BOOK REVIEW | Geekerella by Ashley Poston

Title: Geekarella
Author: Ashley Poston
Series? No
Pages: 320
Publication Date: April 4, 2017
Publisher: Quirk Books
Source: I checked out a library copy of the hardcover edition from my local library!

Geek girl Elle Wittimer lives and breathes Starfield, the classic science-fiction 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 has ever wanted, but 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. But when she disappears at midnight, will he ever be able to find her again?

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.

Goodreads 

Book Review: Withering Rose by Kaitlyn Davis

 If I had to choose just one word to describe Withering Rose it would be fun. 

I was a bit worried going into Withering Rose because it is the second book to Davis' Once Upon Upon a Curse series. However, I didn't need to worry at all! Each book in the series is a companion novel, and Davis' wonderfully described the plot to new comers like me. Withering Rose is a Beauty and the Beast retelling that is about Omorose, who was once a princess before her world and ours collided into one. She has a beautiful gift, but it comes with the curse of death. After ten years of keeping her magic a secret, Omorose flees the magic-hating compound she lives in to the mountains nearby, which serves as the land of a fearful king. The story takes off from there, and man was it a ride! I was never bored. 

Currently Reading/TBR - Withering Rose, Firstlife, Every Falling Star (June 2016)

Hey guys and welcome back to my blog! Today I'll be showing you the books I am currently reading and planning on reading for the remainder of the month!

Just an hour ago, I finished Withering Rose by Kaitlyn Davis. Withering Rose is a Beauty and the Beast retelling and the second book in Davis' Once Upon a Curse series. I never read the first book, but they can be read out of order, so it was fine! I received it via Netgalley and was surprised at how much I liked the novel. It had a perfect mix between the classic Beauty and the Beast fairytale and originality. A full review will be up soon! :D

As of now, I don't have a set plan on what I am reading next. I just got Every Falling Star by Sungju Lee on my Kindle app. I haven't read a memoir in a really long time, so I'm hoping that I will like it! The memoir is about Lee's survival and escape from North Korea. There is so much that I don't know about North Korea, and I'm looking forward to having my eyes opened. 

Another book that I'm "currently reading" is Firstlife by Gena Showalter. I put currently reading in quotation marks because even though I did start reading it a week ago, I haven't picked it up since. There are several books that I've picked up and never finished, including And I Darken by Kiersten White. I'm not considering them DNF's because I plan on finishing them, but the books aren't holding my attention enough.

In other news, I'm less behind in my goodreads goal! By the end of my school year I was eight books behind in my goal of 100, and now just a week later I'm only five books behind! I hope I can get back on track or ahead by the end of the summer!

What are you currently reading? 

Thanks for stopping by and I'll see you soon with another post!

Happy Reading!

Book Traveling Thursdays: Favorite Retelling

Hey guys and welcome back to my blog! I'm Genni, and today I'm participating the weekly meme Book Traveling Thursdays. Each week we showcase a book that fits with the theme for the week. This meme was created by Catia over at The Girl Who Read Too Much and Danielle at Danielle's Book Blog.

This week we show our favorite retelling! The book I picked for this week is one I read a really long time ago when I was getting back into reading. I remember picking it up because of its stunning cover. I just recently did a Top 5 Wednesday post about retellings, so check it out here if you want! This isn't necessarily a favorite retelling of mine, but it is one of the first YA retellings I read when getting back into the genre. 

Today I picked...

Sisters Red by Jackson Pearce!

English Cover/ Original Cover

This is the original cover and the one that I own. I love this cover because of the two separate images you can see on it. The cover is also really accurate to the story as well, since it follows two sisters that fight against werewolves. You know a book cover is good if it compels you to buy it, and that is exactly what this one made me do a couple of years back!



Favorite Cover

 I find this edition just as stunning as the first one I showed. The reflection of the girl is really cool and they look almost identical, save the scar on the cheek of the bottom one, which is an infliction a character in the book has! This cover portrays the story really well, it's just more subtle than the first. I love the details in this cover and if I were a book collector, I would be ordering this one from the book depository! Also, this is a Thai edition, which I haven't seen yet since doing this weekly meme!


Least Favorite

It is no surprise that I do not like the German cover. They just don't seem to ever get it right! Though the cover isn't horrendous, it pales in comparison to the other editions out there. You can get an idea of the plot from this cover, but it just makes the book seem like another cookie cutter paranormal novel. Can't we have some originality instead of two girls running in the cliche fog-ridden woods? Lame.

So that is my post today! Have you read Sisters Read or any of the other fairytale retellings Jackson Pearce has done over the last couple of years?

Thanks for stopping by and I'll see you soon with another post!

Genni @ Ready, Set, Read!

Top 5 Wednesday: Retellings

Hey guys and welcome back to my blog! I'm Genni and today I will be participating in Top 5 Wednesday, a weekly meme hosted by Lainey at gingerreadslainey. Make sure to check out her youtube channel here! These aren't in any particular order.

5.) Dr. Franklin's Island by Ann Halam
This novel by Ann Halam isn't that well known, but I discovered it back in middle school. Dr. Franklin's Island is based off of The Island of Doctor Moreau by H.G. Wells. Needless to say, the book is pretty creepy and gets kind of gross (in a good way!) about half way through.  Since then, I've actually read this book two other times! I do have some problems with it, but overall it is a really interesting story that hooks me in every time I read the book. Every single time I reread this book I found something more about it that I didn't notice the time before.

4.) Of Beast and Beauty by Stacey Jay
I bet you can't guess what Of Beast and Beauty is a retelling of. You guessed it! Cinderella.  No, it is a loose retelling of Beauty and the Beast. There are the same underlying themes and parallels throughout the whole entire book and I like the spin that Stacey Jay put on the classic fairy tale. In fact, I was actually pleasantly surprised by how much I liked this book back when I read it and the it exceeded my expectations.

3.) Between the Lines by Jodi Picoult and Samantha Van Leer
Between the Lines isn't necessarily a retelling of anything in particular, but takes underlying themes from several fairy tales. In fact, this book kind of pokes fun at the tropes and stereotypes found in all the common and most well known fairy tales. If you haven't read this book and its sequel novel, Off the Page, definitely do so! I had such a great experience reading the two books!

2.) The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer
How could I not mention Lunar Chronicles on my blog?! It's one of my favorite series of all time and each book in the quartet introduces two new main characters based off of fairy tales. Cinder and Kai, from the first novel Cinder, are based from Cinderella. Scarlet and Wolf from Little Red Riding Hood, Cress and Thorne from Rapunzel, and finally Winter and Jacin from Snow White. The plot is this whole entire series gets more and more intricate in all the right ways and is amazing. The characters are what really drives the series and makes it so well done.

1.) Percy Jackson & The Olympians by Rick Riordan

Last but not least is Percy Jackson & the Olympians! PJ & O is to me what Harry Potter is to a lot of people. Most people don't realize this when they are reading it (I didn't when I did at first!), but the story is loosely (see: very loosely) based on The Odyssey and Odysseus' journey. Except, Percy Jackson isn't such a egotistical player. All five of these books have Greek mythology in them as well as the spin off series, Heroes of Olympus.

So that's my top 5 Wednesday! Do we have any books in common? What are some of your favorite retellings?

Thanks for stopping by and I'll see you guys soon with another post!

Happy Reading!

Genni @ Ready, Set, Read!