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brittrivera's review against another edition
4.0
"What’s your patronus? I ask, and it seems strange that I have not asked until now.
These are the questions that matter more, more than how many siblings we have, than what our parents do for a living, than what television shows we follow in the fall.
What is your patronus? What is the thing that represents all protection to you, all reassurance, all strength, all love? What is the happiest moment you can remember, to summon the spell to you? What drives away the dark in your heart?
— “Minas Tirth”-Marguerite Bennett
This is the minute the book won my heart (it's from the second story). It's so personal, so wonderful, and a very special book I am going to hold dear.
These are the questions that matter more, more than how many siblings we have, than what our parents do for a living, than what television shows we follow in the fall.
What is your patronus? What is the thing that represents all protection to you, all reassurance, all strength, all love? What is the happiest moment you can remember, to summon the spell to you? What drives away the dark in your heart?
— “Minas Tirth”-Marguerite Bennett
This is the minute the book won my heart (it's from the second story). It's so personal, so wonderful, and a very special book I am going to hold dear.
glowbird's review against another edition
3.0
A lovingly curated anthology that must be the absolute best for its core audience. The stories are well written and drawn, super inclusive, deeply personal and told with heart. Alas, I am too old, too straight, too married, too square to fully understand or emotionally connect most of the narratives.
poutineriot's review against another edition
2.0
Overall, it was very uneven. Some essays were brilliant - Cherelle Higgins' and Marjorie Liu's come immediately to mind - some were fair, some were simply pabulum.
ssather919's review against another edition
5.0
"Ghost" by Marjorie Liu on page 224 is enchanting, real, and so very close in emotion to how I often felt as a child and feel now.
"You remember: countless drives by night...you in the back seat with you head on a pillow staring out the window at the stars, so lost in your imagination, so lost in some powerful adventure of your devising, so so caught up in the lives of men and women filling your head with their flesh and blood that you might as well have slipped form this world into another."
So many more words. Read it. Again. And again.
"You remember: countless drives by night...you in the back seat with you head on a pillow staring out the window at the stars, so lost in your imagination, so lost in some powerful adventure of your devising, so so caught up in the lives of men and women filling your head with their flesh and blood that you might as well have slipped form this world into another."
So many more words. Read it. Again. And again.
kaylielongley's review against another edition
4.0
I embrace my nerdiness, and you should, too. This anthology encourages just that, through mixed-medium nonfiction, reviews, comics, prose, and fictional stories. Boasting authors and creators Margaret Atwood, Wonder Woman's Trina Robbins, and 50+ more wonderful women, this gem has heart. It reminds me to love passionately, share openly, and always make references. Stylistically, it demands an editor and instead favors leaning on its creators to choose their method, grammatical errors and all. Still, as a feminist and geek girl, it's encouraging and exciting to see pages adorned with Doctor Who, fanfiction, and strong female characters. More unabashed books like this must be written!
half_book_and_co's review against another edition
3.0
"The Secret Loves of Geek Girls" edited by Hope Nicholson is a non-fiction anthology bringing together more than 50 geeky women writing and drawing about love.
Love stories are usually not the first thing I go for, but this collection has a lot going for it: Most of these stories are no straight (pun intended) (geeky) girl - meets - boy narratives, but instead, this anthology offers a variety of experiences, approaches and little pearls of wisdom. Gita Jackson explains in "URL > IRL" how "meeting new people is often a lesson for them on race and there is just not enough time in [her] life to continue delivering that lecture". Diana McCallum ("There's Nothing Wrong, It Must Be Love") assures her readers it is okay to break up - even if the relationship is not horrible. Fionna Adams remarks upon her love for cultural metaphors and how they fail her: "I lack a pop culture metaphor for the type of relationship I want to be in, though. I'm a poly queer intersex trans girl with little interest in sex, but I enjoy being touched and loved." Brandy Dawley pens an ode to the grapevine aka "gossip" women share about problematic dudes, supporting each other instead of engaging in girl-on-girl hate as promoted through popular media tropes.
The contributors write about their lives as WoC, as lesbian, queer, bi, asexual women, as trans women, as poly women, as women who have experienced abuse. They write about what they learned from reading, gaming and writing fan fiction, the ways they connect with other people who share their interests (and that sometimes sharing interests is not enough for a functioning relationship). With so many contributions there have to be some misses and there certainly are. Especially some of the prose felt unpolished (not in a good way). Some stories bored me or felt uninspired (I do no care much about entire praise texts about some guy). But all in all the collection manages to offer a sweet, very geeky collection of narratives showing the complexity of love, relationships, desire and hope (in a world structured by racism and hetero_cis_sexism).
