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The Princess and the Fangirl (Once Upon a Con, #2)

Ashley Poston

Start date: June 1, 2019

Finish date: June 30, 2019

Discussion: Book of the Month

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What Members Thought

Jun 06, 2019 Dr. Andy rated it really liked it

Shelves: arc, read-2019

Ashley Poston knows how to write fandoms and cons. Between this book and Gerekerella, I've gotten so much fandom/con-love and they never fail to make me smile. This time we follow Jessica Stone, the actress who plays Princess Amara and her look alike, Imogen Lovelace. These two cross paths after a case of mistaken identity right before a panel. Jess struggles to connect with Imogen when the fans like Imogen better. The two girls decide to call a truce and switch places parent trap style during t ...more

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Nov 28, 2019 TheYALibrarian rated it really liked it

Shelves: arcs-read, cutesy-light-read, lgbtq, enemies-to-lovers

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Rating 3.5 Stars

This book was a great reprieve from all the heavy books I have been reading lately and I believe I enjoyed it more than the first book Geekerella .

Jessica Stone is a name that all nerds know. She played their beloved Princess Amara in the hit show Starfield. But despite the praise, there is always trolls and critics dragging her down with their negative words. Being Princess Amara may have jump started her career, but she wishes to advance to different roles but has had no succes Rating 3.5 Stars

This book was a great reprieve from all the heavy books I have been reading lately and I believe I enjoyed it more than the first book Geekerella .

Jessica Stone is a name that all nerds know. She played their beloved Princess Amara in the hit show Starfield. But despite the praise, there is always trolls and critics dragging her down with their negative words. Being Princess Amara may have jump started her career, but she wishes to advance to different roles but has had no success. Despite Amara being killed off in Starfield, the fans are not eager to let her go and have started an initiative to save Princess Amara from being dead for good. Jessica does not want this and dreads having to make photo ops and panel experiences at this years Excelsicon.
Imogen Lovelace has loved the Starfield franchise for as long as she can remember. And ever year her moms sell merchandise at Excelsicon. She is excited to go this year for she is meeting her friend Harper who she has only talked to online. Her and Harper have booths together in artists alley, Harper selling her art and Imogen promoting the #SaveAmara initiative that she had started. Princess Amara is her favorite Starfield character and refuses to let the producers and director kill her off for good for just the sake of developing Carmindor’s character. In a case of mistaken identity, Imogen ends up on stage posing as Jessica Stone for their look very much alike. The only difference in that Imogen has short pink hair instead of long brown. She uses this moment to speak her mind on the fate of Princess Amara, ruining Jessica’s chances even more to not catch anymore of the media’s attention and getting a different role. Things turn for the even worse when a part of the script for the next season of Starfield is leaked to everyone in the con and Jessica knows that she is to blame for she accidentally threw out the script in the trash at her hotel. But Jess quickly comes up with a plan to have Imogen pose as her and vice versa so that Jess can track down the person who is leaking the script before they expose her. Imogen agrees so that she can get her #SaveAmara petition to a bigger audience. But Jessica has a long time assistant, her best friend Ethan, who is determined to keep Imogen in line.
While Imogen goes to panels and photo ops as a Jess, Jess goes off to meet Harper and in doing so learns that Imogen is behind the movement she hates so much. Jess gets to know what it is like to be just an ordinary person for just a couple and days and starts to fall for Harper as she gets to know her. Imogen loves the attention and the luxury of being famous, but finds Jess’s assistant Ethan to be a thorn in her side. But despite all that they also begin to fall for each other. But the script continues to leak and it takes them too long to find a possible suspect. For by then there is a lot revealed of the new season of Starfield. That Amara is gone for good and that Carmindor is also going to meet his end, leaving the two main leads dead. It devastates all involved, except Vance, a douche canoe of an actor who is to join the cast of the next season as the main villain. It seems that Vance could be the person leaking the script. But Jess and Imogen figure out it is actually the director and stage a plan to expose him with the help of Imogen’s brother and his boyfriend. They ask Harper to help too but she refuses for she is too upset that all this time she has been lied to and has fell for a person that is not who she seemed the whole time.
The plan is successful and the director is exposed for trying to exploit the Starfield and is fired. Natasha, the original Princess Amara is to be the writer and director of the next season of Starfield. Imogen has learned that being Jessica Stone is not that glamorous and can now understand why Jess did not like #SaveAmara initiative. So she decides to end it and her and Ethan admit their feelings to each other. Jess enjoyed being normal but feels awful for what she has done to Harper. She makes a big scene on trying to get Harper to talk to her and forgive her and Harper does. They go to the Excelsicon ball together and Jess is now good friends with Imogen. She has also learned to see why people love Amara and accepts whatever the future holds in her career and in her personal life.

