Review: Bookish and The Beast

Bookish and The Beast 
Rating: 5/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher in exchange for an honest review! 

Rosie Thorne is feeling stuck—on her college application essays, in her small town, and on that mysterious General Sond cosplayer she met at ExcelsiCon. Most of all, she’s stuck in her grief over her mother’s death. Her only solace was her late mother’s library of rare Starfield novels, but even that disappeared when they sold it to pay off hospital bills.

On the other hand, Vance Reigns has been Hollywood royalty for as long as he can remember—with all the privilege and scrutiny that entails. When a tabloid scandal catches up to him, he's forced to hide out somewhere the paparazzi would never expect to find him: Small Town USA. At least there’s a library in the house. Too bad he doesn’t read.

When Rosie and Vance’s paths collide and a rare book is accidentally destroyed, Rosie finds herself working to repay the debt. And while most Starfield superfans would jump at the chance to work in close proximity to the Vance Reigns, Rosie has discovered something about Vance: he’s a jerk, and she can’t stand him. The feeling is mutual.

But as Vance and Rosie begrudgingly get to know each other, their careful masks come off—and they may just find that there’s more risk in shutting each other out than in opening their hearts. 

"Who's going to tell her this is Stockholm Syndrome?" 

If you've followed my blog for a while, you'll know that I absolutely adore this series! Geekerella was such a fun read and I instantly fell in love with it, and while I had an issue or two with the sequel it was still just as nerdy and fun to read! I've been eagerly awaiting this third book, but after meeting Vance during the previous book I thought it was going to take a lot for Poston to make me like him. 

As it turns out, I'm a weak, weak woman because during the first chapter from Vance's POV I was kind of just like....oh. Okay Vance, okay. I get you, I see where you're coming from and it was hard not to chuckle at some of the things he came out with. It was so easy to see things from his point of view once you become familiar with his background and what he's been going through and it really wasn't long before I had a little bit of a soft spot for him. I just settled in to wait for him to open up a little and relax. 

As for our other POV Rosie, I knew I was going to instantly gel with her as a character because hello fellow book nerd! I related to her on so many levels and I really enjoyed her character. She wasn't afraid to stand up for herself no matter who it was to, whether it was Vance or Garrett, aka the Gaston of this book, who just could not take no for an answer. Damn. She also brought with her some really fun supporting characters in the form of her hilarious Dad, and her awesome BFF's Annie and Quinn! I particularly loved the rep for Quinn and I really commend this series for all the rep that it gives us whether it's LGBTQ+ or POC. 

Of course we have some cameo's from some of our favourite characters from the previous books. I was ridiculously pleased to see that Vance had kept a connection with Imogen and I liked their friendship, it was also nice to see Ethan again too! Darien pops up as well, as does Elle in a manner but...EXCUSE ME ASHLEY!? I was SHOOK to my core at the news about them. I kinda, sorta want a little novella to see what that was all about! I was just minding my own business and then BOOM, the OG ship of the series left me a little bit stunned! 

As you would expect with this being called Bookish and the Beast, there are some excellent, modern nods to Beauty and the Beast in here. Rosie and her birthmark, the library, a couple of scenes that are a little bit reminiscent of the Disney movie, Garrett as Gaston and then instead of an angry baying mob we had...reporters and paparazzi. OH and the castle house, I think Poston described my dream house and I'm kinda sad it doesn't actually exist! I just really enjoyed that it wasn't too excessive and in your face and was the odd nod here or there, much like with Geekerella and The Princess and the Fangirl! 

I'm going to be really honest here, as excited for the book as I was I was also a little bit wary of reading it. I thought that with everything going on and conventions being cancelled that this book would be a little bit bittersweet for me and that it might make me a little sad. While I did get that kind of sad longing for a convention at the beginning of the book, this one isn't actually set entirely at a convention like the previous books. I think this was a great move, because it kept the series fresh and stopped it from becoming too repetitive. Don't worry though, this book is still brimming with glorious nerdy-ness. 

We've got the story told through a brilliant use of book extracts, texts, articles and so on as usual to keep things fun and interesting, and to deliver information without bogging down the narrative too much with information. There's plenty of nerdy references that had me squealing every single time I spotted them and I just love that about this series. It's so unashamedly nerdy and not even limited to one fandom, there's a tonne of them in there to spot! 

Bookish and the Beast is nicely paced, I breezed through this in a couple of sittings and basically binge read it because I had no self control. Well, that and I found this book so...comforting? It's been a hard year so far for a lot of us that have left us feeling kind of low and in need of a pick me up and the relatable characters, fun story and the doses of nerdiness just gave me such a sense of comfort as I was reading. I'm sure that makes no sense, but it's kinda like Ashley brought the con to us? In a sense? I was just reading like 'ah, these are my people' and it all felt so familiar and ugh. I'm bad at describing it but this is definitely a comfort book to me and it really recharged my mood a little and picked me right up when I needed it! 

My only teeny, tiny issue with this book is that little bit with Darien and Elle like...I'm sorry Ashley, please elaborate!? I need the tea! 

Much as I loved Geekerella, I think this book just might slightly surpass it and is now my favourite book in the entire series! Plus it swiftly made its way on to my favourites list! I'm already planning a big series re-read, and I feel like this is one series that you can just read again and again and never get tired of the fun and the mayhem. 

Oh, and if the nerdy references don't get you smiling and all cheered up, then the humour definitely will. Poston's humour is my kind of brand of humour and the way I howled laughing at the line, "who's going to tell her this is Stockholm Syndrome?" it was such a beautifully placed line! 

I'm not sure if this is the final book in the series, I think it is although part of me is really hoping that it's not because I'm going to miss having a new book in this series to look forward to each year, but I feel like this is a timeless series that's going to be great to come back and revisit as many times as you need!