By: Cait Marie
Geekerella is a modern Cinderella retelling set in a world of fandoms, conventions, and the internet. Elle grew up watching Starfield with her father, who started a convention specifically for it. After his death, her love of the show continues. When soap opera, teen heartthrob Darien Freeman gets the leading role of her favorite Captain, Elle is not happy. She writes a blogpost about it, which goes viral, and reaches Darien.
Darien puts on a very public act, pretending to be the arrogant, good looking actor everyone believes him to be. Inside though, he is just as much of a geek as the rest of them. Much to his demise, he is booked to appear at the convention. When he decides to take matters into his own hands and call to cancel his appearance, he ends up calling Elle through her father’s old cell phone. She tells him he has the wrong number, but they’re drawn together and end up texting each other frequently. These two unlikely characters grow close with convention looming closer and closer.
The convention has an annual ball to celebrate the fandom. This particular one is having a cosplay contest and the winner will get to meet Darien and attend the ball. Elle is determined to win this contest and go to the ball, but her stepfamily is equally determined for her not to go at all.
I really enjoyed this book! It’s very much the Cinderella story we all know, but told in a whole new way. As a self-proclaimed geek/nerd, this book was very relatable. It was fun getting to read about this invented fandom that reminded me a lot of Star Trek and Doctor Who. I was able to experience my first convention this year, so that was also fun getting compare. I also just really love retellings, as I’m sure you’re all aware of by now.
If you enjoy YA books and find yourself in a fandom of any sort, I recommend this book. It’s a very easy read; I finished the audiobook in one night. Contemporary isn’t usually my favorite, but this was a cute story that I’m really glad I finally read.
Functionally Fictional 