Bookish and the Beast by Ashley Poston

In the third book in Ashley Poston's Once Upon a Con series, Beauty and the Beast is retold in the beloved Starfield universe.

Rosie Thorne is feeling stuck—on her college application essays, in her small town, and on that mysterious General Sond cosplayer she met at ExcelsiCon. Most of all, she’s stuck in her grief over her mother’s death. Her only solace was her late mother’s library of rare Starfield novels, but even that disappeared when they sold it to pay off hospital bills.

On the other hand, Vance Reigns has been Hollywood royalty for as long as he can remember—with all the privilege and scrutiny that entails. When a tabloid scandal catches up to him, he's forced to hide out somewhere the paparazzi would never expect to find him: Small Town USA. At least there’s a library in the house. Too bad he doesn’t read.

When Rosie and Vance’s paths collide and a rare book is accidentally destroyed, Rosie finds herself working to repay the debt. And while most Starfield superfans would jump at the chance to work in close proximity to the Vance Reigns, Rosie has discovered something about Vance: he’s a jerk, and she can’t stand him. The feeling is mutual.

But as Vance and Rosie begrudgingly get to know each other, their careful masks come off—and they may just find that there’s more risk in shutting each other out than in opening their hearts.

I love the Con series. They're about a fictional fandom, but they bubble with the joy of fandom love and finding your (nerd) people. There are references left right and centre: I'm relatively up on my nerddom, but I'm sure I missed as many as I got.

So far in the series Ashley has retold Cinderella and The Prince and the Pauper. Now she turns to Beauty and the Beast. Rosie, our Beauty, is a small town girl who's loved Starfield since watching with her mother - a recurring theme in this series; I think at least one character in each book loves it because of a parent. Rosie's mother has died about a year prior to the book. Vance, our Beast, is an actor playing the villain in the Starfield movies, exiled to a small town when he - goes to a party and crashes his car. The horror!

This book seems to take more heavily from Disney's version than most others; we have a Gaston, although his bimbettes have been replaced with two football players. Vance doesn't have servants, but he has a guardian who's an excellent cook, and Rosie has two best friends who remind me a little of Cogsworth and Lumiere. Rosie's father isn't an inventor, but the pair struggle for money following her mother's illness.

While this is the third in a series, it's not strictly necessary to read the other two. However, characters from those two show up in minor ways in this one, and backstories are referenced that might confuse you if you haven't read the others. So I'd advise you to read the others first, then this one. But why wouldn't you want to? These are fluffy, fun, entertaining reads. (Although this one spends almost no time at a con, just so you're aware.)

One of the problems with Beauty and the Beast, like Pride and Prejudice, is that the male character starts off as a jerk, but he can't be so much of a jerk that it's unbelievable when the girl falls for him. Bookish manages this by having him mostly be sullen but still showing flashes of concern for Rosie. He is a jerk near the end, but he's contractually obligated to be, so.

(Oh, and Rosie has the most Mary Sue of all Mary Sue traits; she is clumsy. But otherwise, not too much a Mary Sue.)

There's also a weird, off screen break off of a couple from one of the earlier books, but at the end of this one they seem to be back together. I'm not really sure what the point was at all; it didn't impact the story in any way, but maybe it'll be important in another book.

I really enjoy this series that celebrates geek love without being patronising. I hope it runs for many books. There's still plenty more fairytales to go, after all.

“Sometimes I feel like I’m trapped,” he had said, picking around the onions in our hash browns. “I have these expectations on my shoulders, and I just keep screwing up and disappointing everyone.”

“Well, you haven’t disappointed me yet,” I had replied, propping my head on my hand as I leaned on the table. 

He gave a sad sort of smile behind his mask. “It’ll just be a matter of time.”

Is that why you didn’t tell me? I want to ask. Because you thought that I would be disappointed? I know he didn’t mean to run off the road with Elle Wittimer, and I know he didn’t mean to break up her and Darien, and I begin to wonder, when are you able to learn and grow from a  mistake— and when does it haunt you for the rest of your life?