ARC Review: Geekerella by Ashley Poston

Geekerella
Author: Ashley Poston
Series: Standalone
Genre: YA, Contemporary, Romance, Retelling
Release Date: April 4th 2017
Book Length: 320

Publisher: Quirk Books

Geek girl Elle Wittimer lives and breathes Starfield, the classic sci-fi 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’s 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?

Part romance, part love letter to nerd culture, and all totally adorbs, Geekerella is a fairy tale for anyone who believes in the magic of fandom.

Goodreads / Amazon UK / Amazon US 

Review

Geekerella is exactly what the title suggests, an adorable book dedicated to geeks and fandoms with a Cinderella retelling twist. It’s about a girl called Elle who grew up watching an old but hugely popular sci-fi series: Starfield. She’s the biggest fan of the show and her dreams come true when she finds out Hollywood are doing a brand new adaptation.

Elle’s excitement for a new Starfield doesn’t last long when she finds out Hollywood’s up and coming ‘it’ boy is being cast as Prince Carmindor; Starfield leading male character. Sure Darien Freeman maybe perfectly cast in the looks department but he’s far too arrogant and glamorous to play her Prince Carmindor, I mean the guy has his abs insured? Soo not Carmindor. Naturally Elle goes to her blog to rant about the casting choice and overnight it becomes an Internet sensation.

Staying true to the Cinderella classic, Elle lives with her terrible Stepmother and stepsisters. She's also desperate to attend ExcelsiCon, a fangirls dream convention in order to enter the Cosplay contest. It’s at ExcelsiCon that Elle bumps into Darien Freeman. This was such a cute story; I loved watching Elle and Darien work through their problems, both with their careers and family life.

Now while this book was all kinds of adorable, it was just far too slow for my liking. I enjoyed that Elle and Darien didn’t meet straight away but when they finally do near the end of the book, everything speeds up and then it's over. The erratic pacing put me off slightly and I just wanted more of a connection between the two. I get that having a fandom in common is pretty much everything to a fellow fanboy/girl but I would have loved them to connect in other ways or at least interact a little more. I guess I just wanted more of a romance as I was expecting a star crossed lovers/true love trope.