Geekerella

Geekerella

by: Ashley Poston

Grade: B

Geekerella is a Cinderella retelling featuring fandom, conventions, copious texting and the magic pumpkin actually being a Vegan food truck. The hardcover version of this book is just lovely and it’s been getting a lot of buzz from some of my favorite Youtubers so I thought I’d totally fall for the hype and give this one a chance.

Elle is just trying to get through life with her stepmother and two awful stepsisters. She starts out the book lonely and isolated the biggest thing in her life is the casting announcement for the movie adaptation of her favorite show. One she shared with her late parents and when pretty boy soap opera star Darien is announced as the lead she is not happy.

Geekerella goes back and forth between Elle’s POV and Darien’s. To be honest I enjoyed his more. When you break it down as a retelling this book doesn’t really offer anything different. Even the convention stuff I’ve been reading more and more of in books. Darien’s at least had an interesting Hollywood vibe to it. His complete lack of self-confidence and trying to hide his true self to make it.

I did like the idea of her going off the edge when he’s cast because we’ve all been there, right? Hell, I can tell you just from the Game of Thrones fandom (when I was still a part of it) there would be Internet breakdowns every time an actor was announced it seemed. But that’s not really part of the book. Oh, she writes a couple of blog posts that go viral but then it becomes all about the ball (cosplay contest) and her texting with someone she doesn’t know is actually Darien.

The book is entertaining and a fast read (two pluses for me). Plus it’s really, really pretty. But I was just hoping for more. Even the fandom stuff could have been bigger. Elle is and does exactly what you think she will. (I would have appreciated it more if she got together with the character that was basically her fairy godmother.) Elle’s blog taking off-  nothing really comes of it. Even with the stepsisters being beauty bloggers who are out to meet Darien and use it to increase their views is really just a background thing.

This could have been like a fun satire over-the-top take on fandom, reboots, retellings and social media. (I’m like spinning this whole thing in my head. Maybe I should write it down.) I liked it but in the end it’s just your basic Cinderella retelling with a modern twist and unfortunately no surprises.

Recommend: Yes. If you like retellings you will have fun with this one. I was just hoping for so much more.