Book Review; Geek Girl: Model Misfit by Holly Smale

When Every

As soon as I had finished reading Geek Girl, I knew that I simply needed to get my hands on the second book in the series. I also knew that if it was anything like the first one that I would lap it up easily and hungrily. Thus, I am incredibly pleased to report – no, really, I am – that Geek Girl: Model Misfit exceeded my expectations in the best possible ways. I was instantly sucked into this story, felt emotions I haven’t really felt since I was fifteen and just found myself devouring the book as one would devour a very good piece of cake.

Move You Make

In the first book, Harriet’s career takes her to Russia where her usual flailing self ended up almost ruining everything before it had even really started. In this book Harriet ends up in Japan, seemingly without any parental help. How this works in this book is that Harriet tries incredibly hard to make things work, to be adult about every situation and to make sure that every shoot works perfectly but, as is the case with her unfortunate self, it doesn’t ever go according to plan. I loved the plot of this book. I loved how Harriet goes through each little thing in different disastrous ways and I love that it is her character that allows the plot to flow the way it does without her being any the wiser. This had me feeling very emotional – both with laughter and tears – continuously throughout the book and for that I can only give Holly Smale my ultimate props.

Causes Damage

If it wasn’t stated enough in my review of Geek Girl, or noticeable enough in the above paragraph, I adore Harriet Manners. I think she is such a great character who has flaws all over her but is also incredibly caring, friendly, protective, brave, geeky and sensitive, and I just always enjoy reading about her. She is the kind of person I would definitely be friends with. In this book, I also found that I really liked Rin and Toby. They’re great people and it is easy to see what Harriet sees in them! I also just love how they symbolize friendship in all its different forms and disguises. I love how Holly has created this characters to feel rich and raw, allowing all of their quirks and flaws to come to light but also showing that it’s okay not to be perfect, because let’s face it, nobody is!

What Do

This book is set in Japan. It is about a girl who becomes a model. A girl who has a modelling career. It is a story that should be hard to relate to and yet, Holly Smale has managed to make the entire story relatable because it is simply a story about a girl. It is someone who is fifteen. It is about someone who has friendships that go up and down. It is about someone who makes mistakes that sometimes leads to disasters and it is about someone who feels everything deep within her soul. This is why I enjoyed this story so much. It is why I enjoyed Geek Girl, and it is why I am sitting with abated breath for the third book in this series. Holly Smale has a style that brings her world to life and makes you reflect upon your own reality. It is simply a stunning book that you can’t help but feel every single kind of emotion for.

You Do?

Just in case you haven’t quite worked it out yet, I fell in love with this book. It was laugh out loud funny with a large mix of sadness, cringe-worthyness and made you simply want to hug the main character and help her in any way you can. It was nostalgic because it really felt like Harriet was a real person. It was rich and it was raw and it had everything you could really want in a book. If you haven’t read the first book, I am begging you to go and do it. And if you have read it, I beg for you to read this one as well. It is the perfect second book for this series and all I can really say is please let me have more!

** I received this copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. I was not compensated nor was I required to write a positive review. **