Retellings can be sort of tricky, no? Too faithful to the original story and you could say one might get bored; give it a little twist and perhaps it could do wonders. After quite a consideration, I conclude that a retelling would be fun as long as I could still grasp the shreds of the original plot with unexpected turns here and there. Like A Cinderella Story for instance. Starring Hilary Duff and Chad Michael Murray, that movie is absolutely one of my all-time favorite Cinderella's retellings—I suppose that explains my enthusiasm towards Geekerella by Ashley Poston.
Geekerella follows the story of Danielle Wittimer and Darien Freeman, two teenagers who are such big fans of a classic sci-fi series named Starfield. Being a part of the same fandom, the two live very different lives though one day they are virtually connected due to some miscommunications: Elle lives with her cruel stepmother and two stepsisters while Darien is a rising new actor who is going to portray Prince Carmindor in the Starfield's reboot.
Elle dislikes the new Prince Carmindor of course, but she is still determined to win the cosplay contest at the ExcelsiCon Cosplay Ball. With her blog, her job at the Magic Pumpkin food truck, and her new friend whom she knows by text, Elle enters the world of unexpected friendship, romance, and memories of the past.
I've got one word for Geekerella: A-D-O-R-A-B-L-E. Going through this book from two very different perspectives, I really loved how detailed and brilliantly explored the fandom world in this book was. Elle and Darien's dedication to Starfield made me want to be a part of something fun like this, something as exciting as ExcelsiCon, and then fall in love with a stranger because why not. Ashley Poston had created a Cinderella's retelling full of joy and passion and as someone who has a thing for books and is a part of bookstagram community, I certainly could relate.
However, since it's a retelling of Cinderella, they didn't get to meet in person until almost the end of the book as expected. Not that it's a bad thing or anything. Elle and Darien texted all the time and bonded cutely but still, I was hoping for something more to occur between them in order for the two to fall in love. I mean, I was aware that it was a fairytale retelling and so it was supposed to be too good to be true, but sadly I wasn't as invested in their romance as I had thought I would be, in the end.
Still and all, Darien was very adorable. And I genuinely loved the little twists Poston did in regards to Elle's family and job. I was surprised by how much the cruelness of the first annoyed me—that's why the entire time I was hoping that Elle would stand up for herself. Which she did. Sort of. It would have been great to see a more fair ending for them though, just saying, but I still adored how Geekerella chose to end its story.
Overall, I considered Geekerella a perfect read for my spent-at-home Valentine's day. It's a charming retelling that glorified the power of fandom, so if you're interested in reading something cute and full of passion towards something fictional, this book should be something you have to give a try.
Actual rating: 3.5★
