Review: Geek Girl

Title: Geek Girl, Geek Girl #1
Author: Holly Smale
Release Date: February 28, 2013
Genre: Middle Grade - Contemporary
Source: Review copy provided by NetGalley and HarperCollins UK
Rating: 

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?

my thoughts

Geek Girl was everything I had expected it to be, but about a million times more adorable. Honestly, if you would look up "adorable" in a dictionary, you would probably find this book. Same goes for "cute", "fluffy" and "funny". But don't let all the fluffiness fool (which according to Harriet, is where the word "geek" comes from. So yes, pun intended) you: there is also some substance and a lesson to be learned. Not to mention the fact that geeks all over the world will be charmed by and be able to relate to Harriet Manners. I definitely was.

What made this book stand out for me, was that it could have been a total cliché. If you add all the different parts of this story up you could roll your eyes and move on with your day. But somehow, Smale made it work. Yes, we have the geeky girl, the loyal best friend, the mean girl, the handsome boy, the sudden dream come true... but both the fact that it was hilarious and the brilliant main character made this story worthwile. It's bound to make you feel good. And laugh, a lot.

Harriet was a lovely character. She was both quirky and endearing, and I loved being inside her head. At times, I felt like bit like a Harriet Manners myself. (In her words, she has "a tendency to correct people's grammar and tell them random facts they're not interested in". Hi, that's me.) Yes, she talks a lot about these random facts. But instead of coming across as a know-it-all, it suited her. I loved how she described normal things in a geeky way, like:

"It takes an interaction of seventy-two different muscles to produce human speech, and right now not a single one of them is working."

and:

"A human heart is supposed to beat between sixty and ninety times a minute, while resting. A hedgehog's heart beats up to 300 times a minute when standing still. Honestly, I think I might be turning into a hedgehog."

I didn't like the other characters as much as I liked Harriet, but all of them were just as unique. And most of them were, in Harriet's words "completely bonkers". (I'm looking at you, Wilbur.) I wasn't a fan of the romance, mostly because I never felt like it was necessary for the story - Harriet was brilliant enough, after all. But for the sake of  the targeted age group, I will say it was sweet. I am a fan of Toby, Harriet's stalker, who took his job very seriously and spent most of his time in the bushes outside Harriet's house taking notes of her schedule. Hilarious.

The plot was a little predictable, but that didn't make me enjoy it any less. It made me laugh out loud despite being ridiculous at times and made me feel warm inside the entire time. Plus, it provides a great lesson for girls everywhere (no matter what age you are!). I would definitely recommend this book to all younger readers and anyone who needs a light, quick, can't-help-but-smile-while-reading read. Geek Girl is fun, quirky and mostly: adorable.

memorable quotes

Taken from the ARC.

"Nobody hopped into a wardrobe to find Narnia; they hopped in, thinking it was just a wardrobe. They didn't climb up the Faraway Tree, knowing it was a Faraway Tree; they thought it was just a really big tree. Harry Potter thought he was a normal boy; Mary Poppins was supposed to be a regular nanny.
It's the first and only rule. Magic comes when you're not looking for it."

"This might surprise you, but here's a fact: people who plan things thoroughly aren't particularly connected with reality. It seems like they are, but they're not: they're focusing on making things bit-size, instead of having to look at the whole picture. It's procrastination in its purest form because it convinces everyone - including the person who's doing it - that they are very sensible and in touch with reality when they're not. They're obsessed with cutting it up into little pieces so they can pretend that it's not there at all."

"'Are we definitely set on the name Harriet?'
We all look at him in shock because... well, it's my name. I've been sort of set on it for the last fifteen years."

more?

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