Geek Girl

Snappy and amusing, with good messages throughout -- don't lie. If you're going to try to be someone you're not, make it your own after all. Protect your kids fiercely, but let them make their own decisions. Above all, enjoy the witty banter -- it's the only thing keeping the bus on the road.

Normally this isn't my type of book AT ALL, but I loved it. I found myself laughing out loud at some of the descriptions and reading passages to whomever happened to be nearby! The similes and metaphors are fresh and powerful and the humor is believable. I think Smale's modeling experience shines through in her writing.
Definitely an author I'm going to follow and I'll be putting a couple copies of this title on our library shelves.

Review courtesy of Dark Faerie Tales

Quick & Dirty: This novel was fluffy and lots of fun. It’s being re-released in the US for the first time!

Opening Sentence:

geek

gi:k/
informal
noun
noun: geek; plural noun: geeks
1. an unfashionable or socially inept person.

The Review:

Harriet Manners is a geek. She recites random facts and reads the dictionary for fun. She is smarter than many of her teachers. Unfortunately, while this may help her fill in the bubbles on a scantron, it doesn’t help with her social life. She’s teased incessantly and she and her classmates don’t exactly see eye to eye. So when she’s unexpectedly spotted by a modeling agency, she sees the chance to become more than a geek, to be someone cool and interesting. No show more matter that she has to go behind her best friend and stepmother’s back to do so —- it’ll all work out in the end, right?

Geek Girl is not like books I have read in the past. It is written differently, it’s very light and cute, it’s super quirky. And I loved it. This adorable book made me giggle quite a lot when reading with its dialogue and Harriet’s point of view. The love interest is not a main focus, though he is there, and he is cute. I do wish we got to see more of Nick, though I’m guessing the next few books will have him, because it is a series —- yay! Watching Harriet stumble through a new life was lots of fun, and I think it was an enjoyable use of my time. Anyone in the mood for a contemporary, particularly one that is fluffy and funny, will love this. I also think those in book hangovers might benefit from a novel like Geek Girl. It was fresh and unique from other books and it’s highlighted in my mind as something I would read again if I’m ever feeling sad.

Harriet Manners is a geek. She reads dictionaries for fun and is constantly teased. When she gets the chance she decides to remake herself, to become a model and hopefully grow into a person that people look up to. One of my favorite things about Harriet was her constant stream of facts and definitions off the top of her head. Maybe in another book, the interruption from the main plot would have bothered me, but in this one it just made me enjoy it all the more. I also love the way she is relatable. She makes mistakes and tries to fix them. She gets sad. She has crushes. She is a realistic teenage girl, emotionwise. I really felt for Harriet as she embarrassed herself time and time again, you could tell that she was out of her element and trying the best she could.

We didn’t get to see much of Nick, the love interest, but when we did they had the most hilarious conversations. They first met when they were both hiding under the same table. They didn’t have traditional chemistry, but I thought they were cute together and they always managed to make me smile. Nick is a male model that Harriet does some jobs with and he helps Harriet out with her awkwardness on camera. I also really liked Harriet’s parents. Her father was as quirky as she was and Annabel was a lawyer who had some snarky lines as well. Harriet’s best friend was a great character, as well as her agent. In short, I basically loved all the characters in Geek Girl!

Geek Girl was a cute book that I don’t regret reading. Knowing its a series, I can’t say if I’ll ever pick up the next books. I loved the characters, the dialogue, and he message. I liked how Harriet developed and how she was a likeable narrator and I enjoyed the scenes with Nick. I think it’s cool how the author went through what Harriet went through, being unexpectedly spotted by a modeling agency, and that she wrote a book from the perspective of someone with a similar experience. It was a hilarious story and really easy to get into. There aren’t really many deep or moving moments, which is why it’s a four star. It’s very fluffy. But nevertheless, I enjoyed my experience with this novel immensely and think that it deserves more recognition.

Notable Scene:

The building has always scared me. When I was young, I refused to come in alone when Annabel was working late because I thought it was haunted.

“It’s not haunted,” dad said when I told him. “Haunted building are full of souls with no bodies. A lawyer’s office if full of bodies with no souls. That’s a big difference.”

And then he’d laughed and laughed until Annabel put salt in his wineglass.

FTC Advisory: HarperCollins provided me with this copy of Geek Girl. No goody bags, sponsorships, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review. show less

I really enjoyed going into Harriet’s world. Being a loner at school with just one friend and a stalker is not much fun even if you are very intelligent, people just don’t understand Harriet the way Nat her best friend, her Dad and Step mum do. She is different and so that means she is easy picking when it comes to the popular crowd finding someone to pick on.

This books opens up to a whole new world for Harriet and it is fantastic, the humour is brilliant and I was giggling quite often reading it. There are also things that come out towards the end of the book that leave you wanting to read the next book straight away to see how things develop.

I really liked it.

Awww, this was so much fun. I took it to Croatia with me over the summer and devoured it over a couple of long hot sunlounger days. It's perfect poolside reading, like a cross between The Princess Diaries and The Devil Wears Prada. It's about a fashion-clueless geek called Harriet who is accidentally 'spotted' during a trip to The Clothes Show live with her best friend Nat, who has always dreamed of being a model. The novel's about how she takes this opportunity to do something new, finds a way to reconcile it with her own values, and deals with the fallout with her friends and family. It's smart, easy to read and very cute - bring on book 2!

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#1 Geek Girl - ★★★★
#1.5 Geek Girl: All Wrapped Up - ★★★★

Even though I kept hearing great things about Geek Girl, I never really happened to read it. A month ago, my teen sister borrowed the whole Geek Girl series and told me this is something I must check off my list. And here I am one month later - loving the first book!

Geek Girl tells the story of a young teen Harriet, who is a geek and gets bullied at her school. She might know all the science answers, but she has no clue why people are laughing at her when she goes outside with a cartoon hoodie.

But when Harriet gets discovered by a modelling agency,she realises how things can get different, and she has to choose show more whether she wants to risk losing everything by changing who she really is.

A very funny and geeky read, where I couldn’t stop but giggle a few times. One moment really got me though:

‘’If somebody offers to shave your legs,’’ she snaps, ‘’let them.’’

Harriet is a typical geeky high-school character, and you can’t help but love her weirdness, her silliness and the ways she believes in.

The read was somewhat predictable from the very beginning, and there wasn’t any big plot twist or cliff-hanger, but I believe that this book didn’t really want to achieve that anyways.

This was a perfect read for me to relax and enjoy reading - reminded me of my high-school days and made me remember a lot of similar moments.

I am recommending it to all of you out there - that love being different and aren't afraid to stand up for yourselves, no matter how much people laugh at you. show less

I'm honestly obsessed with this series. I try to be at least a little critical in reviews but I can't with certain books (such as this one) since I love them so much. I read this book and its sequel a while back but came back to review since the third installment's American release is approaching. In my opinion, all books have something wrong with them. However, it takes a truly good book to not be totally distracted by its flaws. And let's just say that nothing distracted me from this book - at all. I think that its just one of those books that I'll end up cherishing like I do my old, favorite doll. I can't wait till the remaining bits of the series are released in America!!!