BOOKISH AND THE BEAST

A small-town girl transforms a spoiled star in this third installment in the Once Upon a Con series.

High school senior Rosie Thorne loves the science-fiction space opera Starfield, connecting with her recently deceased mother through the old TV show, the newly rebooted movie series, and the tie-in novels. In real life, though, Rosie is struggling with her grief, her college essay, and the unwanted attentions of Gaston-stand-in Garrett Taylor. When Rosie’s unfortunate run-in with the town’s newest resident leads to her cataloging the library of an eccentric castlelike house, she also must deal with the beastly moods of Hollywood bad boy Vance Reigns, who is staying there. Seventeen-year-old co-narrator Vance is a self-proclaimed prisoner, exiled to North Carolina by his stepfather after filming the newest Starfield movie. Spoiled, sulky, and self-loathing, publicity-shy Vance fears that he’s irredeemable. Tying in 2017’s Geekerella and 2019’s The Princess and the Fangirl but expanding outside the enchanted bubble/fever-pitch world of conventions, Poston adds a dash more reality to this romance. The world of Starfield—initially, a Star Wars/Star Trek knockoff, with a rebel princess, too-good hero, and cocky bad boy—begs for a TV adaptation. Despite the setting, both Rosie and Vance are white; their sidekicks are more diverse, in gender, if not race; nonbinary Quinn is a scene stealer while Rosie’s bisexual, former-punk rocker, librarian dad is adorkable.

A satisfying fairy-tale nerd love story.