Geekerella by Ashley Poston | Spoiler-Free Review

Hey guys! Today, I'll be doing the first review on my blog, Geekerella by Ashley Poston!

Before I get into the review, I just want to quickly explain HOW I'll be doing my reviews, both in this one and in future ones:

• Picture of book
• Rating
• Synopsis
• Talk more about the three main parts of a book: plot, writing, and characters
• And maybe some rambling at the end XD

Rating: 4.25/5 stars

SYNOPSIS

Geekerella is a fandom-inspired retelling of Cinderella, following geek girl Elle Wittimer who practically breathes Starfield, the classic sci-fi show she grew up watching with her (late) father. She soon sees a cosplay contest for the new Starfield reboot movie, and she feels she has to enter. The prize is an invitation to the ExcelsiCon Cosplay Ball, and a meet-and-greet with the actor for the Federation Prince Carmindor, Darien Freeman. With her dad's old costume she finds in the attic and savings from working at the Magic Pumpkin food truck, she's determined to win - unless the twins get there first.

Darien Freeman, teen actor, used to go to cons whenever he could - before he was famous. Now all he does there is sign autographs and stand around at awkward meet-and-greets. He's over the moon about playing Carmindor, but just about the entire Starfield fandom has put him off as just another stupid heartthrob. The more ExcelsiCon comes nearer, the more Darien feels like a fake - until he meets a girl who shows him otherwise.

YES I KNOW. THE LAST PART SOUNDS CRINGEY. BUT IT'S REALLY GOOD OK.

PLOT

I looooooved the plot in this one! I think it handled the original Cinderella story super well, while also adding fandom into it in the best way possible! One aspect kind of gave me You've Got Mail vibes, which was a-okay with me. Also, I felt like it never dragged and I read this book SO quickly. As soon as I started it, I was hooked (but then The Upside of Unrequited came out in the middle of when I was reading it so had to put it down for a little bit lol)

WRITING

I really enjoyed the writing, because it actually seemed like a teenager was talking to you and not a thirty-year-old, which it was meant to be like. But at the same time, there were a few times throughout the book that the writing just fell kind of flat for me. It just randomly got sort of bland, so I wasn't the biggest fan of that.

CHARACTERS

Guys. I. Love. The. Characters. So. Fucking. Much.

Now, please excuse my screaming about them:
OMG THE ROMANCE WAS SO CUTE AND ELLE AND SAGE'S FRIENDSHIP IS LIKE MY FAVORITE FUCKING THING IN THE UNIVERSE AND HOW IS THIS AUTHOR SO GOOD AT WRITING CHARACTERS LIKE I WANT TO HUG THEM FOR HOURS BUT ALSO PUNCH THE TWINS AND CATHERINE IN THE FACE.

*Wipes sweat off forehead*

So yeah.

I kinda sorta adore the characters to death except for the twins and Catherine.

Maybe I should stop rambling.

So, that's it for now, guys! I really hope you enjoyed this very ramble-filled review. Maybe next time it'll be more "professional", but for now just lots of rambling XD. Tell me in the comments if you want to read this, or if you read this, and if so what'd you think of it? Thanks for reading! Bye!

What my Rating System is Like (+ Examples!)

Hey guys! So, I originally saw this video from Cece (from Problemsofabooknerd, I'd be surprised if you haven't checked her out yet, and if you haven't you definitely should!) and I thought it was a really awesome idea, so I'll be doing my own version of it today (I'll be going from bottom upwards)!

**I know everyone hates the disclaimer but I have to put it: when I add my examples, there's no need to hate me because I didn't like a book you liked or because I liked a book you didn't like. We're all entitled to our own opinons and it's awesome.

ONE-STAR

A one-star read for me means that I absolutely, positively HATED this book to hell and back. I could not find a single thing about it that I enjoyed, or maybe there was one little thing that I liked, but the rest of it was just so fucking horrible that it still got a one-star.

Examples: Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card, Me Before You by Jojo Moyes

ONE AND A HALF STARS

A 1.5-star book is very rare for me, because if I am really not enjoying a book, it's probably going to be pretty hard to find something that I actually enjoyed, but I did, and that's why I gave the book 1.5 stars.

Examples: Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon, The Edge of Everything by Jeff Giles

TWO STARS

If I rate a book two stars, it probably means that the book definitely wasn't the greatest. I didn't end up enjoying most of it, but maybe there was one element (i.e., the writing, the characters, the plot, etc.) that I did like, but pretty much, I wasn't the biggest fan of it.

