Book Review- Model Misfit by Holly Smale

Title:Model Misfit

 Author: Holly Smale

Series:  Geek Girl #2

Published:  26 September 2013 by Harper Collins

Length: 356 pages

Source: netgalley

Other info: I kind of enjoyed Geek Girl (review here). Picture Perfect is coming in June.

Summary : “My name is Harriet Manners, and I am still a geek.” Harriet knows that modelling won’t transform you. She knows that being as uniquely odd as a polar bear isn’t necessarily a bad thing (even in a rainforest). And that the average person eats a ton of food a year, though her pregnant stepmother is doing her best to beat this. What Harriet doesn’t know is where she’s going to fit in once the new baby arrives. With summer plans ruined, modelling in Japan seems the perfect chance to get as far away from home as possible. But nothing can prepare Harriet for the craziness of Tokyo, her competitive model flatmates and her errant grandmother’s ‘chaperoning’. Or seeing gorgeous Nick everywhere she goes. Because, this time, Harriet knows what a broken heart feels like. Can geek girl find her place on the other side of the world or is Harriet lost for good?

Review: The book begins when Harriet is doing a modelling job. And then rushes to her  physics GCSE. This essentially sums her up from Geek Girl. Then it’s summer time, but none of her friends can stay around. It looks like it’s going to be the worst summer ever...until she goes to Japan to model for Yuka. Which would also involve seeing nick. Which would be good if they hadn’t recently broken up. Over in Japan, Harriet, despite knowing lots of things like how any nerve cells are in the brain and the chances of dying in a plane accident, she still has a lot to learn.

When I started this, I immediately decided it was better than Geek Girl because I didn’t want to punch Harriet (I really hated her voice to start with, but then got used to it and started liking it).

Harriet is a bit more mature here, having to figure out where she fits in her family, standing up for herself and being independent.

There’s some new characters here, models Rin and Poppy. who both provide different things, and the return of favourites like Yuka and Nick.

I’d have liked to see more of the family side of Geek Girl.  I get that half of it is in Japan, but the family is my favourite thing about this series because they're written so realistically,  and big drama things in the first half are happening and then we leave them so I’m hoping that in book three, we see them again.

I like the use of flashbacks to reveal what happened between Nick and Harriet. Current plotwise, it was hard to see what was happening until the end.

Overall:  Strength 3.5 tea, a bit more a 4, to a second book in a series that is growing on me.

Links: Amazon | Goodreads | Author website |

Book Review-Geek Girl by Holly Smale

Title: Geek Girl

 Author: Holly Smale

Series:  N/A

Published:  28 February 2013 by Harper Collins

Length: 378 pages

Warnings:  None

Source: netgalley

Summary : 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?

Review: Harriet Manners is a geek, and proud of it. One day, she’s on a school trip, and she gets spotted by a modelling agency. Whisked away for a photoshoot and a makeover, Harriet finds her life changing in many ways-and not all for the better.

I requested this because lots of people said it would be good. I started this book. And Harriet started talking. And spouting some really random facts. And I did not like her for the first part of the book. I’m really glad that she was clever, because it beats the heck out of someone who is too dumb to live. But people who just talk on and on  to lengths such as Harriet  to people who aren’t interested irritate me.  As the book went on and it was established that Harriet was a geek, we focused more on the plot, I liked Harriet a bit more. Annoying fact insertation, Harriet is likable, funny and a great main character. She’s become a lot more mature by the end of the book.

I really liked some of the secondaries, for example Nat and Annabel.  Alexa got what she had coming together. Wilbur was downright irritating throughout. Toby, the stalker, was annoying, but cute. Nick, the love interest, was sweet from what we saw of him, but I feel we should have gotten to know him a bit more. I think all the characters could have been a bit deeper, and developed more (aside from Harriet, who was done really well).

The school side of Geek Girl, the atmosphere, and social dynamics were well captured. I have no experience of the modelling world, so I have no idea how realistic it was, but it’s a good setting to bring out different sides of the characters.

I really like the fact that Harriet stays true to herself, realises that it doesn’t matter what she looks like, that being a geek is good and dressing in XXX isn’t everything, and spreads the word majorly.

Overall:  Strength 3.25 tea to a cute contemporary with a nice message.

Links: | Goodreads | Author website |