Review: ONCE UPON A CON Series by Ashley Poston

GEEKERELLA

Author: Ashley Poston

Series: Once Upon A Con #1
Source: Audio from Audible
Publisher: Quirk Books
Publication Date: April 4, 2017

Overall Rating:
Diversity Rating:
Representation (Whole Series): F/F romance, demisexual main character (implied) Japanese side character, M/M romance (side characters), bisexual main character, latinx side character, nonbinary side character

Summary:

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.

Purchase:

Amazon | Chapters | TBD

Content Warning: Moderately strong language, emotional abuse, fatphobia, groping, Harry Potter references, misogyny

Geekerella

I thought this was really cute and I liked a lot of the retelling portions of this. It hit all the right beats and had a pretty compelling storyline. But I thought some of it was just too convenient and could have been better fleshed out. I just felt like it was too fanfic-y for me, especially since the romance felt almost insta-love. I know, I know, they talked for a while. But only via text and never once called each other. And the explanation for not doing that wasn't compelling enough in my opinion.

But it was cute! And I enjoyed it so I'll probably continue on with this series.

The Princess and the Fangirl

I didn't realize I skipped this one when I was reading, so I came back to it before continuing with another book. This was ... okay. I like the setting of this series and how it could be our world and life. But it was also kinda boring.

There wasn't a lot of things happening because we learned the plot right from the beginning and then there was just too much fluff in between for me to really enjoy it. I was hoping for a bit more action than what we were getting. It also didn't quite make sense that they switched places when Jess could have just asked Imogen to go find the script for her.

But it was cute! And I'm glad I read this series. It's free on Audible Plus so if you have the chance, give it a read.

Bookish and the Beast

This was really cute and I enjoyed it a lot! It doesn't have the same level of "fandom" as Geekerella, but it was definitely a cute rom-com novel. I did think the characters fell a little short and everyone had the convenience of "being rich" which made a lot of the problems easily solvable.

I thought this could have been a better retelling of Beauty and the Beast - it focused so much on how Vance doesn't see the magic of books rather than the other aspects of B&tB. I like books about books, but this just didn't have the right magic for me.

I do recommend this series, though!