Review: Geek Girl by Holly Smale

Title:  Geek Girl 

Author: Holly Smale

Publisher: Harper Teen 

Publishing Date: January 27th 2015

Pages: 384

Genre: YA Chic Lit/Humor

Series: Geek Girl #1

Source: Audio

  

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?

This book actually caught my eye back in 2013 when I first saw it on Netgalley. Unfortunately it was a UK book and not accessible to me. It was a bit of a bummer. I was very excited when it came over to the US! I grabbed the audio and I devoured the book. It was quite fabulous. Funny, cute, light, not so light, it was just all the good stuff I hoped it would be. 

Harriet Manners is a geek. Everyone thinks so, it is written on her handbag even... not by her of course. She loves the dictionary,facts, and has no sense of food. She has one friend, Her best friend Nat, and a stalker sort of friend, Toby. She breaks, she is at a low in her life, she has a list of people who hate her, but she has a way out, a way to reinvent herself. She has been spotted by a modeling agency (a huge one) and she decides to take the chance and run with it. Just one problem.... well a few, but they all in come in lies. Lies to her stepmother, to her best friend, to her school. Of course lies only lead to more trouble.. and this is geek girl. 

I really really enjoyed this book. It was quirky, it was funny, it was a lot of fun. It was just all fun and cute stuff though. There was some depth and some emotions thrown in. Just how I like my chic lit kind of books. The book had great characters and a wonderful story. 

Harriet has to be one of my all time favorite characters. She just hit my soft spot. I feel the geek, I relate, I understand. It took me about two minutes flat to connect to Harriet. She was quite interesting. She wasn't the brightest for being so smart but I think that comes with the territory of geek. No social skills but everything else pretty much high on the intelligence scale. I loved her fascination with facts, especially when she spit out animal facts. Did you know a rats heart beat is like over a 1000 beats a minute. Amazing. I don't remember the exact amount. Harriet was a brave girl but still scared. She was a contradiction even to herself and didn't know. She was loyal but at times way too self motivating. She had more than wanted to realize in life. She had wonderful parents, the greatest best friend, and even a stalker. Which were all great characters. 

Toby was hilarious. If I had a stalker, I would want Toby... well except for the lack of control for some of his bodily fluids, like vomit and snot. yuck,. He was also a geek, more so than Harriet, and believed they were soul mates and in the end Toby was the one by her side.... not sure how Harriet felt about that but he was very loyal. 

Nat was also a great character, very very loyal, good head on her shoulders, brave, more level headed than Harriet. I liked her. Harriet's parents were just too funny.Crazy dad, over protective step mother. They fit well together and balanced each other out. 

Of course there was a very tiny bit of romance. and I mean tiny. I am sure it will play out more in the future books.Nick is a model and works for the same company that gives Harriet a job.  Nick is the love interest and he is a good one. He is like night to Harriet's day. Witty, carefree, relaxed, calm, and very very very sweet. I enjoyed the relationship the two shared, or started to share. 

The only downside to the book. I felt it was a bit long for the story. It had a few tiny slow scenes that I got a tiny teeny bit distracted in. Not a big deal. It happens sometimes with audio. I am sure I would have felt a bit different with the book if I was reading at my own pace. 

The narrator was good though. She brought individuality to all characters, giving them each their own unique voice. She read a bit slower than I usually like but that was minor. 

It was a very heartwarming humorous book and I recommend this book to anyone that would love a good laugh, get a bit sad, then end the read with a great big smile. 

Really it was a great read and just what I needed at the moment. 

Holly is the Number One bestselling, multi-award winning author of the GEEK GIRL series. 

She fell in love with writing at five years old, when she realised that books didn't grow on trees like apples. A passion for travel, adventure and wearing no shoes has since led her all over the world: she has visited 27 countries, spent two years working as an English teacher in Japan, volunteered in Nepal, been bartered for in Jamaica and had a number of ear-plugs stolen in Australia, Indonesia and India.

Holly has a BA in English Literature, an MA in Shakespeare, and currently lives in London or at @holsmale. 

The GEEK GIRL series has been an internationally bestselling no1. smash-hit. It won the Waterstones Teen Prize of the Year and the Leeds book award, was shortlisted for the Roald Dahl Funny Prize and the Branford Boase award, and was long-listed for the Carnegie.