Geekerella : review

Ashley Poston

*Book kindly provided by the publisher HarperCollinsTeen in exchange for an honest review!*

Anything can happen once upon a con...

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.

Goodreads' link to the book!
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Stars: ✦✦✦✦.5

So as usual, I'll tell 4.5 things I liked about the book and 0.5 thing I didn't like.

So what did I think?
+1 | Fandom. The book was filled to the brim by quotes and references to different fandoms, and being part of the Starfield fandom is the core of Danielle.

     It doesn't matter if your a fan of Star Wars/Star Trek/Dr. Who/LoTR or what, the point is that if your part of a fandom it is relatable. You know the right blue of your favourite character and being a fan binds us wherever and whomever we are.

+1 | Diversity without screaming it. The book had lots of diverse characters, but I really like how they were portrayed normally.

     You see, sometimes I feel like writers force diversity into the characters and it doesn't seem natural. They make it into such a big thing that makes it seem like they aren't even people anymore.

+1 | Fairytale, but new age. If you've been reading my blog or follow my Instagram you know I love fairy tale retellings, so based on only that I was really looking forward to this book. It met all my expectations on that font.

     But the thing that I found really interesting was how Poston created this tale in the modern age and culture. The main characters’ dreams and anonymity was so relatable and her struggles really came through from the writing.

+1 | Characters, the focus was not only on the romance but lots of aspects in their characteristics were based on friendship.

+0.5 | Entertainment value. All I can say to elaborate is: the emotions. Even if it seems weird to say, but the relatability and the situations and the people, was just so heartfelt yet it sure had its cheesy parts.

"I wish you were here for real"

-0.5 | The ending, I wanted more. Maybe that's just a sign that I loved it and wanted more, but I couldn't help but think that the author could've elaborated more on everything that happened.

Read on earthenders,

Sally

Fairytale Retellings pt.2

Top 10

I did a part one 2 years ago, link, and felt the need to do another one, since I really love fairytale retellings!

1. Goose-Girl / Thorn
One of my favourite fairytales is the Grimm brothers' story Goose-Girl, so I'm kinda always looking out for retellings of it.
So far Goose-Girl by Shannon Hale which I love (and it has three companion novels in the series!)
Another one I've read is Thorn, which was an interesting take but could've been more developed.

2. Wrath and the Dawn
This retelling duology has been really popular in the last year, and it tells the story of Shahrzad and retells the story of A Thousand and One Nights.

3. Alice in Zombieland
Loosely based on Alice in Wonderland, it tells the story of Alice Bell and you can gether what it's about from the title.

4. Just Ella
This is a very clever take on Cinderella where Ella tries to deal with her new-found status and a prince who is certainly not charming.

5. Isle of the Lost
This is the book prequel-type-thing to Disney's movie Descendants. The book is about the children of the banished villains who are trying to escape their island.
I liked the book and movie and the premise is really interesting, but I won't be continuing on with the series.

Read on lovelies,

Sally

Fairytales

"I read with a steady diet of fairytales". I love them, I really do, and retellings are one of my favourite things. But the thing is even though I love them, they defenetly have their faults.
           Now I'm talking about the "Prince Charming" and the "Black & Whiteness of the evil step mother". The brothers Grimm of course have great versions, well I suppose they aren't versions if they're the first ones... Well I won't be talking about those ones so here are a couple things.

These are from a movie I just saw, Hallmarks RomCom: Love by the Book.

>You and your perfect guy make the fairytale right for you. He doesn't appear already in shining armour.

>The thing with fairytales is sometimes you need to get out of your tower to find your prince. You can't expect to them find you in a tower.

>And remember that there is no prince charming. It's not a one-fits-all thing, and you just need to find yours.

>Another thing is, sometimes the villain is in sheeps clothing and you can never look at is as a black and white picture. Not all things go to only the other.

>When cinderella went to the ball, she had no idea her life was going to change. She just needed a night out.

Fairytale Retellings

Retellings pt.1
Top 5

I LoVe fairy tale retellings! I find people who write them to have such a creative mind, even though it has the same characters. It is kind of weird that I haven't had any that has been boring or similar to another so that is great :)
I couldn't decide on a order but I guess that's fine...

1. Snow in Summer
This was such an interesting take on Snow White!
2. Zel
I got it from my brother and oh my!
3. Cinder, Scarlet and Cress
Haven't read all, but I have them, and I'm planning on reading all three before the fourth one, Winter, comes out this year :)
4. Ella Enchanted and Fairest by Gail Carson Levine

5. All the Disney takes on Grimm
 & All the Disney takes on H.C. Anderson
I started thinking, is Snow Queen and the Little Mermaid the only ones?...

Any suggestions for other retellings?

Hugs,

Sally