Ashley Poston

GEEKERELLA wasn't what I was expecting from the title and the cover. I wasn't expecting a story that made me cry and made me smile and made me remember good fan experiences. It is the story of two lonely people who manage to find each other.

Orphaned Elle Wittimer and actor Darien Freeman don't seem to have much in common at first glance. She's dealing with the loss of her father and the emotional abuse of her stepmother. Darien's also lost his father when his father became his agent and show more abandoned his role as a father.

When she was younger, Elle and her father used to watch reruns of Starfield - a short-lived science fiction television series. Elle would write fan faction; her father would cosplay the main character Federation Prince Carmindor. After her father's death, her stepmother did her best to get rid of all the things her father loved including all his fan gear. Elle turned to blogging with a focus on Starfield.

Darien also had good memories of watching Starfield with his best friend and attending science fiction conventions before he became famous and his friend betrayed him. Now Darien has been cast as Carmindor in the remake of Starfield. Neither he nor Elle have much confidence in his successful portrayal of one of their childhood heroes. Elle pans his acting on her blog and her post goes viral. Darien has all sort of self-doubts.

I liked the description of fandom from both Elle's and Darien's perspectives. I liked that they began their relationship through a series of anonymous texts. I liked that they could both be free to be themselves while texting.

Both characters were well-developed. Both grew and changed through the story. I liked all the references to the Cinderella story from the pumpkin-painted food truck to the glass slipper. I liked that the stepsisters weren't both wicked - though one certainly was and the other was more of a wimp. I liked Elle's new friend who had the role of fairy godmother and fashion designer. show less

This was one of my most anticipated releases of 2017. I adore fairy tale retellings. I adore YA books that explore geek culture. This combined both and it was amazing. I listened to this in audiobook and I liked the two narrators switching as the POVs switched. (It was a bit disconcerting that Tristan Morris's voice sounded like Nathan Fillion's, and I had to double-check to make sure it actually wasn't Nathan Fillion narrating.)

This was SO MUCH FUN. Aside from the basic Cinderella story show more framework, this book was also a love letter to fandom. A convention's masquerade served as the ball; a cosplay costume as Ella's dress and glass slippers. It was also a story about legacy, as Ella finally embraced hers since her parents had been fandom royalty. Also, there was a bright orange vegan food truck named the Magic Pumpkin that served as... well, the magic pumpkin. Which is a detail that was just absolutely amazing.

This reminded me a lot of Cinder & Ella, which is no surprise since many of the major plot points were the same. If you liked the first, definitely give this one a try. show less

In this heartfelt romance, overworked Clementine inherits her aunt’s magical New York City apartment — a place with a strange fold in time that allows people from different eras to occasionally cross paths. Inside those enchanted walls, she falls deeply in love with a young man who exists seven years in the past, back when her aunt was still alive.

The setting feels whimsical, the writing is charming, the characters are unforgettable, and the romance is genuinely beautiful. I wasn’t show more expecting this story to pull me in so completely, but it did. show less

Quirk Books, living up to its name, has published a contemporary young adult novel with more quirkiness than fanfiction in its contemporary, nerddom-filled retelling of Cinderella. While some may feel that contemporary takes on fairy tales are becoming tired, Geekerella might cause even the deepest cynic to take back those words. Though a heartfelt portrayal of an emotionally-complex orphan trying to further her parents’ legacy, the Cinderella aspect lives more in the background of this show more novel, with it serving more as a love letter to all the nerds, geeks, and fangirl/boys out there. From the frequent inclusion of quotes from protagonist Elle’s favorite tv show, the fictional and Star Trek/Wars-esque Starfield, to the true-to-life convention setting and descriptions of cosplay, Poston has successfully made fandom accessible and written a great novel in appreciation, even reverence, of it. Fandom serves as an escape for the dual perspectives of Elle and Darien in the same way that it does for so many of us.

The accessibility of fandom is one of the best parts of Geekerella, as the nature of the fandom does not matter here as much as the existence of fandom itself: that feeling you still get when you read or watch what you love for the millionth time, the deep, immediate connections you make with virtual strangers, the worry and speculation when the world decides to adapt your favorite art into a new medium, and just the general community of it all. The culmination of the story to the Starfield convention really brought all of that together. If you are someone, like me, who has a nerdgasm when you see evidence that a stranger passing by loves what you love, whether it is a t-shirt with the words may the force be with you or I solemnly swear I am up to no good or a reference to an obscure band you love, you are sure to have those feelings when reading Geekerella.

Another fantastic element is the budding friendship between Elle and her coworker, Sage, in realistic girl bonding at its finest. Too often young adult novels feature insta-love/friendship, but their friendship grows realistically from little interaction to best friendship with scenes that show them getting to know each other better while still furthering the plot along. The development of their friendship along with Sage’s character development throughout the novel serves as one of the best parts.

Oftentimes, the trouble with fairy tale retellings is that we automatically know where the story is going to end up. However, what makes it fun is the anticipation of it, the not knowing how the story will get to its inevitable conclusion, and that anticipation is what made me finish this novel in just one sitting, regardless of the somewhat caricature-styling of some of the fairy tale elements, such as the stepmother and stepsisters. The caricature of one of the stepsisters, though, somewhat turns on its head by the end, in just one of the many quirky twists of the novel, which slightly redeems that for me.

Lastly, the diversity, in Starfield, in the romantic interest being a person of color, and in the utter normality of the lesbian representation, solidified this book for me as one of my favorites of 2017. Ultimately, the reverences of geekdom, nerddom, and fandom in this adorkable, nerdy contemporary will bring me back to it again. show less