What happened in Geekerella by Ashley Poston - Recaptains

The basics

Title: Geekerella

Author: Ashley Poston

Series: Once Upon a Con #1

- Geekerella (2017)
- The Princess and the Fangirl (2019)
- Bookish and the Beast (2020)

Add it: Goodreads

Goodreads Summary:

Part romance, part love letter to nerd culture, and all totally adorbs, Geekerella is a fairy tale for anyone who believes in the magic of fandom. Geek girl Elle Wittimer lives and breathes Starfield, the classic sci-fi series she grew up watching with her late father. So when she sees a cosplay contest for a new Starfield movie, she has to enter. The prize? An invitation to the ExcelsiCon Cosplay Ball, and a meet-and-greet with the actor slated to play Federation Prince Carmindor in the reboot. With savings from her gig at the Magic Pumpkin food truck (and her dad’s old costume), Elle’s determined to win…unless her stepsisters get there first.

Teen actor Darien Freeman used to live for cons—before he was famous. Now they’re nothing but autographs and awkward meet-and-greets. Playing Carmindor is all he’s ever wanted, but the Starfield fandom has written him off as just another dumb heartthrob. As ExcelsiCon draws near, Darien feels more and more like a fake—until he meets a girl who shows him otherwise.

Read a full summary of Geekerella by Ashley Poston below. If you can’t remember what happened in Black Sun and you need a refresher, then you’re in the right place.

What happened in Geekerella?

• Elle wants her stepmother (Katherine) and the twins to leave on time so Elle can catch Starfield info  on Hello America. The details about the new film are being announced and Elle doesn’t want to miss it. She’s a superfan.
• Elle talks about how her stepmother used Elle’s father’s life insurance money to fund her own wedding business. Katherine doesn’t have many savings left now so she’s trying to suck up to other people.
• Elle is not only a superfan, she’s also a fan fic writer for Starfield. She wants the film to turn out well, despite rumours that Darien Freeman may have been cast as the main character.
• The twins talk about the film later that they really don’t want to miss, but they have tennis lessons instead.
• Darien Freeman has been cast. Lol. Everyone but Elle seems excited.
• Darien is being prepped for his TV appearance. He’s worried about disappointing the Starfield fans.
• The TV presenter quizzes Darien on Starfield. He only gets one answer wrong – about the love interest on the film. The villain is announced to be Princess Amara, which is apparently bad.
• Sage comes to pick Elle up for work in the delivery truck.
• Darien is a bit annoyed because he was tackled by a fan and he got the last question wrong, even though he knew the answer. He also wasn’t told that there would be a chance for fans to win a meet and greet at him at a con.
• He doesn’t normally do cons but apparently he has to this time. His dad, Mark, isn’t happy with the situation but he’s keen for Darien to improve his career so he basically tells Darien to suck it up.
• Darien is told off by a fan who doesn’t think he’s good enough for the film. Darien wants to explain that he also used to be a superfan but he can’t. Darien wonders how this guy knew, so he searches the web and comes across a blog post about him. The fans don’t seem to be happy.
• Darien looks into this blog and looks into the owner’s info. It’s Elle’s father’s info.
• Elle ignores the phone call, but she receives a couple of anonymous texts about the con.
• Katherine tells Elle to clean the attic. The twins let slip that Katherine wants to sell the house, which has been left to Elle in her dad’s will. Elle confronts Katherine, who insists it’s for the best.
• Elle and Darien start unknowingly texting each other.
• Darien films his first scenes. He meets his costar, Jessica, who he has to pretend to date for the next few weeks. He also figures out there’s someone selling photos from set to the media.
• Elle is sent upstairs to the attic to fix the leaking roof. She finds a trunk that used to belong to her parents.
• Calvin is super rude to Darien. It seems he’s jealous because Darien got the role and Calvin didn’t.
• Darien’s dad has a go at him and tells him to be more professional. Darien is a bit confused.
• Sage helps Elle make an amazing costume for the con using Elle’s mum’s old costume.
• The twins mock Elle about her mum’s cosplay costume. They plan on using the dress to win the cosplay competition and meet Darien Freeman, and then they want Darien to fall in love with one of them. Chloe is really awful.
• TMZ reports that Darien is cheating on Jessica, which is ridiculous in so many ways. This is because he’s always on his phone.
• Sage continues to work on Elle’s costume and they bond and become actual friends. Sage gets into Starfield.
• Darien and the crew wrap up filming and celebrate.
• Sage calls Darien from Elle’s phone to see who it is. Elle hangs up immediately.
• Elle argues with her stepsister, Chloe, about the dress. There’s a fight. Elle stands up to Chloe and they both threaten to tell Katherine. The dress is missing.
• The day of the con, the twins go off and Elle gets left behind. She’s very upset. Sage comes over for support. She admits that she took the dress, so it’s safe.
• Darien’s phone goes missing.
• Elle tries her best to get into the con without her stolen passes. She bumps into one of her dad’s old friends – Miss May – who still works there. Darien shows up at the same time. He seems to ignore Elle completely and barges in front of her. Elle tells him off.
• Miss May tells Elle that Katherine was sending con badges back every year. Miss May had been sending them along to Elle as her dad started the con.
• Brian shows up at Darien’s signing to get him to talk to him. He apologises for selling info to the tabloids. Darien forgives him but doesn’t want to be friends with him any more.
• Elle bumps into some of the other fans and it’s adorable. Fandom is the Best.
• The cosplay contest happens. Cal, the nice stepsister, apologises on behalf of Chloe because she’s the worst. Sage tells Cal off, and Cal gives Elle her mother’s shoes.
• Darien is amazed by Elle’s costume. She doesn’t win, but almost!
• Elle offers to show more Starfield stuff to Cal because they get along well now.
• Elle accidentally hits Darien in the face with a door. She gets upset because her texting friend tells her they shouldn’t talk any more. Darien is upset because that text was sent without his permission.
• The dance happens that evening. A cosplayer has a go at Elle but Darien defends her.
• Darien and Elle talk. Elle apologises about her blog posts about Darien because they were a bit harsh. Darien tells Elle he was super impressed by Elle’s costume.
• Darien and Elle dance. It’s really nice until Chloe shows up and starts shouting at Elle. She insults Elle’s dad, and also gives away Elle’s name. Darien realises she’s “his” Elle. Darien defends Elle again. So do the other cosplayers.
• Sage crashes the dance and tells Elle they have to go otherwise they’ll be in trouble with Katherine. Darien runs after them, but doesn’t catch them. Elle does lose a shoe though.
• Brian and Darien fight. Darien learns that his father, Mark, is the mole on set. He really wanted Darien to be a superstar. Darien fires his dad from his management team and promotes Gale.
• Elle returns home and is in trouble. Chloe got back first and told Katherine the other two were at a con. She has to give Katherine her phone.
• Darien goes looking for Elle. He shows up at the food truck but Elle isn’t there.
• Chloe pretends to be Elle because lots of photos and gossip about Elle is coming out online.
• Darien arrives. Chloe tries to distract him. Darien knows Chloe isn’t Elle. Darien tells Elle that he’s the one who has been texting her and gives her back her shoe.

That was our recap of what happened in Geekerella by Ashley Poston. Check out our recap list for more plot summaries, and if you can’t find what you need you can request a recap here!