Pages:
378
Publisher:
HarperCollins
Release
Date: 28th
February 2013
Edition:
UK proof,
review copy
Harriet
Manners know a cat has 32 muscles in each ear, a “jiffy” lasts exactly 1/100th
of a second and the average person laughs 15 times per day. She knows that bats
always turn left when exiting a cave and that peanuts are one of the
ingredients in dynamite.
But
she doesn’t know why nobody at school seems to like her.
So
when she is spotted by a top model agency, she 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 model Nick.
Veering
from one couture disaster to the next with the help of her overly enthusiastic
father and her uber-geeky stalker, Toby, Harriet begins to realise that the
world of fashion doesn’t seem to like her any more than the real world did. Can
Harriet go from geek to chic before she ruins everything?
I’ve been hearing amazing
things about Geek Girl for months and
now, now I finally understand. It’s brilliant.
Harriet is a fantastic heroine.
She immediately endeared herself to me with her spouting random facts and using
them to fill the gaps in awkward conversations along with hiding under tables. Sometimes
Harriet could be a little arrogant
and condescending, but not on purpose and it just made me love her even more
for some strange reason!
She also took a brilliant
journey throughout Geek Girl and the message
that it delivered was perfect. It’s really something that girls need to learn,
especially me sometimes: be yourself and embrace it. You may be a geek, but
that’s not necessarily a bad thing because there are people that love a good
geek every now and then. That sounded slightly wrong but you know what I mean...
I was also so refreshing to not have a romance at the centre of the novel.
Harriet discovering herself and negotiating her relationship with her family
was at the heart of the novel and I loved it.
You can definitely tell that Harriet
is from her dad’s gene pool: he is hilarious. He was the child while Harriet
was swanning around being a model and fending off vicious girls. His strops and
pouting really made me laugh. I also really came to like Annabel. She was the
perfect antidote to Harriet and her dad and was clearly the glue that held
their family together. I didn’t think I’d like her at all, but I really did.
There were also plenty of
brilliant secondary characters that came in with Harriet being thrown in to the
scary world of modelling. Alexa is a cruel, cruel person and she was so
horrible to Harriet seemingly for no reason and I just couldn’t understand why.
Then you have my favourite: Wilbur. He of the outfit that looked like he’d
plucked random items out of a dressing up box and his wacky pet names – love him.
I also developed a strange affection for the highly intimidating Queen of
Fashion, Yuka. I have no idea why, but she’s awesome and very interesting.
Geek
Girl is a
funny, heart-warming and endlessly cool novel and I can’t wait to read more
from Holly Smale.
For my 2013 Debut Author Reading
Challenge, 2013 YA Contemporary Reading
Challenge and 2013 British Books Challenge.
Thank to HarperCollins for sending
me a copy to review.
Sophie
I haven't heard of this book before, but the synopsis reminds me a bit of Melissa Walker's Violet series. Have you read those?
ReplyDeleteI haven't, but I've always wanted to.
DeleteTold you you'd love it! <3
ReplyDeleteYay! I'm so glad you enjoyed it :D Love Annabel and Richard :D
ReplyDeleteI'm drying to read this! I think I'd really love Harriet, and Wilbur sounds like a fun character too. Great review :-)
ReplyDeleteGreat review, Sophie! I absolutely adored this book, I have it a 5/5 rating. It is such a perfect book for teenagers as I felt that I could really relate to Harriet. Geeks FTW! ;)
ReplyDeleteOooh. I hadn't heard of this, but it sounds totally awesome! Thanks for bringing this one to my attention :D
ReplyDelete