Geek Girl (Geek Girl, #1)

by Holly Smale

Katy Sobey (Narrator)

“My name is Harriet Manners, and I am a geek.”

Harriet Manners 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. She knows that bats always turn left when exiting a cave and that peanuts are one of the ingredients of dynamite.

But she doesn’t know why nobody at school seems to like her.

So when Harriet is spotted by a top model agent, she 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 impossibly handsome model Nick. Even if it means lying to the people she loves.

Veering from one couture disaster to the next with the help of her overly enthusiastic father and her uber-geeky stalker, Toby, Harriet begins to realise that the world of fashion doesn't seem to like her any more than the real world did.

As her old life starts to fall apart, will Harriet be able to transform herself before she ruins everything?

The award-winning debut by bestselling author Holly Smale.

• ISBN13: 9780007577408
• Publish Date: 24 April 2014 (first published 28 February 2013)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Inc
• Imprint: HarperCollins
• Edition: Unabridged edition
• Format: Audiobook (WAV)
• Duration: 8 hours and 3 minutes
• Language: English
• URL: http://harpercollins.co.uk

Reviews

[ladygrey]

Totally adorable and hilarious. It's not often that a book makes me laugh out loud but this one did a few times. “Sniffing my hands.” Though, Harriet is a more of a nerd than a geek. But geek is a better word and it's, admittedly, a subtle distinction. Pointing that distinction out probably makes me a geek.

Even though it's British, it oddly felt a little Australian to me at times. Like the comedy version of an Australian author. I don't know why.

I liked that even though it's uncomfortable at times it's also sweet and comforting and rather genuine for all it's totally unrealistic and fantastic aspects.

 

[Stephanie]

This was such a fun audio book to listen to.

[readingwithwrin]

Geek Girl was such an fun, entertaining, and quick read!

Harriet Manners is a smart girl who hates fashion... Or at least doesn't understand why it is so important and why her best friend is always trying to get her to be more fashionable. That is until she gets dragged to a shopping field trip where her best friend plans to try to audition to be a model. The problems with this? Well let's see Harriet has tried everything to avoid this field trip, sadly nothing works and she gets dragged along and disasters happen everywhere she goes. But when she gets spotted by a modeling agency everything gets turned upside down and Harriet has no idea how to handle any of it.

My favorite characters would have to be
Harriet - True to the title she is a geek and not just a person who is slightly smart, but a person who is really smart and owns it to the best of her ability.
Dad - I'm not going to lie at times I actually got rather annoyed with him and I just wanted him to act like a parent for a change.
Annabel (Step-mom) - While at times Annabel can be a little intense you can really tell she cares for Harriet and just wants the best for her.
Natalie - The stylish best friend who ends up being a sticking up for Harriet far more than I was expecting once certain things happened. Was so nice to see a true female friendship where nothing gets in the way.
Nick - The slight love interest and male model. I wasn't expecting to like this character at all, in-fact I was expecting to hate him. Thankfully he was nothing like what you expect most male models to be and is going to be a very interesting character as the series goes on.
Wilbur - The hilarious, but slightly over the top at times modeling agent. The things he would call Harriet instead other name had me laughing so many times.
While more characters were important to the story including Harriet's stalker those were the ones I enjoyed the most.


Overall I really loved/like this story. It was so much fun and finally got me out of my reading slump!
I really liked how Harriet slowly started to transform throughout the story and realized a lot of things about herself and her family. Another thing I really liked was Harriet and Lily's friendship and how strong it really was. This was so nice to see in a YA book. I don't want to say to much more about the story itself because it is a transformation story of sorts. I will say that if you like fashion and are also a slightly introverted person who likes to plan than I think this story will be something you like.



See more reviews like this on my blog!

[Amber]

I’m going to be really honest here and admit that in the past I had turned my nose up at Geek Girl a bit because it really didn’t seem like my thing. Not that I really knew what it was about. I just assumed it was for young teenagers with simple writing and average characters. I’m actually not too annoyed at myself for thinking that, though, because it meant that I was pleasantly surprised when I finally picked it up.

Geek Girl is an hilarious contemporary novel with so much humour that can only be described as British humour. Sure, I think the book is geared more towards younger teenagers, but it doesn’t feel too young. It’s more cute. I was totally in the mood for cute and funny (even fluffy) when I read this so I picked it up at the right time.

I could definitely have related to the characters when I was younger and still in high school. Reading about their adventures (not so much the modelling thing, because obviously) made me think back to my school days and smile. Some of it was very relatable to Past!Me.

I flew through Geek Girl thanks to the easy writing style. It’s not exactly a fast paced book, but it’s one of those books where you don’t notice the pacing because you’re enjoying the writing so much. I think I read it in the space of about five hours, and that was with a coffee trip in between.

