The Princess and the Fangirl

i was hoping it ended with every character dying a slow torturous death but they just went with the classic “and everyone lived happily ever after” route instead.

This was a fun second installment of the series. Imogene Loveless looks amazingly like the actress Jessica Stone who is the Princess Amara in her favorite science fiction show. By accident she winds up impersonating Jess Stone and they switch places to find out who is leaking the next script. This was a nice light read and will look forward to the next in the series.

This review is also featured on Behind the Pages: The Princess and the Fangirl

Imogen is a fan of Starfield and starts a campaign to save her favorite character Princess Amara. At ExcelsiCon she spends her time asking fans to sign her petition to bring the princess back and hands out buttons with her #saveAmara initiative printed on them. But the actress who plays Amara wants nothing to do with the part. Jessica Stone has seen the backlash of fans who didn't approve of her take on Amara, and she wants to leave Starfield far behind. When the two girls meet they realize how similar in looks they are. Jessica sees her chance to have a moment of peace from the spotlight, and Imogen sees her chance to save Amara. They switch places and realize that living in each other's shoes isn't what they expect it to be.

The Princess and the Fangirl is a retelling of The Princess and the Pauper. I don't know enough about the story it is based on to tell you if it was a decent retelling, but what I can tell you is that I had a lot of fun reading this one. I love when books have moments that make me snicker at one-liners the characters fling out, and there were many times I found myself doing this while reading. I do think there were a few too many shout outs to geekdom, but overall I still enjoyed it.

I also found myself more drawn to Jessica's character in this book. Even though she was introduced in Geekerella, she wasn't exactly a likable character. But once you get into her mind and see what she struggles with daily, you begin to sympathize and understand Jessica more. Not only did she deal with her insecurities with body image and self-confidence, but she also had outside pressure from a fandom that would tear her apart with words.

Ashley Poston does a great job portraying both sides of fandom. As the story progresses she exemplifies how great and how terrible fandom can be. You have the fans that love new reincarnations of a show, and on the other side, you have those people who nit pick and try to tear down every piece of it. And she puts the characters right in the spotlight, showing how it affects the people that are involved with the characters these fans love or hate. It's an eye opening experience, and even with some of the heavier themes it deals with the pace never slows down.

If you're looking for a fast-paced read, filled to the brim with geek references, then look no further. The Princess and the Fangirl is the book for you!

this was such a fun, sweet read that captures the joys of fandom as well as fandom's toxic underbelly. It was great to get glimpses of favs from [b:Geekerella 30724132 Geekerella (Once Upon a Con, #1) Ashley Poston https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1476734515l/30724132.SY75.jpg 50652411] but I loved the new POV characters here. (And I think it would stand alone fine if anyone wanted to just skip to the book with the primary queer romance.)

This was fun, but not nearly as lovely as Geekerella. Still, Geekerella was a tough act to follow, since it's SO GOOD. But this one felt a bit more rushed (maybe because it all takes place over a few days at the Con, so there wasn't time for the love stories to develop adequately). I also found the fandom stuff a bit... forced, I guess? And I love a fandom - but it just had an air of trying too hard about it.

Still, I'm a fan of Ashley Poston, and I'll definitely read her next book.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an ARC of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I will admit, the beginning of this book did not appeal to me. I was going through a reading funk (partial book slump) and I almost DNF'd it. Jessica is a hard character to like in the beginning and the harsh judgments and some of the actions everyone makes can seem aggravating. Give it a bit though, because there are reasons. Jess has been burned by the fandom, by geeks, and she is a female in a spotlight meaning she is a target for trolls and horrible people. When I picked this book up again when my book slump was mostly done, I was able to see more clearly the abuse she puts up with and I could understand her character more. Between Imogen and Jess, I was surprised that Jess became my favorite character.
I also liked her romance more and thought their was more natural build up. I won't go into it more, since I don't want to spoil it ;)

Imogen and her quick judgments though never really stopped. She judges Ethan, but never truly admits that she shouldn't have assumed that because he wore a suit he wouldn't be a geek. I think it is hard to remember that even though Mo and Jess look the same, Mo is 2 years (or maybe just 1?) younger than Jess and because of their circumstances she is also not as mature. When I remember this, it is easier to see that over the course of the book, she did grow. She's got the fandom heart we all know and love, so it is hard not to like her. Her romance though I never fully believed. I felt it beginning, I loved the sniping at each other, but I never felt it truly move over to more. I just needed a little more.

The story about the leaked script starts slow and does seem to drag. This book is much more about the characters and their experiences with the leaked script parts moving the story along once in a while.
Once I was about 40% into the book things started picking up, but I was really hooked at more 60% which may be too late for some readers.

Do I recommend it? If you liked Geekerella, I would recommend it, just so you can get more of the world and that feeling of connection to Starfield ( can we get a TV series of this yet???). If you live for cons, this book might also find a special spot in your heart.