Geekerella: A Fangirl Fairy Tale (Once Upon A Con) Paperback – May 15, 2018

Actual Rating: 4.5 starsGeekerella is a modern-day Cinderella fairytale featuring Danielle, or Ella, who resides with her "stepmonster" and evil twin step-sisters. This book has everything from teen heart throbs, bloggers, CONS, witchy evil characters who are mean, and moments that touch the reader's heart.The great thing about this book is the total geekiness/fandom the story provides. First, it is a retelling of Cinderella. Ella does everything in the house, while trying to retain memories of her deceased parents. Ella tries to actively keep their memory alive, while the Stepmonster tries desperately to squash it out of Ella like some fly buzzing around a summer cake. Second, it has a mysterious budding friendship between Ella and THE Darien Freeman, who in this story, is kind of a big deal. Ella cannot stand that Mr. Heartthrob with insured abs is cast as the lead character in Starfield, Carmindor. She rants and raves about it on her blog...needless to say...Darien actually texts Ella thinking she is her father and the two have a budding friendship, with developing feelings. And the kicker... he has no clue she is THE Reblegunner blogger squashing his name in this role, and she has no clue he is Darien Freeman.Of course, there are twists, and turns, and Ella goes to the ball, and then is grounded until death. But the adventures are fun and it turns into being a cute story that leaves the reader with feelings of joy and delight.This story is an easy read, the whole book flew by pretty quickly. I like when books are just easy. Having said that, I wish there were a bit more challenges for Ella to overcome. Sure, glass slippers, and hopelessly devoted Carmindors are searching the States for Ella to confess their young love to, but I wish some of the interactions between "Stepmonster", Catherine, and Ella were more indicative of the crap relationship enslaving Ella. Sure, Catherine is a witch with a capital B, but Ella was a spitfire and sometimes talked back. So I wanted MORE to go down between the two of them. Also, the last chapter or two, just breezed by eight months later...and I wish that was also a bit more dramatic than what it is lead to believe. The book follows the POV of Darien and Ella, and sometimes it focused too much on the little things, so when the drama did happen, it fizzled pretty quickly and didn't pack quite the punch it could have. BUT. It was still a cute story, and I am still giving a decent rating. It was still entertaining, and one part in particular really had me teary. And when a book makes me cry, it gets a higher rating. We all need an ugly cry from time to time.Finally, I loved what the book means for nerd girls. Ella was this nerdy girl who really thought she was a nobody throughout the ENTIRE story. It took all of her challenges she did go through like befriending a moody coworker, helping create a cosplay costume, dealing with stepmonster and the evil twins, introducing others to the glory of Starfield, and making unconventional friends from the stars. In Darien's case, he sometimes came off whiney and I am not sure why it took him so long to take a stand. I felt that the drama between him and Brian could have been better written because it read weird. But I liked Darien. Closet geek. Those are the best. And remember, look to the stars. Aim. Ignite.

