Geekerella

Elle loves Starfield, the classic sci-fi series she grew up watching with her father.  It's one of the few things she has left to help her feel close to him.  She barely remembers her mother, but when her father died, she was left with her stepmother and bratty twin stepsisters. They are all about appearances and treat Ella like an unwanted servant.

When Ella hears about a cosplay contest at ExcelsiCon, she decides to enter. Her father was one of the founders of the can, but she hasn't been back since his death.  First prize is a ticket to the ExcelsiCon Ball, a meet and greet with the lead actor in the new Starfield movie, and tickets to the premiere in LA.  It's the airplane tickets she really wants.  This could be Ella's chance to leave her horrible stepfamily behind for good.

Starfield is Darien's first big movie role, and the teen soap that propelled him to stardom has many Starfield fans enraged.  They think he doesn't have the acting ability or the geek cred to play their beloved Carmindor, but what they don't know is that Darien is a closet geek himself.  Before he got famous, he attended cons for fun.  Now, that isn't part of the image his manager/father wants to portray.  The last thing he wants to do is show up to ExcelsiCon as Carmindor and be rejected by the fans.  He texts a number on the ExcelsiCon website hoping to get out the meet and greet, but the person who answers can't help him.  She does have a good sense of humor and a serious addiction to Starfield, so he continues to text her even though he's pretty sure it's not a good idea.

When Ella gets the wrong number, she isn't surprised.  She sometimes gets people looking for her dad since she has his old phone.  What does surprise her is how quickly she begins to trust her anonymous "Carmindor".  They've never met in real life, bu she feels more comfortable talking to him than anyone else.

Ashley Poston's Cinderella for the ComiCon crowd is a fun take on the story with plenty of allusions to real sci-fi classics to keep geeks interested.  The love story is sweet, and Ella and Darien are both well-rounded characters.  My issue is the stepmother who is completely one-dimensional.  Every time I thought she was going to get some depth, the story veered in another direction.  Despite that, this will be a perfect fit for the sci-fi crowd.