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1) Geek Girl - ★★★★

Even though I kept hearing great things about Geek Girl, I never really happened to read it. A month ago, my teen sister borrowed the whole Geek Girl series and told me this is something I must check off my list. And here I am one month later - loving the first book!

Geek Girl tells the story of a young teen Harriet, who is a geek and gets bullied at her school. She might know all the science answers, but she has no clue why people are laughing at her when she goes outside with a cartoon hoodie.

But when Harriet gets discovered by a modelling agency,she realises how things can get different, and she has to choose whether she wants to risk losing everything by changing who she really is.

A very funny and geeky read, where I couldn’t stop but giggle a few times. One moment really got me though:

‘’If somebody offers to shave your legs,’’ she snaps, ‘’let them.’’

Harriet is a typical geeky high-school character, and you can’t help but love her weirdness, her silliness and the ways she believes in.

The read was somewhat predictable from the very beginning, and there wasn’t any big plot twist or cliff-hanger, but I believe that this book didn’t really want to achieve that anyways.

This was a perfect read for me to relax and enjoy reading - reminded me of my high-school days and made me remember a lot of similar moments.

I am recommending it to all of you out there - that love being different and aren't afraid to stand up for yourselves, no matter how much people laugh at you.

This poor girl. She's a clone of me in high school. I hate that she thinks she has to change herself. 

 

Well, call me gay.

 

Because I rarely remember ANY makeup.

The premise for the book was interesting: that two people, two characters, could meet in a video game and begin some sort of relationship. Evidently the game that our heroine plays requires a good deal of imaginative writing to go along with the already recorded back stories. I was into that. One's creativity and personality were introduced to another's via the game and its adventures and challenges even though I don't play video games at all. The premise though! That we all have our screen names and so on, and very much control what is shown to others always interests me. Is that idea really explored enough? No. Something like the Bruce Willis film, "Surrogates" does a much better job.

But the MC feels various elements such as pelvic bones and rock-hard nipples of the other character (inevitably "in her pussy") and so I wondered if I had skimmed over the section of this being some sort of virtual reality game combined with creative writing as they both guided the story. I found it difficult to imagine that the MC was in a MFA program as her thoughts frequently seemed immature and occasionally quite base. She does not appeal as an intelligent girl.

Anyway. The main character finds herself attracted to another character whom we know is the creator of the franchise, a bunch of novels about "this place, a fantasy world, and, evidently, quite the empire of fandom. It's a big deal, evidently on the same scale as the Harry Potter series. I add that bit of spoilership as there is no doubt, straight off, that our first person narrator is meeting this woman who created the whole she-bang. I half expected the narrator to meet her new author friend in real life as the author descends in some sort of Willy Wonka-ish magic bubble machine and to be given the keys to the kingdom.

The narrator describes herself in the story as a frequent victim of self doubt. She then goes on to mention this many, many more times and so it was a surprise to me, given her own self-awareness, that she would eventually fall victim to this doubt because of information given her from a girl who she loathes, a girl who reads "crazy" right from the git-go. The ending of this story was unbearable to read and I learned a new skill of wincing and skimming at the same time.

This review is also available on my blog, Bows & Bullets Reviews

 

Harriet Manners is the textbook definition of a a geek. She's actually okay with that. She likes her intelligence and doesn't understand everyone else's fascination with clothes and makeup and superficial pursuits. Then she accidentally gets discovered as the next big model and things spiral from there. Does she have what it takes to shed her geeky exterior and become a worldwide sensation or will her never quieting mind prevent her from letting go enough to allow it to happen?

 

I loved Harriet from page one. She's smart and funny and completely unpopular in the best way. Climbing the social ladder isn't really on her to do list. She is a little sick of being picked on, but she doesn't necessarily want to be the highest rung on the ladder. She just wants to be allowed to geek out. So when she get's discovered as a model, she decides that maybe it's time to try something new. Try on the pretty clothes and the makeup and actually talking to Nick, the male model she'll be posing with. Things go from awkward to normal and back again over and over and over and it was thoroughly entertaining. I love Harriet with the makeup and wannabe girliness and without it. Her inner snark had me rolling in laughter from page one and I couldn't help wanting more. I love that she likes who she is, but I also love that she is brave enough to try something new. Stepping out of her normal role and into something scary and new is far from easy, but she tries. She gives it her all even though she doesn't really know what she's doing. It just made me love her more.

 

I could speak to the other characters, but really, she's the main one. The rest all play their roles, filling in where they are needed and making connections with her at the appropriate moments. Nick shows up every so often to provide just enough confusing swoon-worthy stares to move her obsession along just a bit more. Her dad and Step-Mom provide parenting like moments. I gotta say that I loved her Step-Mom quite a bit by the end. She's not perfect and she's not Harriet's bio-mom, but she loves her and is more attentive than Harriet and Dad realize. In the beginning, I was irked by her bossing Harriet around, but she really does have the best of intentions and that scene, in her office at the end, well, let's just say we should all be so lucky.

 

What really won me over with this novel was it's laugh out loud comedy. I know LOL is a term people throw around constantly, but rarely does a book make me snort or laugh or giggle out loud. Smiling or internal chortling happens constantly, but few are good enough to make me really laugh out loud. And this was one of them. It is full of humorous dialogue and outrageous shenanigans and enough awkward situations to have you laughing and hiding your face simultaneously. I also loved the ending and the message that carries. I won't spoil anything, but I will say that it is the perfect message for teenagers and more books need to go in that direction.

 

I know many people have compared it to Louise Rennison's Confessions of Georgia Nicolson series and I whole heartedly agree with that comparison. This is right on that Georgia level and that is a huge compliment. This is laugh out loud funny with enough heart to make it feel real. I recommend it to every reader out there. Old, young, boy, girl, chick-flick fan, or nerd lover, this will be loved by all!

 

****Thank you to Harper Teen for providing me with an eARC via Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review****