I would give Geekerella 3.75 stars; it wasn't quite a full 4 for me, but I want to round up because it was genuinely a fun ride.It took me much longer than it should have to collect my thoughts on Geekerella after reading it. There were some pretty glaring weaknesses in the writing but the story was so much fun that they were hard to mind. It made it difficult to pinpoint where I stood on this book.The story itself was less a narrative than it was a love letter to geek culture, especially cosplayers. As a geek myself, and a cosplaying one at that, my opinion is definitely flavored by the content. There were a lot of things to love about this book, but a strong narrative wasn't necessarily one of them. I'm sure I'd have been much less forgiving of that for any other book, but what can I say, I heard the call of geekdom.The story is fairly typical Cinderella: girl with crap step-family gets a crazy amazing dress and a once in a life time chance that has her crossing paths with her true love and getting the happily ever after. We didn't really stray too far off the path in this book. I liked ol' Cinders and Charming well enough as they were written, but I wish their personal journeys had gotten just a touch more attention. I mean, was there a page limit in effect? A couple more paragraphs of description here and there would have done it. Elle, for one, came off as just *too* passive at times, just failing to put up any kind of fight until others pushed her to do it. And Darien...well, my biggest problem with Darien is that we never really saw a true payoff of his inner conflict. His character is set up to have all these insecurities about how people view him as a soap-op star, and how he feels he has to hide his inner geek (not even sure why though, 'cause dude, geeks are "in" right now). The insecurities are pretty genuinely conveyed; he deals with all these people doubting him as a "fake fan" or challenging whether or not he's worthy to play the role, but when he finally shows his true nerdy colors in public at the end, there's a complete non-reaction to it. There's no arc conclusion about how public perception may have changed, or what his established fans might have thought. It's just...nothing. For such a heavily character driven story, there should have been payoff.Still, there's no denying that despite any weaknesses in the writing itself, the book captured the soul of the community in its pages.***"This is a cosplay ball. So if you think he's a weirdo, then I think you're in the wrong crowd." And with that I give her the promise-sworn salute. A Torturian beside me mimics my salute. And a Nox. A Jedi. A Vulcan. A Dark Elf. The entire Fellowship of the Ring. Everyone, in their different-colored hair and costumes and masks, lifts their hands in the promise-swear to show that underneath the robes and breastplates and Spandex are people whose hearts beat together.***Like I said, this book was really a love letter to geek culture, and those are the parts that shine. What I especially loved about the writing is that it didn't try and stuff the bad bits in a closet in preparation for house guests. Just as much as it had geek references and messages about community and love for one's hobbies, it touched on the nastier sides of fandom like overprotective or exclusionist gatekeeping and fandom clashes.***"You might have all those Seaside fans fooled, but they wouldn't know a decent TV show if it hit them upside the head. I bet you couldn't even tell Carmindor from Captain Kirk." It's not a question. He just assumes.***It's no secret that the "fake geek girl" mentality it still a relevant issue, so what I liked about this Geekerella is that it flipped the gender roles so that the gatekeeping, rather than any gender issues, got center focus. It's Darien who constantly gets called on being a "fake fan", not Elle. In fact, Elle is the one doing the name-calling. Thanks to her parents, especially her father, she grew up with the show and feels extremely protective of it and its importance to her. Plenty of the examples of fandom nastiness in the book are cases of people judging others by their looks or jobs or backgrounds and simply assuming about what does or does not interest them. (Again, this is where payoff would have been good for Darien's arc, to drive the anti-gatekeeping messages home.) There was also plenty of chatter about fandom clashing. Elle and her fellow Stargunners get pretty defensively heated about not wanting the soap-opera Seaside Cove fandom with their "silly fangirls" who only care about hot Darien's abs anywhere near their "serious" Starfield community, to include some stinging insults. It's not pretty, but damn is it ever realistic.But no matter how gruesome some sections of geekdom might be when exposed, the climatic message of the book stays positive. It really is about community, about coming together over shared interests, about being passionate about the things you love, and about empowering and loving yourself by embracing those passions. The journey that Elle goes on isn't about finding her princely counterpart. It's about finding the other half of herself. Through her fandom and her cosplay experiences, Elle realizes that the weird bits she normally feels pressured to hide in every day life are a vital part of who she is.***I'm half of my father. Half of my hero. And I am half of my mother. Half soft sighs and half sharp edges. And if they can be Carmindor and Amara - then somewhere in my blood and bones I can be too. I'm the lost princess. I'm the villain of my story, and the hero. Part of my mom and part of my dad. I am a fact of the universe. The Possible and the Impossible. I am not no one.***Geekdom brings people together. Cosplay allows you the chance to be whoever you want to be, no matter how briefly. Geekerella had its weaknesses as a story, especially in the writing, but it managed to get through to its audience the right message: if someone likes something, then it's not dumb.(PS - Shout out to the physical book itself, which I don't normally feel compelled to comment on. The hardcover not only had a beautiful cover, but there was a weight and density to the book that was kind of wonderful if you're #TeamPhysicalCopy rather than #TeamKindle. It was just a really nicely printed book.)