ARC Review: Geek Girl by Holly Smale

Every Geek's turn to shine

Title: Geek Girl
Author: Holly Smale
Publisher: Harper Collins, UK
My ratings: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Releasing: 28th, February, 2013
Before I go nose diving into my review, I have a confession to make. I’m a geek. Let’s make a big massive GEEK. In fact I’m pretty sure I’m Harriett Manners. Or perhaps Harriett is modelled after every Geek girl out there. Harriett was so real to me. It felt like story was being told. Well, I’m not exactly model material but I’d like to think I am.

Harriett is your average geek girl next door, complete with a fashion crazy best friend and a geeky stalker. She was your quintessenscail geek girl who hasn’t got a clue about fashion, boys and is utterly socially inept. She keeps sprouting random bits of information which may be interesting (of, course I find them interesting) to the dismay of the people around her.

“Our stories are driven by who we are and what we do, not by the events that happen to us”.

One day Harriett gets scouted when her BFF was meant to scouted. Finally fed up being treated as the underdog, against the wishes of her step mother and at the risking of losing every one she love Harriett decided to go ahead and be a model.

A geek trying to be a model? I had to read this book. I mean I try really hard these not so it’s not too obvious but I’m a geek. It felt like a personal Cinderella story too. I loved loved loved Harriett. From her dorky clothes to her random bit of info dropping, it was all so endearing. She was so cute that I wanted to take this version of Mimi-me home.

“…..stop caring what people who don’t matter think of you. Be who you are and let everybody else be who they are. Differences are a good thing. It would be a terribly boring world if we were all the same.” .

The story line was quick and fast moving. I loved the side characters which added flavour to this sweet story of coming of age. I loved Harriett’s dad. It would suck to have a dad who would embarrass you every day but it would be great to know a grown up as fun as him. I even enjoyed the geeky Toby who simply would not stop stalking Harriett.

Geek Girl was fun, peppy and adventurous. Yes I said adventurous. It felt like one. Harriett going away on photo shoots and stumbling her way around the fashion world is nothing but an adventure. How would a geek (insert *me*) find her way in the treacherous waters filled with meat eating sharks, ready to snap a bite off you?

Okay, I think I may be getting carried away here. Ahem, this treacherous world may seem terrifying for me Harriett but the story had enough pretty to motivate me. Nick was...let’s just say interesting. He was handsome, charming, clever, witty, and elusive and to make matters worse, mysterious. I had no chance. I mean, Harriet had no chance.

“Nobody really metamorphoses. Cinderella is always Cinderella, just in a nicer dress. The Ugly duckling was always a swan, just a smaller version. And I bet the tadpole and the caterpillar still the same, even when they’re jumping and flying, swimming and floating. Just like I am.” .

Over all, Geek Girl was fun and light reading. The side characters interesting and it doesn’t hurt that in Victorian time women used to use dead mice skin as a fashion accessory or that the water doesn’t reflect the sky but reflects the wave length of the colour blue. I enjoyed this book immensely and it might not have left a long lasting impression on me but I’m sure I can pick this book a year later and still enjoy. Highly recommended to all geek self-confessed or not.

Arc provided by HarperCollins UK.