The Princess and the Fangirl

I love a good fairy tale reimagining, so when I saw Ashley Poston’s follow-up novel to her debut Geekarella, I knew I had to read it.

Geekarella revolves around ExcelsiCon, a comic-con convention in Atlanta whose big lure is the sci-fi franchise Starfield.  It’s your basic Cinderella retelling:  girl wants to go to comic-con, step-mother forbids it, a friend with a food truck (aptly named The Magic Pumpkin) helps get her there, meets famous actor who also turns out to be a Starfield fan, they fall in love, the end.

This book takes place a year later at the next ExcelsiCon where the reboot movie Starfield has just crushed the box office and the actors are coming back to announce a movie sequel.  However, Jessica, the main actress in the movie, isn’t thrilled.  She’s been lampooned online for her portrayal of her character and desperately wants out of her contract.  By chance, she meets Imogen, a Starfield superfan who has an uncanny resemblance to Jessica.  They decide to change places (in the style of the Prince and the Pauper…hence the title).  Now Jessica is reveling in anonymity pretending to be Imogen while Imogen is basking the limelight as perfect movie star Jessica.  But with a mysterious person leaking the next Starfield script online, unlikely romantic possibilities, and internet trolls, the girls start to realize the importance of what they already had.

I throughly enjoyed this book!  I remember liking Geekarella, but by the end, it felt like it was dragging, since we all knew the happy ending was right around the corner.  With this book, the tension and plot never slowed down.  Maybe because the whole story takes place over the comic-con weekend, so there was no time for it to drag?  Whatever the case may be, this one, in my opinion, was even better than the first.  I liked how it showed the ugly side of the Internet, how people don’t realize that what they say online does matter, and how insecure everyone is.  Imogen felt like she was never seen as herself, always in her brother’s shadow, while Jessica always felt like she wasn’t enough, for her fans, her agents, or herself.  It also brought up the question of being happy and how you shouldn’t try to conform yourself to other’s ideas of you.  

I think this book will be a great book for those geeky girls, the ones who feel like they don’t fit in when in reality they don’t need to.  Make sure you set your calendars for April when this book hits the shelves!

**Thanks Net Galley and Quirk Books for this free copy in exchange for an honest review.**