Thursday, November 13, 2014

GUEST REVIEW: GEEK GIRL by Holly Smale




Title: Geek Girl
Series: Geek Girl, #1
Author: Holly Smale
Publisher: HarperCollins Children’s Books
Publication Date: February 28, 2013
Genre: Young Adult
Reviewed by: Ellen Fritz
Ellen’s rating: 5/5

SUMMARY

Harriet Manners knows a lot of things. 

She knows that a cat has 32 muscles in each ear, a "jiffy" lasts 1/100th of a second, and the average person laughs 15 times per day. What she isn't quite so sure about is why nobody at school seems to like her very much. So when she's spotted by a top model agent, Harriet grabs the chance to reinvent herself. Even if it means stealing her Best Friend's dream, incurring the wrath of her arch enemy Alexa, and repeatedly humiliating herself in front of the impossibly handsome supermodel Nick. Even if it means lying to the people she loves. 

As Harriet veers from one couture disaster to the next with the help of her overly enthusiastic father and her uber-geeky stalker, Toby, she begins to realise that the world of fashion doesn't seem to like her any more than the real world did. 

And as her old life starts to fall apart, the question is: will Harriet be able to transform herself before she ruins everything?




REVIEW

Having recently read several rather suspenseful and fairly serious books, Geek Girl turned out to be the perfect book to wind down with. Rather unpopular at school, geeky Harriet Manners tries to avoid being noticed by others, especially her nemesis, Alexa, and her even geekier stalker, Toby. Unfortunately, her loyalty to her best friend, Nat, lands her slap in the middle of the modeling world as well as in the center of more complications than she can deal with.

I so needed to read something like this delightfully relaxing and, most of the time, hilariously funny story right now. Even the serious, leaning to the disastrous, parts of the story is written in an upbeat way that just keeps the smile hovering.

Harriet is such a realistic, likable, and lifelike character, she makes the story come alive with her geeky statistics, natural doubts and fears, and often slightly off-beat observations. The even geekier Toby is absolutely lovable despite his weirdly accomplished role as Harriet's stalker.

Even Harriet's sometimes-less-than-completely-honest father, and her stern lawyer stepmother, turned out to be characters that I felt sad to say good bye to at the end of the book. Nick, Harriet's deliciously handsome co-model, comes across as a flighty, slightly untouchable character at first. Fortunately, the young man redeems himself towards the end of the story.

For a lighthearted, relaxing read full of laugh-out-loud humor and wickedly sharp wit, I recommend Geek Girl as an absolute must read.






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ABOUT the AUTHOR


Holly is the Number One bestselling, multi-award winning author of the GEEK GIRL series.

She fell in love with writing at five years old, when she realised that books didn't grow on trees like apples. A passion for travel, adventure and wearing no shoes has since led her all over the world: she has visited 27 countries, spent two years working as an English teacher in Japan, volunteered in Nepal, been bartered for in Jamaica and had a number of ear-plugs stolen in Australia, Indonesia and India.

Holly has a BA in English Literature, an MA in Shakespeare, and currently lives in London or at @holsmale.

  
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1 comment:

The Cover Contessa said...

I adored this book. It was quirky and funny. I remember just laughing and laughing while reading it! Glad you enjoyed it.

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