Geekerella by Ashley Poston
This story is a tale full of woe and cosplay. Fans of the iconic Princess Cinderella and sci-fi geeks alike will turn into romantics after reading this fun and semi-tragic love story. Although, if you aren’t a fan of fairy-tale spin-offs or damsels in distress, then this book isn’t for you. I had some major issues with this book, from the slow pacing to the characteristic flaws in Elle. I know this is a Cinderella retelling, but I had a hard time getting over the whole ‘helpless princess’ trope. I was okay with her unwillingness to stand up for herself in the beginning, hoping we would see a grand reveal of the fighter underneath. But I was disappointed when Elle continued to give up on herself and her beliefs. Maybe it is just the feminist in me or the fact that I’m surrounded (and constantly inspired) by strong women, but it frustrated me when Elle wouldn’t stand up for herself. Obviously, her character didn’t have that support like I do and that’s okay, it just made me want to punch her step-mother and step-sisters in the face for her. I also had a problem with the pacing of the story, I felt that the meeting of her “prince charming” took way too long and scenes of the two together were very few. Although I will say that the scenes they do have together made me say “Awe” and gave me a warm feeling inside. I also congratulate the author for keeping so close to the original Cinderella story while also adding her own personal touch to the tale. And I personally love that there is an actual ‘carriage’ named the magic pumpkin! As you can tell this book brought out some strong emotions in me both good and bad. Which is good because I love when a book can inspire me to feel something. The underlying plot is, of course, not original since this is a spin-off, but Ashley’s characters and detailed scenes are. In some-ways this book was and was not predictable. Sometimes I didn’t see a witty piece of dialog coming or I was caught off guard by beautiful scene, but once again we return to the fact that this is a spin-off, so I already knew what to look for. Now my connection to this story runs deep because I myself am a fangirl in every sense of the word. I love that this story is so close to my life in the way that it lets me know I’m not alone when things get tough. I have all of you guys in the reading community that are there to support me even if you don’t know me, and I think that is wonderful. Also, it doesn’t hurt that it is a beautiful cover with pretty colors and a sparkling title.
*SPOILER ALERT*
First-off I want to say that I really loved Sage! She was super chill and was willing to let Elle not only be her friend but also convert her to a fangirl. I think she was really sweet in being genuinely interested and not only helping Elle for her self-gain. I hated that Darien felt that he needed to change himself to fit in with the word of fame. It broke my heart to see him beat himself up over not doing things perfectly. I also want to point out that Brian was a complete jerk and he didn’t deserve Darien’s friendship. Chloe and Catherine will now forever be my least favorite people. I got so angry when Catherine said she was selling the house and when Chloe tore up Elle’s tickets and her dad’s cosplay. I was extremely excited that Cal turned out to be good and was hoping she would stand up to her sister, but alas, that didn’t happen. As you can tell from the ending Cal was still her sister’s lapdog and let Chloe be extremely mean and arrogant. I was glad when Darien didn’t pay any attention to her at the end, but I kind of wished he would have turned around and told her off. I liked how May gave Elle and Sage all-inclusive VIP tickets, but that quickly turned to more anger when I figured out that Catherine had been sending back Elle’s pass to ExcelsiCon each year. I also knew that Sage had stolen back her mother’s dress when she went to take Frank out to the magic pumpkin. The part when Darien finally stood up to his dad and fired him as a manager, I thought that was a smart move. Dealing with family is tough sometimes and it makes it even harder when they are in charge of your work too. I really liked Lonny though, strangely, I wanted more of his character. I know that ‘Starfield’ sounds a lot like Star Wars and Star Trek, but I’m secretly hoping Ashley can put her own spin on it and pull a Rainbow Rowell and give us the fanfiction story as a side book *wink* *wink*.
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