I’m planning on reading the second book, Model Misfit, this month after having accidentally bought it at the bookshop last week. I’m hoping for more quirky and more humour and more cuteness.

[stressedrach]

I really enjoyed going into Harriet’s world. Being a loner at school with just one friend and a stalker is not much fun even if you are very intelligent, people just don’t understand Harriet the way Nat her best friend, her Dad and Step mum do. She is different and so that means she is easy picking when it comes to the popular crowd finding someone to pick on.

This books opens up to a whole new world for Harriet and it is fantastic, the humour is brilliant and I was giggling quite often reading it. There are also things that come out towards the end of the book that leave you wanting to read the next book straight away to see how things develop.

I really liked it.

[Leah]

As soon as I heard about Geek Girl by Holly Smale I wanted to read it. I think there’s a massive lack in books about geeks, and I think it’s wrong because geeks will one day rule the world – just look at the evidence, The Big Bang Theory is the most AWESOME show on TV, and it’s about 4 geeks; Holly’s series Geek Girl is about a geek, and I will quite happily admit to being a geek. I’m the biggest book geek around, and you will always find me with my nose in a book and I spend my days off engrossing myself in fictional worlds, because they are far superior to the real world sometimes. I’ll be honest, I knew before I even read the book that I would love it, and I did. So, so much.

What I liked about Geek Girl above everything else, was its message. There is nothing wrong at all in this day and age if you are a geek. In fact, it’s probably easier being a geek in 2013 than it was in 2003, or the 90s. But, the sad fact of the matter is, people like Harriet are still bullied because they’re clever – I was bullied, before I moved to Tenerife (and even after, for that matter), I was bullied by the people in my class because I was clever, they dubbed me ‘swot’ and it’s sort of sad, really. I hated it, just like Harriet does, but I liked that despite the fact she saw modelling as her way of showing the people around her she was more than just a geek, I liked that it didn’t change her core character. I adored the message that there’s absolutely nothing wrong with being a geek and if that’s who you are, that’s who you are and be proud of it. Anyone who tells you any differently is being a bully and they’re the ones in the wrong.

So, yes, now that I’ve got my noble rant out of the way, because it does still bug me that there are people who pick on other people because of how they act, let’s move on! I loved Geek Girl for more than its message, though (though I think every single person who ever feels down about themselves should read this book, it’ll totally pick you up and make you feel proud of who you are. Really, I swear down.), I adored the plot (Smale herself was a geek-turned-model-turned-writer) and I loved seeing how Harriet was thrust into the modelling world, and Smale wrote about it beautifully and with such good knowledge (she says, though I have no idea, actually whether it was with good knowledge because I know diddly squat about modelling hehe). The characters were amazing, Harriet is the sort of girl you can – and will – root for, and I loved her little quirks; from spouting out random facts, to hiding under tables, to collapsing tables with hats on, she was charming and unforgettable.

To be fair, all the Geek Girl characters were unforgettable. I thought Harriet’s dad was hilarious, so often in novels you see parents not wanting their child to do this, that or the other but Harriet’s dad was totally up for it all, and I loved (and cringed) at him trying to be hip. Nick! Oh, I have such the massivest crush on Nick! So bad I don’t even know if massivest is a word. I wanted to see him on every page, and I can’t wait for the sequel to see more of him. Sigh. He was so cool. I loved Annabell, Harriet’s step-mother, she’s a bit over-bearing, but it sort of works. I love the way she lawyers everyone around her. Geek Girl just made my day. I adored it from start to finish and even had a few cheeky laughs as I was reading, too. I can’t wait to read Model Misfit, and get back with all the Geek Girl characters – even Toby, Harriet’s stalker (I SO think you’ve made it when you’ve got a stalker…). This is a series that has massive potential for laughs, warmth, lots and lots of books (hopefully) and Smale is a wonderful storyteller. Just read it, it’s amazing.

[boghunden]

If you are to enjoy a book, you must like at least one of the characters. Sadly, I didn't. Harriet was clumsy and all over the place. I'm sure it would have been a whole lot of fun if I was 13 years old, but I'm not and I didn't find her funny at all. In fact, I felt like she was just being sort of annoying on purpose.
Her dad and stepmum was full of clichés and I didn't like it at all, nor did I like Wilbur, one of the fashion agents. He was just too much. Normally I like it, when authors make fun of characters, but this was just..yeah, it almost felt like an insult to the whole modelling world. I mean, not every male in that industry is gay or acting like they are. The way Holly Smale tried to let us know, that things aren't always like we think they are didn't go very well with the way she described fashion and modelling. It felt prejudiced and I don't like that. Not at all, no.

So why didn't I stop reading the book, you may ask. I didn't because 1) it was a quick read and 2) I needed something really easy, that I didn't have to think too much about. Unfortunately, I didn't like this book, but I'm sure there are lots of other (younger) people who will.