Review of The Princess and the Fangirl

I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

So let’s flashback for a moment. The year is 2018. I’m reading Geekerella for the first time, thanks to a recommendation from Malka. The strange thing is, when I went onto Goodreads to add Geekerella to my currently reading I saw, “Once Upon a Con #1”. Obviously, I automatically freaked out. Is there a second one? Will there be a second one? Is this just a glitch on Goodreads?

After 5 minutes of freaking out, I totally forgot about it. That is until I visited the Quirk books booth at Comic-Con. It was there that I got confirmation about a second book! Flashforward a bit, and I got the confirmation notification from Netgalley that I was approved for this book and it absolutely made my day!

I really liked Geekerella, it was so cute and nerdy, and none of that was lost in this wonderful companion novel.

I don’t think you have to read Geekerella to understand what’s going on in The Princess and the Fangirl, but you definitely should. If only for the fact that you’ll understand all the amazing cameos.

The Princess and the Fangirl is a modern retelling of the Prince and Pauper. It follows look-alikes Jessica Stone-actress extraordinaire-and Imogen Lovelace-fangirl supreme-as they switch places during ExcelsiCon.

Jessica Stone is fed up of being Princess Amara. Constantly being attacked by fans about her interpretation of the role, no love is lost between Jess and Starfield fandom. Meanwhile, Imogen, a die-hard Starfield fangirl, is working her best to make sure that Princess Amara doesn’t get killed off from the franchise. After accidentally crossing paths, Jess and Imogen clash immediately However, when the script for the next Starfield movie begins to leak, they realize that they must cooperate to find the culprit.

This book was so cute! One thing I  loved was how we got to read from Jess’s point of view. In the first book, Jess is a side character, whom you don’t know much about, and she honestly comes off as a little rude and bitter. But in The Princess and the Fangirl, you see that Jess really has it tough with all the hate coming her way. She feels as if she isn’t valid as an actress in the role of Princess Amara, and I think it’s a really important point to bring across.

I know that it’s hard for fans to realize that actors and actresses are real people, but Ashley Poston helped by showing both sides of the story in this book. You’ve got Jess, who is just fed up with everything. She hates Starfield, she’s constantly barraged with hate, in person, and over social media, and it’s hard for her to see what’s positive about the role. Then you have Imogen, who is trying her best to save Princess Amara. She’s a fangirl who looks up to Princess Amara, and who thinks there couldn’t be anything better than playing Princess Amara in a movie.

Jessica and Imogen are complete opposites, and they clash upon meeting due to the simple fact that they don’t understand each other at all. Jessica can’t understand why Imogen is so obsessed with Amara, and Imogen can’t understand how Jessica can throw away such an amazing opportunity. By switching places they slowly come to understand each other and that leads to amazing character development. Showing that people can change when given an alternate point of view.

One thing I definitely preferred about The Princess and the Fangirl over Geekerella I is the way the con is described in this book. I don’t think that Geekerella gave that much page time to the description of the convention, but it was definitely all covered in this book. From the description of the booths to the panels to all the people in costumes, it made you feel like you were really there.

All in all, I enjoyed it. It was a cute, fluffy read with good characters and a fun environment.

Are you excited for this book? Have you read Geekerella?

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