A re-telling of Cinderella and geekiness… What’s not to love about the concept of this book. I am a geek. I am proud of being a geek and if anyone calls me one, I’m like ‘HELL YEAH!’ Cinderella isn’t my favourite Brothers Grimm or Disney story so I didn’t think that I would absolutely love it. But I did… I really did.

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?

I mean, the story line is predictable for obvious reasons. You know that Disney is always ‘happily ever after’ and that the girl always gets the boy; but for some reason, when I was reading this book, I was genuinely rooting for the love interests to find each other. Even though I knew that the boy would get the girl, I was still like ‘COME ON! YOU CAN DO IT!’

What I loved about this book was that we got to read from Darien Freeman’s perspective as well which I thought was really interesting because we never get to see Prince Charming’s point of view in the Disney films. It was also interesting to read how PR for actors works – I know that Poston may not be conveying the most accurate description of an actors/actresses life, but hey, it was still interesting to read about how certain things are set up. It made me think about what certain things to do with films in the past have been publicity stunts.

“I’m half of my father. Half of my hero. And I am half of my mother. Half soft sighs and half sharp edges. And if they can be Carmindor and Amara–then somewhere in my blood and bones I can be too. I’m the lost princess. I’m the villain of my story, and the hero. Part of my mom and part of my dad. I am a fact of the universe. The Possible and the Impossible. I am not no one. I am my parents’ daughter, and then I realize–I realize that in this universe they’re alive too. They’re alive through me. Fashioning my hands into a pistol, I point it at the ceiling, lifting my chin, raising my eyes against the blinding stage lights, and I ignite the stars.”
― Ashley Poston, Geekerella

I thought that Geekerella was just so cute and awesome. I also loved how Poston changed a couple of things (I mean obviously the theme of the story stayed the same), but she changed things to do with a few characters that I thought was amazing. There is a very small lesbian relationship in there with a couple of the side characters which I thought was a good change to the story and I also loved how Elle was a blogger and was just so passionate about Starfield – I could 100% relate to her. She wanted the reboot of her favourite TV show to be spot on and I know exactly how that feels. Especially with the latest film adaptation of Beauty and the Beast – spoiler: I didn’t really like it.

Overall, this was a really really good book  and I enjoyed reading it! I devoured it. The writing flowed beautifully and I thought the characters were also brilliantly written. I can’t wait to read more from Ashley Poston! I thoroughly recommend this book to any geek out there as you will see yourself in this book and love how geeky it is!