Geek Girl Blog Tour

A big Thank you to Cedar Fort Publishing for the eARC copy of this book and to the author, Cindy Bennett for taking the time for an interview!

Jen’s life of partying and sneaking out has grown stale. So on a whim, Jen makes a bet to turn Trevor, a goody-two-shoes geek, into a “bad boy.” As she hangs out with Trevor, however, she finds it’s actually kinda fun being a geek. But when Trevor finds out about the bet, Jen must fight for the things she’s discovered matter most: friendship, family, and, above all, love.

My Review:

This was a very eye-opening read for me into the life of a foster child. It was intriguing to read about the things that went through Jen’s head on a daily basis and how she felt unloved.

Jen’s story was tragic and actually got me a little misty eyed. It’s no wonder she dresses and acts the way that she does. I enjoyed seeing her private thoughts and it did not take long to realize that she is not as tough as she seems to be.

Trevor (Trev) was a great guy and at first he was even skeptical of Jen’s attention, but he actually started to really enjoy her company. Trevor is your typical geek, not pocket protector, nerd glasses geek. But, good grades, volunteers and watches sci-fi movies geek. He is awesome!!

The love affair starts off as a prank and then Jen falls head over heels in love. Which she wasn’t expecting and neither were her friends. They give her a lot of grief about all the time she spends with Trevor and Jen isn’t sure if she can keep up with all the lies she has been telling.

The book ends on a wonderful note! I really enjoyed the ending. Even though what Jen had done was not right, her feelings were true and I had started to feel really bad for her.

This was a great story with the basic premise of sometimes you may become and enjoy the very thing that you thought you had despised in the first place. Sometimes being a Geek Girl, is not so bad:) I highly recommend this love story!

“Why him?” Beth asks. “Why not any of the other nerds sitting there with him?”

 

“Because,” I say slowly, “he isn’t your typical run-of-the-mill geek. Trevor Hoffman is different.

 He would be a little more difficult to take down–more of a challenge, you know?”

This book made me think back to my middle/high school years and realize that my friends and I could all be classified as “Geeks”, so here are the top five things I remember about my inner geekdom:

1. Memorizing lines from all my favorite movies and repeating them on a daily basis.

2. My 5th grade picture with the ugly orange and black striped sweater and the horrendous looking bed-head.

3. Braces and being afraid to kiss my boyfriend whom had braces too, because everyone would tease us that our braces would get stuck together!

4. Having to wear coke bottle glasses due to having a lazy eye and then having to wear an eye patch for months.

5. Wanting to be one of the popular kids and getting overly excited if they had even knew my name.

There you have it! My top five geeky memories from middle/high school. I have come to believe that we all have a little geek in us!

Tell me about yours!

 

Author Interview:

How did you come up with the title of the book?

 When I began writing it, I called it Geek Boy just for lack of anything better coming to mind, because Trevor is a geek boy. Then I started calling it Geek, thinking that sounded better. However, there seem to be a lot of books, movies, TV shows, etc. that are either called Geek or have that in the title. I was doing an online class for writing queries, and the instructor suggested Geek Girl. As soon as she suggested it, I knew I had the right title.

 What were the challenges to getting the book published?

 I sent out many, many queries and received an equal number of rejections. Discouraged, I decided to self-publish, which was great other than I had no idea how to market. After six months of not much happening with the book, I decided to look into having it published by a traditional publisher. Of course, that required me to find a publisher who would take a previously self-published book. Through a large amount of luck, my query ended up on the desk of Angie Workman at Cedar Fort Inc., and she was willing to take a chance on Geek Girl. Thank heavens for small miracles!

 What book are you reading right now?

 I just finished Sophie & Carter by Chelsea Fine, which was a fantastic book, though too short. I wanted more! I haven’t started anything new because I’m beta reading four other books that will be coming out soon, and trying to finish my latest as well. That doesn’t leave a lot of time for reading.

 When did you write your first book and how old were you?

 Funny story. Just a couple weeks ago my mom found an old book I had written at age 12, typed and bound in a paper folder. It is horrible. It’s about a sixteen year old who is in love with her married neighbor. I’d like to talk to my 12-year-old self and ask her what she was thinking writing a story like that! It’s so bad it’s hilarious. And the illustrations are even worse. That’s the earliest one I’ve found. I’ve been writing as long as I can remember, even if it wasn’t well done.

 Do you have any advice for other writers?

 My biggest advice is to just do it. Don’t fear rejection as I did for so many years. Fear is what held me back from finishing or publishing anything sooner. If you have a passion for writing, follow it through. And then be sure to have your work edited. There’s nothing worse than a book that is poorly edited.

 What are you currently working on?

 I’m nearly finished with my latest project called Immortal Mine. It’s a little outside of my norm, with a touch of paranormal to it. But in the end, at heart it’s a contemporary love story, as are my other books.

 Speed Round:

 Favorite Book? An odd choice for a YA author, I know, but Flowers from the Storm by Laura Kinsale is my all-time favorite.

Favorite Author? I honestly don’t have one single favorite author. It would be like trying to pick my favorite child!

Favorite place to read? In the tub.

Favorite Genre? Young Adult, of course. And not just because I write it. I genuinely love to read it.

 

Last fun one:

 If you could choose to be a character from any book, who would it be and why?

 I would choose to be the female version of Superman (do comic books count?). Who wouldn’t want to be a woman of steel who can be a superhero in secret, and a geeky nerd in public?

Links:

Go on over to Cedar Fort and check out the rest of the tour: http://www.cedarfortbooks.com/blog-tour-geek-girl/

Author website: www.cindycbennett.com

Publisher Blog: http://www.cedarfortbooks.com/