Geek Girl

15-year-old Harriet is a school outcast – a bona fide geek, and not in a cool way. She gets her homework done way ahead of time, is accident prone and has a random fact for every occasion. She’s even stalked by a besotted uber-geek. But there are people who are more concerned with what’s on the outside; when her best friend Nat drags her to The Clothes Show Live, Harriet is spotted by a modelling agency, and in particular by male model Nick.

Harriet’s more concerned about how this affects Nat, her best, and only, friend who has always longed to be a model herself, but when school bullying gets particularly intense, a genuine reason to take up this opportunity for reinvention emerges and Harriet seizes the chance to become the swan instead of the socially-awkward duckling. It’ll just mean lying to her best friend, her step-mother, skipping school – and surely nothing could go wrong with that plan…

This novel skirts the ground you might expect it to cover – there’s some insight into the fashion industry (based on the author’s own experiences), but it mainly provides background to the more everyday concerns of readers. It’s a brilliantly funny and fresh take on not only figuring out who you are, but being proud of it, and doing what’s right by the people around you too. A feel-good, satisfying gem that will have teens smiling from cover to cover, and walking a little taller after reading.