Geekerella (Once Upon a Con, #1) by Ashley Poston
Genres: Contemporary (YA), Fairy Tale Retelling
Pages: 320
Goodreads
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.
This review is going to be short and sweet, just like the book!
Geekerella has been on my shelf for so long. I don’t know why it took me so long to read it – it was adorable. I think it was because I was slightly skeptical since the first book I read by Poston was Heart of Iron – which I loved but it was science fiction and this book was contemporary/Cinderella retelling. Boy, was I missing out!
As said earlier, this is a Cinderella retelling but set in modern day with a bunch of geeky references! First of all, I loved both POVs, Elle and Darien. Elle is the nerdy girl in all of us. I mean, she even has a blog specifically to gush about her favorite fandom. Darien is the actor who’s set to play the main character in the reboot of her favorite show. They were both complex characters with a good backstory. Both have heartbreaking things happen to them and try their best to be good people – it makes it super easy to root for them.
Being a Cinderella retelling, I usually find myself very pissed off at the stepfamily. In every Cinderella retelling (and the original) they just really get my goat. Like, ‘I’m about to throw the book at the wall’ angry. So, of course, they had that effect on me in this retelling too. However, I really appreciate the twist Poston put on it. The stepmother has a bit of a backstory that makes you somewhat understand her position (she’s still horrible, don’t worry). Also, Poston takes an interesting direction with the step sisters that I really loved (I have to stop there because of spoilers).
Overall, I loved this book. From the characters to the fandom to the gained friendships, it was a cute book. I highly recommend it if you need something light and sweet!
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| Overall: | 5 / 5 |
10 Comments
It’s such a lovely sweet read! The rest of the series are really good too 😍
I can’t wait to read the rest of them! Especially the newest one!
This sounds really fun. Fantastic review!
Thank you!
Glad you finally read this one. I think we all put off reading books for no sensible reason. I read this one when it was first released and honestly I remember really enjoying but can’t remember all of the details. I liked that peak into fandom, though. I’ve a soft spot for any book which explores fandom in anyway as I grew up in that world.
lol the tbr is just so long, some books get ignored for a while >.<
I’m glad you enjoyed Geekerella! I read it sometime last year and loved all the fandom references and take Poston did with this; I remember the stepsisters as well and enjoyed the twist (secretly I’m hoping there’ll be a future book starring the other stepsister maybe???).
ooooohhhh that would be so awesome for a book like that to come out!
It missed some of the marks for me, but it was really fun to read. Glad you enjoyed it!
Aw that is unfortunate!