Examples: Bone Gap by Laura Ruby, Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli

TWO AND A HALF STARS

For me, a 2.5-star book isn't very much different than a two-star book. Usually, when I rate something 2.5-stars, something like "I liked the writing, but I didn't like the plot or characters excpept for one." Or "I liked the characters, but I wasn't a huge fan of the writing or the plot except for around page 300."

Examples: The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau, The Call by Peadar O'Guilin

THREE STARS

I always find three-star reads harder to explain and review, because they're just right in the middle. Personally, there's not much better of an explanation for a three-star book than "meh." It wasn't exactly good, but it wasn't bad either.

Examples: Paper Towns by John Green, City of Saints And Thieves by Natalie C. Anderson

THREE AND A HALF STARS

A 3.5-star read in my book is pretty damn good. It was really, really close to a four-star, but there was something holding me back from giving it that. Maybe it a was a plot-drag, maybe it was a character I didn't like, I don't know.

Examples: The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman, Legend by Marie Lu

FOUR STARS

A four-star rating is my most commonly-used rating, which I would think is a good thing, because four-stars are great! A super solid read that I will for sure keep on my shelf and maybe even reread. But there was just SOMETHING that made me NOT give it a five-star.

Examples: To All The Boys I've Loved Before by Jenny Han, The Diabolic by S.J. Kincaid

FOUR AND A HALF STARS

Whoo-ee, this book was so fuckin' good! Like oh my God I just loved this book so MUCH!!
But.
There was just some teeny tiny thing that stopped me from giving it a five-star. If this were me a little while ago, I probably would've just given it five stars, but now I'm a lot more picky and critical.

Examples: Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli, George by Alex Gino

FIVE STARS

OH. MY. FUCKING. GOD. I ABSOLUTELY ADORED THIS BOOK WITH ALL MY HEART. I EITHER CANNOT FIND ANY FLAWS OR THERE IS ONE FLAW, BUT THE REST OF IT IS JUST SO FUCKING GOOD THAT I STILL GIVE IT FIVE STARS.
This is definitely a book that sticks with me and is most likely a favorite.

Examples: Wonder by R.J. Palacio, A List of Cages by Robin Roe


And that's it for now! Tell me anything about your own rating system in the comments below. I hope you enjoyed, and thanks for reading! Bye guys!

5 Books I NEED to Reread!

Hello everyone! Now, I love to reread my favorite books, and I try to do it more often. But there are just so many other books on my TBR that it feels like I'm wasting time. THERE'S JUST SO MANY OTHER BOOKS I HAVEN'T READ YET. BUT I'M HERE, READING A BOOK THAT I'VE ALREADY READ. Anyways, once I sort of clear my TBR pile a little, I'll definitely be rereading these.

1. SIX OF CROWS BY LEIGH BARDUGO

So... I still haven't read the Grisha trilogy. BUT THEY ARE AT THE TOP OF MY TBR I SWEAR. But I haven't read Six of Crows since when it came out at the end of 2015. AND I HAVE TO REREAD IT BECAUSE IT'S JUST SO GOOD. AND THEN REREAD CROOKED KINGDOM EVEN THOUGH I'M STILL NOT OVER IT.

2. THE BOOK THIEF BY MARKUS ZUSAK

This is, if I were forced to choose, my favorite book of all time. And I have only read it twice. That second read was three years ago. That must be changed ASAP.

3. SAVING LUCAS BIGGS BY MARISA DE LOS SANTOS AND DAVID TEAGUE

I read this years ago in middle school and absolutely loved it, but I have forgotten just about all of it. So I want to reread it, but at the same time, I'm scared to because I'm probably not going to like it nearly as much as when I originally read it.

4. THE PERCY JACKSON SERIES BY RICK RIORDAN

This is another one I read a SUPER long time ago (fucking elementary school oml) and NEVER reread them. This is a good time for me to ask myself, "What the actual fuck have you been doing with your life this entire time?"

5. (obviously) THE HARRY POTTER SERIES BY JK ROWLING

I recently made it a goal in life for me to read Harry Potter at least twenty times in my life, and I should probably get on a fifth read soon enough. I mean, when isn't a good time to reread Harry Potter?

And that's it for now, guys! Honestly I could do a part two do this. There's just so many books that I love and I have to reread but I just haven't yet. Thanks for reading! Bye!