Books 2019 - Geekerella by Ashley Poston

[byslantedlight]

Mount TBR so far = 7/24 (still!)
Lj Book Bingo Masterpost

When geek girl Ellie Wittimer sees a cosplay contest sponsored by the producers of Starfield, she has to enter. First prize is an invitation to the ExcelsiCon Cosplay Ball and a meet-and-greet with the actor slated to play Federation Prince Carmindor in the reboot. Elle's been scraping together tips from her gig at the Magic Pumpkin food truck behind her stepmother's back, and winning this contest could be her ticket out once and for all - not to mention a fangirl's dream come true.
Teen actor Darien Freeman is less than thrilled about this year's ExcelsiCon. He used to live for conventions, but now they're nothing but jaw-aching photo sessions and awkward meet-and-greets. Playing Federation Prince Carmindor is all he's ever wanted, but the diehard Starfield fandom has already dismissed him as just another hearthrob. As ExcelsiCon draws near, closet nerd Darien feels more and more like a fake - until he meets a girl who shows him otherwise.
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.

With a tagline like that and a cover with stars at the top, I was never likely to pass this by when it popped up in one of my buy-these-books type marketing emails - and I'm so glad I did! I loved this - it's a well written, fandom-eternal story based on Cinderella, although to be honest I kept forgetting that it was based on the fairy tale because it was so very much a story in its own right. It got a bit more obvious right at the end, but that was fine - it had to really. It even took me ages to make the Magic Pumpkin connection (it's a vegan food truck) *g*

Ellie (again, it took me ages to go oh yeah..., just because it's a pretty popular name now, and fitted the character well) is of course the heroine. There's a stepmother and ugly (actions not looks) stepsisters, and a fairy godmother, and not only the prince but the glass slipper, and I was so impressed by the way Poston brought it all in and yet didn't make it feel at all contrived.

I guess it's basically a young adult love story - and while i never mind them just as they are (if they're interesting and well written), the added fandom just makes this. I love that people are writing stories based on being in fandom now! (Well, I guess Fangirl and now Geekerella are the only ones I know so far (though a companion story to Geekerella just came out last week - yeay! Ordered! *g*) but they both make me happy, so... *g*)

This was the perfect read after Nicholas Nickleby - the only trouble is that my next read isn't living up to it now!

Also, I bought it for the fandom reference, then realised that it totally fit my Fairytale square on book bingo - yeay! (Although I did have one lined up for that, which would have fit into Mt TBR too - I must get on with that).

Comments

[stellar_raven]

Sounds like a cute book! Glad you liked it!

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

It really was - makes you proud to be a fanfic writer (as the author is... *g*)

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

That sounds perfect for the Fairy Tale square - I shall have to keep an eye out for it.

As an aside, I looked at your bingo card and thought 'there's something wrong with this', then realised it was your card not mine - clearly I need more tea!

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Definitely worth looking out for, I really enjoyed it.

And hee for needing more tea - how worrying to see my much-less-covered card rather than your own! *g*

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

I think we're about the same regarding number of squares, but mine's a different pattern.