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3.77 AVERAGE
3.77 AVERAGE
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
"The library is beautiful." I whisper.
Annie tsks playfully. "Don't go falling in love with a library, now. Especially one you can't own."
"Can't I fall in love just a little? At least books won't break my heart."
"Then clearly you haven't read the books I have." Quinn mutters scooping up the last few fries.
Annie tsks playfully. "Don't go falling in love with a library, now. Especially one you can't own."
"Can't I fall in love just a little? At least books won't break my heart."
"Then clearly you haven't read the books I have." Quinn mutters scooping up the last few fries.
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The third addition to the Once Upon a Con series, Bookish and the Beast takes us away from the bright lights of the previous titles to a scene some may call the perfect place for a provincial life. Set in a small town, our beauty is a local nerd who accidentally semi-destroys a priceless book from the Starfield series. In order to avoid paying to replace the book, a fee she and her father cannot afford, Rosie agrees to organize the library in the house instead. Vance Reigns (whom you may remember from Once Upon a Con 2), our beast, at first refuses to help her even at his guardian's insistence and spends his days brooding, sulking, and generally being beastly as small-town nowhere is the last place he wants to be when L.A. is waiting for him. As the weeks pass, however, the iciness and general dislike between our beauty and beast begins to thaw and we are left anticipating and wondering...will they get a happy ending?
Even though I am not a huge comic-con fan, I absolutely adore this series and cannot wait to add Bookish and the Beast to my shelf. I was greatly saddened to learn the publishing date was pushed back to August 4th, but with all the things going on with the coronavirus I totally understand--it'll just be that much sweeter when I finally get my copy! Although I feel like this book did not as strongly follow its sister novels, there are always several things I love about this series and Bookish is no exception. As always, I love the LGBTQIA inclusion. It's becoming more critical than ever for books to be written that have these characters in them, and I feel like Poston does this seamlessly without it seeming like these characters are forced into the story line as a "token" character. Finally, I love the sense of belonging this offers those of us who are a little more fictionally inclined. Even though I am not all about comic-cons, this series speaks to me as a reader and reminds all who read it that there is a place for us in this world beyond the pages of the books we love or the seconds of the films we cherish. This series truly is a love letter to nerds, and so I finish with...Look to the stars. Aim. Ignite.
Even though I am not a huge comic-con fan, I absolutely adore this series and cannot wait to add Bookish and the Beast to my shelf. I was greatly saddened to learn the publishing date was pushed back to August 4th, but with all the things going on with the coronavirus I totally understand--it'll just be that much sweeter when I finally get my copy! Although I feel like this book did not as strongly follow its sister novels, there are always several things I love about this series and Bookish is no exception. As always, I love the LGBTQIA inclusion. It's becoming more critical than ever for books to be written that have these characters in them, and I feel like Poston does this seamlessly without it seeming like these characters are forced into the story line as a "token" character. Finally, I love the sense of belonging this offers those of us who are a little more fictionally inclined. Even though I am not all about comic-cons, this series speaks to me as a reader and reminds all who read it that there is a place for us in this world beyond the pages of the books we love or the seconds of the films we cherish. This series truly is a love letter to nerds, and so I finish with...Look to the stars. Aim. Ignite.
Actual rating 3.5 stars.
This was an adorably cute, saccharine sweet tale inspired by ‘Beauty and the Beast’ for the Once Upon a Con series. If you love to indulge in the fantasy, then this title will tickle you pink. Being based on a tale as old as time expect to read a lot of tropes, but tropes done in a fun campy sort of way. The narrative definitely lends to a quick read with chapters alternating in perspective between love interests/protagonists Rosie and Vance. I took a little longer to read ‘Bookish and the Beast’ to have a short break every now and then because of the cuteness overload. Especially if you’re not in that mindset…
Rosie is a small town geeky type dealing with grief after the loss of her mother. She and her mother shared a love of the Starfield extended universe – the films, the television show, and the novels released under the franchise, and finds comfort amongst the collection her mother had amassed… but then they hit financial hardship and had to sell off all the collectibles to keep their head above water. So Rosie is clambering, feeling the loss, trying to shape an uncertain future after she graduates high school. I love how Rose is unapologetically a book nerd, and sci-fi geek, and have friends and family equally invested in these things. I really feel a modern twist on the wallflower trope. I loved her growth in learning how to feel deserving of things, and go out and grab them.
Vance in our bad boy. Aggressive attitude, rude, media fodder, and exiled to a small town mansion to decompress and let the string of bad press cool so he doesn’t destroy his acting career. He’s been burned by so-called friends many times when they cash in on his fame; he’s like a punching bag for social media. He’s sarcastic, sullen, and is always putting up a front. I seriously had a lot of eye-rolling in his chapters, but hey, it fit with the character and wasn’t without its comedic moments. In fact I laughed a surprising amount throughout ‘Bookish and the Beast.’ Vance has a great character arc in learning to let people in, be confident in himself instead of a persona he fronts in the public eye… and to stop punishing himself for his mistakes.
I love dogs, so the German Shepard Sansa was a great inclusion in the narrative and had me clucking at the pages every time he appeared.
I also like the topic of consent and how boys sometimes don’t really listen to girls, instead doing what they think girls want, and how this was approached through the character of Garrett.
We get a lot of pop culture references in ‘Bookish and the Beast’ that readers and Con enthusiasts alike will identify with. Though, this book does not indulge in the Con events like its predecessors.
