Fairy tales: it isn’t uncommon for a version of them—whether that’s the original or a retelling of one—to play a role in childhood. As a result, these stories can be romanticized classics, but for more contemporary retellings, they can be hit-or-miss.
Even when a retelling succeeds, it’s difficult to stretch it into a creative piece that stands out from the other dozens of retellings. However, Geekerella (Once Upon a Con) by Ashley Poston managed to do just that.
This story’s Cinderella is a ‘geek’ named Elle, an extreme fan of the science fiction TV series Starfield. She shares this with her parents, who even met at a fan convention. This story’s Prince Charming is Darien Freeman, the actor playing Starfield’s main character, Carmindor, in the movie based on the series. Darien is just as much of a fan as Elle is, but with the promotion being done for the movie, he has been shunned by the entire fandom as an actor who was cast only for his looks.
Their paths begin to intertwine when Elle receives a text message from a strange number. It becomes more complicated when Elle’s blog post criticizing Darien goes viral. These complications give way to chaos with rumors swirling around Darien, Elle facing personal issues with her stepmother and step-sisters, and reaching a climax when they both realize their relationship with the mysterious number has stepped into more than just friendship.
Dozens of popular tropes are mixed into the story, ranging from familial issues to fake dating. On the romance side of things, the book was an awkward mix of things featuring both a light enemies-to-lovers and a friends-to-lovers storyline. However, the book was predictable and a little cheesy, but the odd mixture of tropes gave it the casual and entertaining feel of a light read.
Geekerella might not have been the most creative story out there, but for a book to pass the time, it’s satisfyingly light and fairly addictive. Somewhat surprisingly, aided by the short chapter lengths and quick pacing after the first few chapters, ‘one more chapter’ of this book turned into reading much more than anticipated.
