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?

Plot: ★★
Characters: ★★★
Readability: ★★

Harriet Manners, the geek girl of the title, never wanted to be a model.  In fact, she doesn’t exactly get fashion, and she’s only at the fashion show because her best friend Nat dragged her.  Since she’s not exactly popular at school, she goes along with it when she’s spotted by a model scout, hoping to re-invent herself…but of course, there are costs, not least that she’s stolen her best friend’s dream.

I really liked Holly’s quirkiness, and her awkwardness (we can all relate sometimes!), but I wouldn’t call her a geek.  She’s clumsy, and full of random facts, but definitely not a fangirl.  Having said that, I really loved her voice as a narrator, and she’s genuinely funny.

It was cute, and funny, and the lack of angst was definitely a welcome change.  My biggest issue with Geek Girl though, was that it felt like it was aimed at a younger audience.  It definitely felt more like a young teen read than a young adult one, partially because I thought it was quite predictable.

All in all, I found Geek Girl a quick, light read, but I wasn’t wowed by it, and it didn’t leave me particularly fussed either way about continuing on with the series.  Having said that, it was a definitely a fun and speedy read, and it’d make a great readathon choice.

Buy it? This is a borrow for me.
In a nutshell: An enjoyable enough read, but it didn’t wow me.

Other Reviews of Geek Girl: Adventures with words  | Mab is Mab | There’s more to life than reading, but it’s a good place to start