Geek Girl
Holly Smale
Published by Harper Collins
What is the book about?
The book is told from the perspective of the main character, Harriet Manners, as she navigates her life as a teenage girl who doesn’t quite fit in. She accepts her position as a ‘geek’ but sees opportunity for change when she’s spotted by a well-known modelling agency. In a whirlwind of lies, models, and even possible romance, she has to navigate her way through a whole new world and decide if it’s even what she wants. The story deals with friendship, family and self-esteem issues in a funny and relatable book that’s almost impossible to put down.
Who is it aimed at?
Geek Girl is firmly in the Young Adult category and is definitely better suited to teenagers and possibly people slightly younger.
What was your favourite part?
A lot of the time characters that are presented in the way Harriet is, as different, outcasts for knowing too much about some things and not enough about how to be popular, are one-sided and predictable. I worried I wouldn’t
enjoy this book because I really didn’t want to be stuck with an unlikeable main character that solves problems by being quirky, clumsy and much more conventionally attractive than she seems to be aware of but Harriet Manners was a wonderful, well-written surprise.
What was your least favourite part?
It’s difficult to choose with this particular book, especially since I enjoyed it so much but I sometimes felt that it was so fast-paced that I sometimes couldn’t keep up entirely with what was going on and that more details on fewer events would have been better.
Which character would you most like to meet?
There wasn’t a lot of focus on Alexa – Harriet’s bully – and I would like to know more about her.
Why should someone buy this book?
I loved Geek Girl because it took problems most teenagers faced and turned them into something manageable so eloquently.
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