Words I Write Crazy: Week 19 Reviews: Geekerella, Once at Midnight, The Princess and the Fangirl, Once a Princess, Bookish and the Beast, Once an Ever After

Saturday, May 13, 2023

Week 19 Reviews: Geekerella, Once at Midnight, The Princess and the Fangirl, Once a Princess, Bookish and the Beast, Once an Ever After

From Goodreads:

Cinderella goes to the con in this fandom-fueled twist on the classic fairy tale.

Part romance, part love letter to nerd culture, and all totally adorbs, Geekerella is a fairy tale for anyone who believes in the magic of fandom. Geek girl Elle Wittimer lives and breathes Starfield, the classic sci-fi series she grew up watching with her late father. So when she sees a cosplay contest for a new Starfield movie, she has to enter. The prize? An invitation to the ExcelsiCon Cosplay Ball, and a meet-and-greet with the actor slated to play Federation Prince Carmindor in the reboot. With savings from her gig at the Magic Pumpkin food truck (and her dad's old costume), Elle's determined to win…unless her stepsisters get there first.

Teen actor Darien Freeman used to live for cons—before he was famous. Now they're nothing but autographs and awkward meet-and-greets. Playing Carmindor is all he's ever wanted, but the Starfield fandom has written him off as just another dumb heartthrob. As ExcelsiCon draws near, Darien feels more and more like a fake—until he meets a girl who shows him otherwise.

From Goodreads:

Once upon a con short story. Once upon a con 1.5

A link to the "Once Upon a Con short stories" can be found on Ashley Poston's website on the page for Geekerella. It is located below the "buy" button

See the URL listed on this page.

From Goodreads:

The Prince and the Pauper gets a modern makeover in this adorable, witty, and heartwarming young adult novel set in the Geekerella universe by national bestselling author Ashley Poston.

Imogen Lovelace is an ordinary fangirl on an impossible mission: save her favorite character, Princess Amara, from being killed off from her favorite franchise, Starfield. The problem is, Jessica Stone—the actress who plays Princess Amara—wants nothing more than to leave the intense scrutiny of the fandom behind. If this year's ExcelsiCon isn't her last, she'll consider her career derailed.

When a case of mistaken identity throws look-a-likes Imogen and Jess together, they quickly become enemies. But when the script for the Starfield sequel leaks, and all signs point to Jess, she and Imogen must trade places to find the person responsible. That's easier said than done when the girls step into each other's shoes and discover new romantic possibilities, as well as the other side of intense fandom. As these "princesses" race to find the script-leaker, they must rescue themselves from their own expectations, and redefine what it means to live happily ever after.

From Goodreads:

Once upon a con short story. Once upon a con 2.5

A link to the "Once Upon a Con short stories" can be found on Ashley Poston's website on the page for Geekerella. It is located below the "buy" button

See the URL listed on this page.

From Goodreads:

In the third book in Ashley Poston's Once Upon a Con series, Beauty and the Beast is retold in the beloved Starfield universe.

Rosie Thorne is feeling stuck—on her college application essays, in her small town, and on that mysterious General Sond cosplayer she met at ExcelsiCon. Most of all, she's stuck in her grief over her mother's death. Her only solace was her late mother’s library of rare Starfield novels, but even that disappeared when they sold it to pay off hospital bills.

On the other hand, Vance Reigns has been Hollywood royalty for as long as he can remember—with all the privilege and scrutiny that entails. When a tabloid scandal catches up to him, he's forced to hide out somewhere the paparazzi would never expect to find him: Small Town USA. At least there's a library in the house. Too bad he doesn't read.

When Rosie and Vance's paths collide and a rare book is accidentally destroyed, Rosie finds herself working to repay the debt. And while most Starfield superfans would jump at the chance to work in close proximity to the Vance Reigns, Rosie has discovered something about Vance: he's a jerk, and she can't stand him. The feeling is mutual.

But as Vance and Rosie begrudgingly get to know each other, their careful masks come off—and they may just find that there's more risk in shutting each other out than in opening their hearts.

From Goodreads:

Once upon a con short story. Once upon a con 3.5

A link to the "Once Upon a Con short stories" can be found on Ashley Poston's website on the page for Geekerella. It is located below the "buy" button

See the URL listed on this page.

My Review:
I had such a fantastic time reading these books! I love Ashley Poston's books, and I was really excited to read this series, that it's modern day fairytales, with the fan and con culture, it was so much fun! Really, these books were such a delight to read!

I've mentioned it before, but there's something about the fantasy of a normal person with a famous person, that are just so enjoyable to read. That all three of these are variations on them, but with the story beats of fairy tales, yeah, it was an interesting juxtaposition!

I'm not sure which of these 3 are my favourite couple. They all had something special, something that made them unique, and so much fun to read. That Darien was a fan and now is a part of the movie that reboots the franchise that she's passionate about. Jess and Imogen, yeah, while LGBT+ is becoming more prevalent in society, there's still not a lot of celebrities who are publicly out, so I loved their story. And who doesn't love a bad boy and a girl who doesn't take any of his crap? Yeah, all 3 couples were really enjoyable!

That all of of these books are set around the Starfield franchise, to get deeper into the lore, and being at ExcelsiCon, was really great and it just built more and more as the books progressed. I had such a fun time enjoying this growing entity!

Loved reading these books, and I can't wait to read more by Ashley Poston!

Author: Ashley Poston
Series: Once Upon a Con #1, 1.5, 2, 2.5, 3, 3.5
Read: May 7th, 7th, 7th, 7th, 7th, 7th, 2023
Source: Bought, Ebook.bike
Reason Why: Sounded really good, and it's a Prequel & Sequel Challenge 2023 Book! And The Princess and the Fangirl is a RR Book, and Bookish and the Beast is a End of Series 2023 Book and a WoW Book!
Publisher: Quirk Books, Ashley Poston
Published: April 4th 2017, January 1st 2019, April 2nd 2019, January 1st 2020, June 16th 2020, June 1st 2021

Geekerella: