Title: The Princess and the Fangirl
Author: Ashley Poston
Publisher: Quirk Books
Publishing Date: April 2nd 2019
Goodreads blurb:
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 from 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.
Review:
These books are freaking adorable. When I went into the first book (Geekerella) I was very hesitant to read it, because let's be honest, it sounds ridiculous, kinda in the best way? I picked it up when it first came out, and then read it a few months later, and honestly when I saw The Princess and the Fangirl, I kinda auto bought. And then had to wait for my friend to finish the book she was reading so we could buddy read it, which was kinda frustrating.
This book was such a quick read. I read it in the space of 24 hours. It's super quick, cute, and very relatable if you're a fangirl. What was interesting to me was when I read the first book, I'd never been to a real con before, so while I loved the book, I didn't fully relate to the convention love. This past October, I went to MCM London to meet the cast of Critical Role, and it was my first real convention, my first real cosplay, my first real experience at one of these things, and it was the first time that I actually got it. So what I found super interesting was the fact that reading The Princess and the Fangirl, I found myself longing to go back to a convention, because this book is incredible at capturing the feel of a convention and fandom.
So, to the plot, it's pretty simple to figure out. Kinda Parent Trap style, you see Jess switch places with Mo, and watch as each girl goes on a wild goose chase to figure things out. These books are ridiculously predictable, they're super campy, but a crap ton of fun. Being perfectly honest, you don't expect a retelling to be that different, or at least I don't, and going into a contemporary based around fandom I never expect it to be this mind blowing plot. I go in for fun, and that's exactly what I got from it.
The characters are super cute. As I said, I buddy read the book with a friend of mine and we just kept messaging back and forth being like 'lol this reference.' 'omg there's a Hamilton reference.' and stuff like that. The fact is I could so heavily relate to these characters because they love things that I love.
Now, I did have a few problems with the book, and I'll kinda spell them out here. They didn't bother me that much, and they're pretty stupid, but at the same time I feel like I have to discuss them just a little bit.
1. Why the Hufflepuff hate? Yep. We're doing this. I am a very proud Hufflepuff and the two main characters were not, and more than once there was a 'ugh they're such a Hufflepuff' comment, and I'm just like. Can we move past this please? Each of the houses is valid. I know this is a stupid thing but yeah, it got me frustrated.
2. The ships are so heavy handed. Now I know it's a contemporary, and you know that it's going to be cute and stuff, but this book could have been perfectly fine without any form of ship other than friendship, and honestly I felt like I was being batted over the head with who was getting together. Cute ships, but bright as the sun.
3. Communication. Now, I'm putting this one in, but let's be honest, the majority of YA Contemporaries have this problem. If characters actually talked, listened, and communicated, you would have a lot less problems when it comes to people going off script when you have a job to do. Now, I'm not saying this is a huge problem, because I get conflict drives stories and not communicating is a good way to drive conflict in YA contemporaries, but there were a few times in this book where all I wanted to do was to scream at these characters and tell them to stop being idiots and just talk. In a few situations there could have been conflict with plot device instead of just they weren't communicating so no one knew what was going on. I guess it's just a trope that I don't like to see, I've come to learn overtime that communication is key in a lot of things and I think it just frustrates me when problems could be solved if we talked open and honestly.
Besides that, and like I said these things were a bit frustrating but not horrendous enough that I didn't absolutely love this book. I will love to continue to read this series, and read this book again just for my nerdy stupid heart. If you're into a fun silly read with a lot of nerdy stuff crammed into a short amount of time, I'd definitely recommend.
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