"Geekerella" by Ashley Poston is a modern spin on the Cinderella story with a nerdy twist. The book centers on two individuals who meet not in real person, but online. Elle Wittimer is a blogger about her favorite show, Starfield, and her dad created a whole convention centered around it. She's very passionate about her show, and when a reboot is announced, she's not so happy with who's playing the main character, Federation Prince Carmindor. Darien Freeman is a teen actor and total heartthrob who was cast to be the main character in the Starfield remake. He secretly loves the show and used to go to Excelsicon before he became famous. After he is forced to appear at the convention for a meet and greet and to judge a cosplay contest, the teen tries to contact the head of the convention. Only, he doesn't contact who he wanted. This is a story that hits very close to my heart since I am a major nerd when it comes to geek culture and conventions. The characters don't know who each other are a first, so they talk very naturally and are very realistic in how they text. The author made sure to enhance the fact that they know what they're talking or acting about, so she made an entire universe within her book, with character depth and plot for the actual main characters to freak out over. The bond that Elle and Darien share casts over the fame aspect of a person and the book shows that there is more to celebrities than lights and cameras. As the book concludes, the two do meet, but since they were talking over the phone, they don't know what each other looks like. The character interactions are extremely accurate to how early young adults act. The themes of not judging a person by the background or fame one has is a great message for anyone, but especially for the ones the book is meant fore, with young adults now a days being sucked into the judgmental world of social media. Also, the supporting cast is there to help them along the way. Each supporting character has their own personality and there is even a shift in one of them towards the end that isn't expected. The mom is still a bitch though. That will never change in these types of stories. Speaking of, my one downfall with this story is that it is just another Cinderella story, but it makes up for that by the universe and the characters within it being drastically different to the fairy tale counterparts, while still tying back to the original in ways that most don't. It's not perfect, but I still recommend anyone who is a fan of those types of stories, romance novels, or nerd culture to read it. So how should I rate this... ah! Okay, for grading, I'm going to be using a system of 1-5 coffee cups.
Geekerella, I give you 4.5 coffee cups out of 5.
This concludes the first edition of Coffee Descant Book Reviews. Thanks for reading! Sip your tea and keep tuned, because more of these reviews are coming soon. Also, discuss if you've read the book or not and the question of the day in the comments. I'd love to see your responses. Sip on, my fellow nerds. Sip on.
QotD: What is your favorite genre of books?
My Answer: I really like Realistic Fiction