Happy Friday Guys :)
How do you all feel about fairy tale retellings?
For me personally, I usually enjoy them as long as they're written well, although there's definitely been a few I haven't been a fan of.
However, last week I ended up reading a fairy tale retelling that I actually didn't know was a fairy tale retelling, and I really found myself enjoying it.
Geekerela by Ashley Poston:
Source: Library
Publisher: Intrinseca
Publication Date: April 4th, 2017
Genre: Young Adult Contemporary
Synopsis:
Geek girl Elle Wittimer lives and breathes Starfield, the classic science-fiction 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 has 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?
*******synopsis from goodreads*******
My Review:
I'd wanted to read Geekerella since I first heard about it, as I'd heard it was both a perfect fangirl anthem, and a great example of the "famous person falling for the regular person" trope, of which I'm a huge fan. However, somehow I failed to realize that it's an actual Cinderella retelling, and not just a spin on the name, and I found myself completely falling head over heels for this adorable, heart felt contemporary.
Elle is a self proclaimed nerd, and she's not ashamed to admit it. The original Starfield TV series was a lifeline for her growing up, and now her love for it is one of the only connections she feels she still has to her father who passed away when she was younger. The Star Wars or Star Trek type fandom is where she feels she truly belongs, and losing herself in revisiting her favorite episodes over and over again is the only way she can escape the harsh reality that is her life. Forced to live with her stepmother; who barely tolerates her, and her two spoiled, rotten stepsisters that make her life miserable, Starfield is one of the only things Elle has left in her life that's her own. However, that all changes when pretty boy Darien Freeman, star of a One Tree Hill type melodrama that Elle can't stand, is cast as the lead role in her beloved franchise's reboot, and all of a sudden everyone's all over the Starfield phenomenon, including her two obnoxious stepsisters. Elle is not okay with this blatant disrespect of one of her all time favorite characters, and she makes this opinion quite apparent on her fangirl blog. However, there may be more to Darien than she first expected; as it becomes apparent that he took on this role because of his own love for the original series himself.
Told in dual viewpoints of both Elle and Darien, Geekerella is a quirky, heart warming contemporary that emphasizes being true to one's self, and never giving up on what you truly believe in. And I loved every stinkin, adorable moment of it. The Cinderella references were blended in so well to everyone going on around it, and were modernized perfectly for this "coming into your own" type story. I especially loved how the pumpkin coach was the vegan food truck where Elle works, and that the ball was a spectacular comic con type convention that Elle's own dad had helped to originally organize. As well, I loved how the romance started off as a friendship between two strangers who didn't even know who they were communicating with, and that to me personally it never felt like insta-love. I also appreciated the fact that the language, and teen drinking references were kept to a pretty bare minimum, which definitely contributed to just how my I enjoyed this particular novel.
All in all, I think Ashley Poston did a fantastic job recognizing and representing the geek in all of us, and how it should never be something you're ashamed of, or something that you try to change about yourself to fit in. Elle was a protagonist I was proud to cheer for, and I loved how strong and determined she remained, no matter what obstacles were thrown into her pathway. This is definitely one of my favorite contemporaries I've read so far this year, and I encourage anyone who's a fan of young adult contemporaries to look past the not so great cover art to discover a pretty amazing debut novel that I guarantee you'll be impressed with!
Final Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Thanks so much for reading guys! Have a great weekend, and I'll see you all again on Monday :)
This is not a sponsored post. All thoughts and opinions are my own. The photo does not belong to me, and all rights to the respective owners.
How do you all feel about fairy tale retellings?
For me personally, I usually enjoy them as long as they're written well, although there's definitely been a few I haven't been a fan of.
However, last week I ended up reading a fairy tale retelling that I actually didn't know was a fairy tale retelling, and I really found myself enjoying it.
Geekerela by Ashley Poston:
Source: Library
Publisher: Intrinseca
Publication Date: April 4th, 2017
Genre: Young Adult Contemporary
Synopsis:
Geek girl Elle Wittimer lives and breathes Starfield, the classic science-fiction 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 has 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?
*******synopsis from goodreads*******
My Review:
I'd wanted to read Geekerella since I first heard about it, as I'd heard it was both a perfect fangirl anthem, and a great example of the "famous person falling for the regular person" trope, of which I'm a huge fan. However, somehow I failed to realize that it's an actual Cinderella retelling, and not just a spin on the name, and I found myself completely falling head over heels for this adorable, heart felt contemporary.
Elle is a self proclaimed nerd, and she's not ashamed to admit it. The original Starfield TV series was a lifeline for her growing up, and now her love for it is one of the only connections she feels she still has to her father who passed away when she was younger. The Star Wars or Star Trek type fandom is where she feels she truly belongs, and losing herself in revisiting her favorite episodes over and over again is the only way she can escape the harsh reality that is her life. Forced to live with her stepmother; who barely tolerates her, and her two spoiled, rotten stepsisters that make her life miserable, Starfield is one of the only things Elle has left in her life that's her own. However, that all changes when pretty boy Darien Freeman, star of a One Tree Hill type melodrama that Elle can't stand, is cast as the lead role in her beloved franchise's reboot, and all of a sudden everyone's all over the Starfield phenomenon, including her two obnoxious stepsisters. Elle is not okay with this blatant disrespect of one of her all time favorite characters, and she makes this opinion quite apparent on her fangirl blog. However, there may be more to Darien than she first expected; as it becomes apparent that he took on this role because of his own love for the original series himself.
Told in dual viewpoints of both Elle and Darien, Geekerella is a quirky, heart warming contemporary that emphasizes being true to one's self, and never giving up on what you truly believe in. And I loved every stinkin, adorable moment of it. The Cinderella references were blended in so well to everyone going on around it, and were modernized perfectly for this "coming into your own" type story. I especially loved how the pumpkin coach was the vegan food truck where Elle works, and that the ball was a spectacular comic con type convention that Elle's own dad had helped to originally organize. As well, I loved how the romance started off as a friendship between two strangers who didn't even know who they were communicating with, and that to me personally it never felt like insta-love. I also appreciated the fact that the language, and teen drinking references were kept to a pretty bare minimum, which definitely contributed to just how my I enjoyed this particular novel.
All in all, I think Ashley Poston did a fantastic job recognizing and representing the geek in all of us, and how it should never be something you're ashamed of, or something that you try to change about yourself to fit in. Elle was a protagonist I was proud to cheer for, and I loved how strong and determined she remained, no matter what obstacles were thrown into her pathway. This is definitely one of my favorite contemporaries I've read so far this year, and I encourage anyone who's a fan of young adult contemporaries to look past the not so great cover art to discover a pretty amazing debut novel that I guarantee you'll be impressed with!
Final Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Thanks so much for reading guys! Have a great weekend, and I'll see you all again on Monday :)
This is not a sponsored post. All thoughts and opinions are my own. The photo does not belong to me, and all rights to the respective owners.
Lovely review! I'm surprised you didn't pick up on the Geekerella! Anyways, this book was wonderful for me too! And I totally agree some fairytale retellings can go really badly!
ReplyDeleteI'm not quite sure how I didn't connect the title as being a Cinderella retelling, but it was a lovely surprise this way I guess! Thanks so much for reading :) I'm glad to hear you really enjoyed Geekerella as well. It's always nice to find good fairytale retellings, as sometimes they are few and far between!
Delete