Monday 31 March 2014

Book Review: Geek Girl by Holly Smale (Geek Girl, #1)

13621089Title: Geek Girl
Author: Holly Smale
Series: Geek Girl (#1)
Published: 1st February 2013
Source: Library
Goodreads          

Harriet Manners knows a lot of things.

She knows that a cat has 32 muscles in each ear, a "jiffy" lasts 1/100th of a second, and the average person laughs 15 times per day. What she isn't quite so sure about is why nobody at school seems to like her very much. So when she's spotted by a top model agent, Harriet 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 supermodel Nick. Even if it means lying to the people she loves.

As Harriet veers from one couture disaster to the next with the help of her overly enthusiastic father and her uber-geeky stalker, Toby, she begins to realise that the world of fashion doesn't seem to like her any more than the real world did.

And as her old life starts to fall apart, the question is: will Harriet be able to transform herself before she ruins everything?


I've always avioded model books. I had thought that the stories went along the lines of; 
  • Bratty model finds there is a job opening at (insert multi-million fashion line here)
  • Bratty model finds out her arch-nemisis is also going for the job
  • THIS IS FASHION WAR!
  • Bratty model falls in love with supermodel at first sight
Looking back, I don't know why I thought this but after reading Holly Smale's fantastic novel Geek Girl my opinion on model books changed - maybe they aren't all terrible. 

Harriet is a geek. She has no interest in fashion and certainly no interest in modelling but after being dragged to Clothes Show Live in Birmingham, she is scouted. One of the best things about this book (and oh there are many) is the writing. Harriet is so witty and funny and clever. Her opinion on the things going on are just hilarious! Harriet isn't your sterotypical model. 

You learn weird little facts along the way like that there are approximatly 13,914,291,404 legs in the world!

 “My name," I tell Wilbur in the most dignified voice I can find, "Was inspired by Harriet Quimby, the first female American pilot and the first woman ever to cross the Channel in an aeroplane. My mother chose it to represent freedom and bravery and independence, and she gave it to me just before she died."

There's a short pause while Wilbur looks appropriately moved. Then Dad says, "Who told you that?"
"Annabel did."
"Well, it's not true at all. You were named after Harriet the tortoise, the second longest living tortoise in the world."

There's a silence while I stare at Dad and Annabel puts her head in her hands so abruptly that the pen starts to leak into her collar. "Richard," she moans quietly.
"A tortoise?" I repeat in dismay. "I'm named after a tortoise? What the hell is a tortoise supposed to represent?"
"Longevity?”
I also seemed to think that I knew what was going to happen but that, gladly, did not happen. Geek Girl isn't really a mystery or suspense but you can't really predict what will happen next.

I really liked how eventhough there is a love interest, he's not the centre of everything going on and is not mentioned in every paragraph.

In the end, I loved this book! I give it 5/5 stars and in my favourites list!
I'd recommend this book to anybody, ardent reader or not. Its that brilliant.

Hagar Manssour

1 comment:

  1. I always appreciate books that have love interests, but don't settle and focus too much on it, especially if there are other more important story lines.

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