Model Misfit (Geek Girl, #2)

by Holly Smale

[Leah]

I loooooove Holly Smale. If you didn’t see my review of Geek Girl, then go take a look because it will forewarn you about how much I love Holly Smale. I’d like to be her, actually. She is so awesome and I have loved both of her Geek Girl books so far. Model Misfit is just as funny, just as cool, just as geeky (Yes, a book can be cool and geeky, haters be damned) as the first one and I just loved being back in the world of Harriet Manners.

Harriet Manners is easily one of my favourite girl characters. I love that she’s a geek who’s also a model. Because just because you’re a geek doesn’t mean you can’t be pretty and model-like (and who cares if Harriet has ginger hair?). Of course, Harriet’s major drawback to being a model is that she’s the single-most clumsy person you’ll ever come across in your life, meaning there’s always hilarity and things going wrong whenever Harriet’s around. This time around she’s wreaking havoc in Tokyo, having been flown there for a shoot. She thinks it’s her chance to re-invent herself, to grow up, to fly the nest especially after she hears her dad and Annabell talking about how she’s not wanted, now they’ve got a new baby on the way, so Harriet sees Japan as her first stepping-stone to growing up. She even manages to make friends with a couple of models, but Harriet’s life is soon thrown upside down in only a way Harriet can make it…

I loved Model Misfit. It had all the warmth and humour of the first book but in a different location, everyone we loved from the first book came back like Wil-it’s-bur-not-iam, Harriet’s super hilarious agent who has the best vocabulary ever; Toby, everyone’s favourite Harriet-stalker; Nat, Harriet’s best friend; Yuka Ito, the scary model lady; and, of course, Nick, Lionboy. The inclusion of Harriet’s step-grandmother was genius and filled the whole where Harriet’s dad and step-mother should have been whilst Harriet was in Japan (I did miss them when Harriet was in Japan, though there was an awesome text exchange that made me giggle and summed up Harriet’s relationship with her dad and Annabell).

I really enjoyed Model Misfit, Holly Smale is such a talented writer and I adore the fact Harriet isn’t like other girls; that she recites facts that no one else would know (although, most of them I do know, especially any science related ones thanks to the wonderful Sheldon Cooper. As soon as Harriet mentioned about the asexual jellyfish it took me straight back to that Big Bang Theory episode, hehe), that she’s isn’t necessarily a cool kid (though I think she is, which probably says more about me…) Harriet is someone who you always root for, and I reckon the Geek Girl series can run for ages and I’m so excited there’s a third book which will be out next year, I’m definitely not done with Harriet Manners, not by a long shot!