As we are following a very over-represented tale in the media, it was so very easy to predict the story, but it was an entertaining modern twist. I loved Ashely Poston’s writing style, some of the phrases she uses are delightful and really stood out to me. My enjoyment for this series has definitely increased with reading ‘Bookish and the Beast.’ Though I would have liked a bit more complexity in this book to really push it over the edge.
Again we see some great representation of the LGBTQIA+ spectrum in a positive light that is a part of the characters – not their defining trait.
A pleasant ride through an old classic for anyone who loves retellings, cutesy contemporaries, and anything to do with nerd culture around conventions and reading. I’d recommend this, but make sure you read the two sequels as each book deals with other characters from the same universe and you may lose some context.
This was an adorably cute, saccharine sweet tale inspired by ‘Beauty and the Beast’ for the Once Upon a Con series. If you love to indulge in the fantasy, then this title will tickle you pink. Being based on a tale as old as time expect to read a lot of tropes, but tropes done in a fun campy sort of way. The narrative definitely lends to a quick read with chapters alternating in perspective between love interests/protagonists Rosie and Vance. I took a little longer to read ‘Bookish and the Beast’ to have a short break every now and then because of the cuteness overload. Especially if you’re not in that mindset…
Rosie is a small town geeky type dealing with grief after the loss of her mother. She and her mother shared a love of the Starfield extended universe – the films, the television show, and the novels released under the franchise, and finds comfort amongst the collection her mother had amassed… but then they hit financial hardship and had to sell off all the collectibles to keep their head above water. So Rosie is clambering, feeling the loss, trying to shape an uncertain future after she graduates high school. I love how Rose is unapologetically a book nerd, and sci-fi geek, and have friends and family equally invested in these things. I really feel a modern twist on the wallflower trope. I loved her growth in learning how to feel deserving of things, and go out and grab them.
Vance in our bad boy. Aggressive attitude, rude, media fodder, and exiled to a small town mansion to decompress and let the string of bad press cool so he doesn’t destroy his acting career. He’s been burned by so-called friends many times when they cash in on his fame; he’s like a punching bag for social media. He’s sarcastic, sullen, and is always putting up a front. I seriously had a lot of eye-rolling in his chapters, but hey, it fit with the character and wasn’t without its comedic moments. In fact I laughed a surprising amount throughout ‘Bookish and the Beast.’ Vance has a great character arc in learning to let people in, be confident in himself instead of a persona he fronts in the public eye… and to stop punishing himself for his mistakes.
I love dogs, so the German Shepard Sansa was a great inclusion in the narrative and had me clucking at the pages every time he appeared.
I also like the topic of consent and how boys sometimes don’t really listen to girls, instead doing what they think girls want, and how this was approached through the character of Garrett.
We get a lot of pop culture references in ‘Bookish and the Beast’ that readers and Con enthusiasts alike will identify with. Though, this book does not indulge in the Con events like its predecessors.
As we are following a very over-represented tale in the media, it was so very easy to predict the story, but it was an entertaining modern twist. I loved Ashely Poston’s writing style, some of the phrases she uses are delightful and really stood out to me. My enjoyment for this series has definitely increased with reading ‘Bookish and the Beast.’ Though I would have liked a bit more complexity in this book to really push it over the edge.
Again we see some great representation of the LGBTQIA+ spectrum in a positive light that is a part of the characters – not their defining trait.
A pleasant ride through an old classic for anyone who loves retellings, cutesy contemporaries, and anything to do with nerd culture around conventions and reading. I’d recommend this, but make sure you read the two sequels as each book deals with other characters from the same universe and you may lose some context.
Note: This review is going to be full of spoilers. I really enjoyed the story. Poston's books are always feel good super cute stories. But I knocked off a star for a few reasons. First of all, this first printing has a lot of editing issues. There were lots of times when it was obvious that she had been trying a few different sentence structures and not all of the unused sentence was deleted or the syntax would be off. This made it hard to get lost in the story. There was one point were it talks about Vance smoothing his tux, then says that the other boys at the dance are in chinos, boat shorts and tuxes and that Vance feels "punked" because he isn't wearing any of that, and then two paragraphs later says he feels exposed in a form fitting tux. Is he wearing a tux or not??? Make up your mind! This is the kind of thing that should have been caught in the editing/proof reading phase. If that was all that was wrong I probably wouldn't have knocked off a star, believing this would be fixed in subsequent printings, but while the story overall is cute, some things just felt forced to me. I never really bought Garrett wanting to take Rosie to Homecoming. He says one time that she's pretty and Rosie believes it's because he feels sorry for her because of her mothers death, but none of that felt like a strong enough reason. I felt like Poston just wanted a Gaston character but she didn't build that correlation up enough. If he had pressed the fact that she was the prettiest girl in the school and he was the most popular/good looking so OF COURSE she had to go with him I would have believed it more. But one mention of "you're pretty" just didn't cut it for me. Also, Imogene just happening to be the sister of the rival teams quarterback at the Homecoming game in po-dunk nowhere North Carolina, and she just happening to sit on the home teams side instead of the visitors side so she can just happen to hear Rosie's name and connect it to Vance was just to pat for me. I would have liked it better if she had come specifically for Vance to help him fix things when the TMZ video gets out because they are friends. But overall I enjoyed the book. Side note: Why does Vance have short hair on the cover? The cover is beautiful, don't get me wrong. But throughout the book he is described as having long blonde hair that he wears down or in a bun. You would think the graphic designer could have depicted him that way. When he dyed his hair orange I was expecting him to chop most of it off and dye back the rest so he would finally match the cover but nope, didn't happen. Anyway, I love this series and hope there is more to come.
