Geekerella
♦publisher: Quirk Books
♦audiobook publisher: Blackstone Audio
♦release date: April 4th, 2017
♦hardcover, 320 pages
♦intended audience: Young adult
♦stand-alone
♦source: Hoopla Digital/Library
Anything can happen once upon a con…When geek girl Elle 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 heartthrob. As ExcelsiCon draws near, closet nerd Darien feels more and more like a fake—until he meets a girl who shows him otherwise.
Review: OH this adorable book. What a fun perfectly spun retelling of Cinderella. A perfect mix of touching and hilarious moments, familiarity, and pure nerdiness. This story spoke to me on so many levels, on fandoms and blogging and connecting with people you've never met in person, on loss and feeling alone sometimes and on feeling like you are part of something so much bigger and amazing.
True to its inspiration, the story introduces us to Elle, a girl whose lost her beloved father and is left at the mercy of her garish, cruel stepmother and stepsisters. My favorite spin of the story is that her father was a huge figurehead in the world of cosplay and geek culture, even having started a major convention. His favorite show, Starfield, is what brought him and the love of his life together, and they dutifully raised their only daughter to love it, too. ♥ Now Elle is alone, with Starfield being all she has left of her parents. She runs a small blog that goes wildly viral the day she posts her feelings on the casting of the Starfield remake. Elle is determined to escape her home life and she pulls from her love for her father and the legacy he left her to help her get there.
Enter Darian's side of the story. Darian is the soap opera actor graced with the job of bringing Starfield's most iconic character to life. Can he do it? Most people don't think so--but what they don't know is that Darian is also a huge fan of the original show. And he's just as terrified as everyone else that he won't be able to pull it off.
Elle and Darian cross paths by a fluke of fate and this immediately becomes a Cinderella story with all the charm of You've Got Mail. There is great spark in their anonymous connection, and a great fire between these two characters when they do cross in real life. And while I loved watching their interactions, I loved even more watching Elle find other great friendships in surprising places, making her realize that she is not alone at all.
In regards to the audiobook, specifically, I have a few things to say LOL. While I did enjoy it for the most part, I will say that the voices were just a little off for me...a little overdone. The stepsister's voice was absolutely grating and the stepmother was loud and dramatic---which was awful to listen to, but in hindsight maybe got me hating the characters even more, so I guess that's appropriate. :) Also, almost the entirety of the conversation between Elle and Darian is texting, so that makes for a challenge, audio-wise. My one big gripe was with the actors mispronouncing words from other fandoms. I mean, if you're reading a story that is ALL about fandom and nerd culture, don't you think you ought to make absolutely sure that you know how to pronounce everything? Two of my favorites: Dalek (from Doctor Who) was pronounced "Day-lick" and Elphaba (from Wicked) was "El-FOB-uh". My little nerdy heart gave a definite snicker. xD Lastly, (and this was more a production problem than performance) there were several spots in the book where lines were read twice. As if the actor tried the line two different ways and it was never edited out. That was a first for me!
But even with a few audio quirks, I loved this one. Such a cute and fun contemporary retelling. Definitely give it a read!
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•ABOUT THE AUTHOR•
Ashley Poston’s fangirl heart has taken her everywhere from the houses of Hollywood screenwriters to the stages of music festivals to geeked-out conventions (in cosplay, of course). When she is not inventing new recipes with peanut butter, having passionate dance-offs with her cat, or geeking out all over the internet, she writes books. She lives in small-town South Carolina, where you can see the stars impossibly well.
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