Jess as a character was hard to relate to for a little while. She reminded me of Darien in the first book, a famous actor with everything at their finger tips, yet they complained about everything. All Jess did was complain on being seen only as Princess Amara. But I could understand the cruelty of people on the internet, constantly criticizing her for not satisfying their picture on what Princess Amara is supposed to be. She also began to change as a character and had more depth than I realized. I could see her inner struggles but also how her perspective started to change. How she became more of the nerd she always wanted to be and understood why Starfield meant so much to so many people. Change is always important in character so I have to give Jess some credit. Also her guilt for tricking Harper also made me like her more and it was wonderful that despite the repercussions, she made her feeling known publicly to Harper. Needless to say, I would not mind seeing more of this character and I like her way more than Darien.

Imogen I liked from the very beginning. She represented every feminists fangirl and so I could relate to her so well. Her passion for Amara and Starfield was palpable. But I will say that I did not really like that she chose to trick her best friend in order to gain more attention for the #SaveAmara and had a hard time with that knowledge for a lot of the book. But she did feel bad for what she did and also I couldn’t help find her inner turmoil over Ethan adorable. So in the end I still liked her but not as much as Elle in the first book.

As for other characters I don’t have much to say since I don’t feel like I got to know them enough to have much to talk about. All I think is that Ethan was a hard as but turned into a adorable softie and that Harper was adorable and passionate about many things. Milo and his boyfriend was way too cute and wonderful for words and Vance was just as much of a douche canoe as you could get. I think I’m not really missing anyone but I will add them here if I have.

What didn’t make this a five star book was not just some issues with the characters. It really was mostly the plot. It had good pacing but was super predictable. It was obvious that Ethan and Imogen would end up together and same for Jess and Harper. Also there was a little too many pop culture references. Yes this book is basically all fandom (a fake one but still counts) but it was too much and could go over some people’s heads for not everyone knows everything about Star Wars or Harry Potter. But other than that it really did move forward nicely and was well thought out so I found myself returning to the audio more and more until I finished. If you are a hardcore geek you might like these books. It looks like there will be another book and I will most likely be reading it when it comes out since I’m curious as to where this story could possibly go further. ...more

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Jun 10, 2019 Jenn rated it really liked it

Shelves: young-adult, signed-copies, books-i-own, contemporary, can-t-stop-smiling, 4-star-reads, read-in-2019, lgbtq, my-spirit-animal, adorkable

Ok Ashley Poston knows how to write adorable. She knows how to write fans. And she knows how to write fandoms. Both this book and Geekerella spoke to me in the words of geekdom. Every reference made my heart swell and it was so lovely to see fandoms in a positive light and con life as a healthy outlet instead of just crazy people in costume. So thank you, Ashley.

Now, let's talk about the book. When we first met Jess in Geekerella, she was the indie actress who hated being cast in a sci-fi reboot ...more

8 likes · Like · see review

Sep 17, 2021 Ellen-Arwen Tristram rated it liked it

Shelves: reviewed, reread, audio-book

[2023 reread]

So, I was hoping my memory was wrong because I remember being seriously disappointed after Geekerella. Unfortunately... my memory is okay.

It's not a BAD book (I have been a bit generous with the stars though), it just pales in comparison to the first book in my opinion. I only realised second time through that this was a retelling of The Prince and Pauper, of which I have ZERO knowledge, so I may do some investigating in case that makes it super clever and enhances my experience of ...more

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Apr 26, 2021 Susan rated it it was amazing

This is the second book and it took me way to long to get to it. I loved Geekerella so I don't know why I didn't jump right into this one. Once I did decide to read it I fell instantly in love once again with the story and the characters. I love her writing style so much.

This story and the 1st book makes me want to visit a cosplay convention one day. I'm a Star Wars fan so I know I would love it. I love all that kind of thing. This book takes place at a Cosplay convention and the two female MC' ...more

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Feb 23, 2020 Lee added it

Shelves: young-adult

This is a hard book for me to review. I truly enjoyed Geekerella, but this book did not have the same feeling as it did and just left me feeling disappointed.

So much of this book was references. I never thought I'd find myself reading a book that had so many Dragonball Z references, but it wasn't only that. It was every pop culture thing. I think at one point there was a reference to two different things within a sentence. It was distracting to the story.

The plot wasn't as engaging for me eithe ...more

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Aug 20, 2019 Margaret rated it it was amazing

Shelves: lgbtq, 2019, contemporary

I just love this series. The way Ashley Poston writes is so much fun, very realistic to nerd life. This is a fun little adventure at a Con, with a little bit of mystery, a little bit of romance, and a whole lot of nerd. Right up my alley!!

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