I read Ashley Poston’s Geekerella soon after it released in 2017 and I LOVED IT. It was the first book that I read which was centered around a Comic Con-ish event. Geekerella was a Cinderella retelling where the “Prince” was actually playing the part of a Prince in a movie series, and the girl worked in a pumpkin-coloured food van. Since I loved Geekerella so much, I couldn’t wait for The Princess and the Fangirl.
The Princess and The Fangirl is about two girls—Imogen Lovelace and Jessica Stone—who look very alike alike but live very different lives.
Jessica Stone is an upcoming actress who is looking to do better movies and roles. When she agreed to play the part of Princess Amara in the remake of the Starfield movies, a huge franchise, she thought it would be a one-off thing. Jessica thought that it would only be a stepping stone to recognition which would help her get roles that she likes.
But when Jessica is contracted for two more Starfield movies, she realizes just how hard it is to leave Starfield behind. Since Jessica isn’t a true Starfield fan who loves the franchise, she is shown the ugly side of fandoms i.e. hate from the fans. This in turn makes her hate the franchise and openly talk against it. She just wants to leave Starfield behind and move on in her career, which is within her reach as Princess Amara died in the latest movie. Jessica just hopes that they don’t contract her for flashback scenes.
On the other side, Imogen Lovelave is a die-hard fan of Starfield. She knows every quote, every reference and can accurately place lines in episodes or movies. She has a crush on Darien, who plays Prince Charminder, and just wishes Jessica would not talk against Starfield so much.
Imogen feels like she lives in the shadow of her younger brother Milo’s achievements, and works hard for Starfield because it’s the one thing that’s truly hers. She doesn’t want Princess Amara to be dead and starts a hashtag #SaveAmara which gathers fifty thousand signatures. She HAS to prove herself in at least this.
When Imogen and Jess attend ExcelsiCon this year, a mistaken identity case puts Imogen up on a panel instead of Jessica. Imogen takes this as an opportunity to further her #SaveAmara campaign and pisses Jessica off. Jessica and Imogen become instant enemies.
Fate has other ideas for these two, though. A person starts releasing snippets from the script of the next Starfield movie anonymously on twitter, which creates havoc and an onslaught of questions from the fans and press. Jessica is now panicking, because she threw her copy of the script in the trash and it’s gone missing. She’s the only cast member who got the script in promise of a “surprise”, which she’s not interested in.
Before someone realizes that it’s all Jessica’s fault, Jessica has to find the culprit and get her copy back. Only, it’s not possible for her to hunt the culprit while also attending all the events she’s scheduled for. Or is it?
Jessica asks Imogen to pretend to be her as a favour while she hunts for her script copy, and the ExclesiCon turns upside-down for them both.
“I think sometimes the stories we need are the ones about taking the hobbits to Isengard and dog-human dudes with space heelies and trashy King Arthurs and gay ice-skating animes and Zuko redemption arcs and space princesses with found families and galaxies far, far away. We need those stories, too. Stories that tell us that we can be bold and brash and make mistakes and still come out better on the other side.”
While I was very enthusiastic when I started The Princess and the Fangirl, I felt displaced in the beginning. The book referenced multiple characters who were in the first book (and whom I forgot), and even a small introduction wasn’t given about them, and also scenes involving them. So, I felt lost for the first 50 or so pages until I remembered all the characters. If a person were to read this book without reading Geekerella, the person would find it hard to keep up with the characters.
The best part of the book was the character development, for me. The book is heavily character driven and I just loved watching Imogen and Jessica deal with their problems and grow. In the three days of ExcelsiCon, so much happened and it made the event a magical and life-changing experience for the main characters.
I also really liked the supporting characters. Jessica’s best friend and assistant Ethan was SO CUTE. I absolutely loved him. He’s really loyal and cares for Jess, and is a huge nerd. Imogen’s younger brother Milo and his boyfriend Bran were so nice as well. They were so cute together. I want a whole book on Milo and Bran.
The book also spoke a lot about how situations are different for the other person and you don’t know what they are going through. Imogen couldn’t understand why Jessica hated the Starfield franchise until she literally stepped into Jess’s shoes.
I loved that the attachment to a franchise and the reason for the attachment was brought out through Imogen. Imogen loved Princess Amara because Amara made mistakes but she pulled through in the end and that gave Imogen hope. Imogen wanted to save Amara so badly because of what Amara represented to her.
In conclusion, I loved that this cute and fluffy Young Adult contemporary book included everything that we, as fans, relate to and also included topics that we can relate to on an emotional level. Beyond the characters and plot, I liked what the characters represented and their stories.
I recommend the book to readers for fluffy and cute reads which has a great story and whirlwind of a ride.
Until Next time !
Happy Reading !!
Sumedha S
Open My Book 