Geek Girl – Holly Smale

Format: E-book (Kindle)
Publisher: Harper Collins Children’s
Published: February 28th 2013
Pages: 356 Pages
Series: Geek Girl #1

The Blurb
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?

Rating: 5/5

The Review
Geek Girl is the first novel I have read of Holly’s and I have to say I LOVED IT (yes, it’s written in capitals!).

Harriet is a Geek and although she’s happy with the label, she wishes other people wouldn’t see it as a bad thing. Her school life isn’t the best and she feels like her best friend is drifting away from her – what else could go wrong? During a forced trip to The Clothes Show in Birmingham, Harriet is spotted by a modelling agency and embarks on a new life as a model. Her mentor Wibur is there to guide her through the fashion industry.

I’m a self-confessed geek so I felt that I could relate to Harriet, regardless of her age. It’s always hard being interested in other things when you’re a teenager and more so when they’re seen as ‘different’. What I loved most was that Harriet never changed who she was to suit other people. So what if she wore a Winnie the Pooh Jumper? that’s who she was! I am pleased that Holly didn’t decide to change Harriet’s personality and feelings when she became a model.

All throughout Geek Girl, Harriet comes out with a variety of facts that must have spent Holly ages trying to research. There’s loads of them that you’ve probably never even heard of and it’ll blow your mind when you read them. One that made me go ‘wow’ was ‘Polar bears aren’t actually white – they’re translucent’.

Although I loved Harriet and her quirks, Wilbur (not iam), to me, was the best character – he was hilarious. The things that came out of his mouth when trying to be endearing were so funny ‘Now then my little Squabbling-beans’, ‘baby-baby panda’. It was clear that he put it all on for an audience, but I’m sure we’ve all done that before in our lives and he wouldn’t be Wilbur otherwise.

I definitely want to find out more about Harriet so to know there are a few more books in the series makes me incredibly happy – keep writing more Holly! Now it’s onto book two.

You can purchase Geek Girl on Amazon UK and Paperback.

Find out more about Holly at her website at http://holsmale.wix.com and on Twitter @holsmale.