I was sent an advanced readers copy of this novel from the publisher, Quirk Books in exchange for an honest review. This does not reflect my opinions.

Trigger warnings: Sexual harassment
Representation: LGBTQ+ - m/m romance between side characters, the main character has two mothers, f/f romance, Asian character - Ethan, black characters - Darien & Harper (who likes girls),

This review may contain some spoilers for Geekerella.

As a fan of the first book in this universe, [b:Geekerella|30724132|Geekerella (Once Upon a Con, #1)|Ashley Poston|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1476734515s/30724132.jpg|50652411] I was very excited to hear about the sequel prior to finishing Geekerella last year. My expectations were pretty high since I loved Geekerella so much. However, I am going to stick with Geekerella being my favorite novel set in the Geekerella & Starfield universe.

The Princess and the Fangirl is a retelling of the tale, The Princess and the Pauper. This retelling is set during the duration of four days at the convention, Excelsicon (formerly seen in Geekerella). We follow a dual POV from Imogen Lovelace, a beloved Starfield and Princess Amara fangirl, who is known for her fame online as the creator of the campaign, #SaveAmara and Jessica Stone, the actress who plays the role of Princess Amara in Starfield.

When pages from the Starfield script start getting leaked on Twitter, Jess must stop the person behind the account immediately to save her career. She meets Imogen after she mistakenly impersonates Jessica on a panel and Jess learns she has found her doppelganger. They both agree to trade lives at the con and it really helped their character development.

Throughout most of this novel, I really wasn't a fan of Jess's character. She was so snarky and stuck-up, I just couldn't handle reading any more of her character. Nevertheless, I persevered and I'm glad that I did. Jess has remarkable character development and I enjoyed it so much. At the start, Jess doesn't get the point of fandoms and loving a character since she isn't so keen on being Princess Amara because she believes the role isn't important. But, by the end she develops so much and learns how to love herself and her character by seeing how much other people cherish her character and she means a lot to many fans.

As a fan of Geekerella, I really appreciated the cameos from all of the characters in Geekerella! They were all over the con!

Ashley Poston included a vital piece of fame and being in the spotlight by showcasing how Jessica Stone was treated by her male cast because she was a woman. There are many scenes where Jess is sexually harassed by men because of her appearance.

There's a lot of queerness & diversity going on in this book so if you're looking for a retelling with queer characters. Imogen has two mothers, her brother is a gay football player with a boyfriend, Jess reveals that she likes girls, characters from Geekerella appear who are in a f/f romance.

Overall, I did enjoy this novel but I got a little frustrated throughout because of the characters decisions. Since they do trade lives, they don't really have open communication and they have to lie to the people around them. Then, the lying gets overlooked and they are forgiven too quickly. However, the ending really redeemed itself!