Love stories are usually not the first thing I go for, but this collection has a lot going for it: Most of these stories are no straight (pun intended) (geeky) girl - meets - boy narratives, but instead, this anthology offers a variety of experiences, approaches and little pearls of wisdom. Gita Jackson explains in "URL > IRL" how "meeting new people is often a lesson for them on race and there is just not enough time in [her] life to continue delivering that lecture". Diana McCallum ("There's Nothing Wrong, It Must Be Love") assures her readers it is okay to break up - even if the relationship is not horrible. Fionna Adams remarks upon her love for cultural metaphors and how they fail her: "I lack a pop culture metaphor for the type of relationship I want to be in, though. I'm a poly queer intersex trans girl with little interest in sex, but I enjoy being touched and loved." Brandy Dawley pens an ode to the grapevine aka "gossip" women share about problematic dudes, supporting each other instead of engaging in girl-on-girl hate as promoted through popular media tropes.
The contributors write about their lives as WoC, as lesbian, queer, bi, asexual women, as trans women, as poly women, as women who have experienced abuse. They write about what they learned from reading, gaming and writing fan fiction, the ways they connect with other people who share their interests (and that sometimes sharing interests is not enough for a functioning relationship). With so many contributions there have to be some misses and there certainly are. Especially some of the prose felt unpolished (not in a good way). Some stories bored me or felt uninspired (I do no care much about entire praise texts about some guy). But all in all the collection manages to offer a sweet, very geeky collection of narratives showing the complexity of love, relationships, desire and hope (in a world structured by racism and hetero_cis_sexism).
cat_thecatlady's review against another edition
5.0
ok guys, I really LOVED this. some stories hit me harder than others but when they did, damn, they hit hard. this anthology is so honest, and fun, and dark, and simple, and complicated: everything love is. also, it's inclusive AND diverse!
the comics are wonderful and the stories too. there's so many ladies I admite in this!
URGH I JUST REALLY LIKED THIS AND CAN'T MAKE ANY SENSE OF MY FEELINGS
full review here: https://catshelf.wordpress.com/2016/09/21/book-review-94-the-secret-loves-of-geek-girls-edited-by-hope-nicholson/
the comics are wonderful and the stories too. there's so many ladies I admite in this!
URGH I JUST REALLY LIKED THIS AND CAN'T MAKE ANY SENSE OF MY FEELINGS
full review here: https://catshelf.wordpress.com/2016/09/21/book-review-94-the-secret-loves-of-geek-girls-edited-by-hope-nicholson/
mypalsophia's review against another edition
2.0
Considering this was a spur of the moment, "This cover looks cute, I'm a teenage geek girl and I should expand my horizons and try to read something romantic for once in my life," purchase, I wasn't expecting much, but while I was reading, I couldn't feel an emotional connection with this book. This book is comprised of many different stories by different authors of their own romantic conquests, so I knew I wouldn't be able to relate to every single author, but in the end I could only find myself enjoying 7 stories in this 279 page book. Some of the stories were poorly written and not capturing, I found myself skipping over lines of text wanting to just skip the entire chapter altogether, and other stories were just too cringy (the girls were extremely introverted and didn't have basic social skills which led to them making bad situations worse) for me to even relate to. I know I am being harsh on these authors, but I am trying to portray the kind of audience this book leans towards. This book isn't for the extroverted, social and optimistic geek girls/boys, it is meant for the introverted and isolated geek girls/boys who believe they are never going to find love and need some evidence to prove them wrong. I am not that kind of person so I couldn't find myself liking this book, but I know that this book would be perfect for others who fit that introverted standard.
saskiacb's review against another edition
4.0
super lovely and wonderful. especially loved the illustrated stories.
saraubs's review
4.0
The clearest sign of true love: picking out the perfect book for someone. This had everything I look for: raw, unflinching accounts of how women experience love; diverse contributors with a wide range of life experiences; and gloriously nerdy girls. Seriously, I could not have been happier. The selections were varied (in both content and tone) and there were some I enjoyed more than others, but I feel that's to be expected in any anthology. The selections were pieced together well and as such created a cohesive whole - an impressive feat given the breadth of work within. Would recommend to any "Geek Girl" :)