes you get lucky and stumble across it before the staff kick you out at closing. Sometimes it's all as simple as that.
Geekerella is just such a book -- the kind you go looking for when your literary craving is extra specific and the one you purchase when you MUST HAVE, say, a contemporary Cinderella retelling with a diverse cast and a geeky twist. And hey! Lucky you! It's freaking AMAZING.
There's nothing super exceptional about this novel... except for it's being just what every fangirl and fanboy never knew they needed!! What I mean is it's a retelling. A Cinderella retelling. You've got your wicked stepfamily, your gentle-hearted and taken-advantage-of main character, your pretty-perfect Prince Charming. You've got your not-entirely-reliable pumpkin transportation, your once-in-a-lifetime ball, your otherworldly ballgown. You've got your forgotten glass slipper. In this way, it's all pretty predictable. But don't think predictability is a fault! It's not. To search the shelves for a Cinderella retelling, after all, is to search for those very things. I'd have been quite disappointed had Poston's novel eliminated some or all of them, had it altered their syntax overmuch.
So Geekerella is predictable in that it's a retelling... but it's got its surprises, too. The cast of characters is PERFECTION. I super-loved Elle and Darien and Sage and Cal. (Okay. Admittedly, Cal has her ugly moments. Still, though.) The best part? THEY'RE DIVERSE. The novel handles their diversity with tact, too. Darien's being of color, Sage's being lesbian, Cal's being lesbian/bisexual... each character is crafted with grace, their culturally non-dominant qualities depicted as essential but not inevitable to who they are. In so crafting and depicting, the novel challenges notions of normativity. Goodness, friends! It's refreshing!
Finally, the fandom. Duh! It's totally the best part! Gotta love those Star Trek and Star Wars references, y'all! Gotta love the fangirl/fanboy lingo! Gotta love the LOVE for all things geek! If you're like me, you don't know too many people who share your passion for characters and narratives and cosplay. If you're like me, you kinda-definitely insta-love anyone who knows anything about any one of your fandoms, yeah? And if you're like me, you sometimes can't help but feel a wee bit lonely in your die-hardness... that is, until you find your people online and in-line at cons. Guys, if you're like me, give this book a whirl. It's all the magic of ordinary Cinderella finding her extraordinary. It's all the magic of you and me finding others like us and living happily ever after in the knowledge that we're not alone in our geekiness and quirkiness and passion for fictional worlds and characters (that may or not feel slightly more real and significant than our typical everyday).
Source: Purchased from Barnes and Noble
Well, guys. Sometimes you know exactly what you want from a book. Sometimes you visit the bookstore with a very specific narrative in mind, and you are uber-prepared to scan the shelves until you find precisely that. And because every story has already been told, sometimes you get lucky and stumble across it before the staff kick you out at closing. Sometimes it's all as simple as that.
Geekerella is just such a book -- the kind you go looking for when your literary craving is extra specific and the one you purchase when you MUST HAVE, say, a contemporary Cinderella retelling with a diverse cast and a geeky twist. And hey! Lucky you! It's freaking AMAZING.
There's nothing super exceptional about this novel... except for it's being just what every fangirl and fanboy never knew they needed!! What I mean is it's a retelling. A Cinderella retelling. You've got your wicked stepfamily, your gentle-hearted and taken-advantage-of main character, your pretty-perfect Prince Charming. You've got your not-entirely-reliable pumpkin transportation, your once-in-a-lifetime ball, your otherworldly ballgown. You've got your forgotten glass slipper. In this way, it's all pretty predictable. But don't think predictability is a fault! It's not. To search the shelves for a Cinderella retelling, after all, is to search for those very things. I'd have been quite disappointed had Poston's novel eliminated some or all of them, had it altered their syntax overmuch.
So Geekerella is predictable in that it's a retelling... but it's got its surprises, too. The cast of characters is PERFECTION. I super-loved Elle and Darien and Sage and Cal. (Okay. Admittedly, Cal has her ugly moments. Still, though.) The best part? THEY'RE DIVERSE. The novel handles their diversity with tact, too. Darien's being of color, Sage's being lesbian, Cal's being lesbian/bisexual... each character is crafted with grace, their culturally non-dominant qualities depicted as essential but not inevitable to who they are. In so crafting and depicting, the novel challenges notions of normativity. Goodness, friends! It's refreshing!
Finally, the fandom. Duh! It's totally the best part! Gotta love those Star Trek and Star Wars references, y'all! Gotta love the fangirl/fanboy lingo! Gotta love the LOVE for all things geek! If you're like me, you don't know too many people who share your passion for characters and narratives and cosplay. If you're like me, you kinda-definitely insta-love anyone who knows anything about any one of your fandoms, yeah? And if you're like me, you sometimes can't help but feel a wee bit lonely in your die-hardness... that is, until you find your people online and in-line at cons. Guys, if you're like me, give this book a whirl. It's all the magic of ordinary Cinderella finding her extraordinary. It's all the magic of you and me finding others like us and living happily ever after in the knowledge that we're not alone in our geekiness and quirkiness and passion for fictional worlds and characters (that may or not feel slightly more real and significant than our typical everyday).
☆☆☆☆