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.

Review!

Be still my nerd heart! This may have been my first foray into Poston’s Once Upon a Con series but I can tell you right now that it will not be my last.

Rosie Thorne is still reeling from the death of her mother a year ago. Made to move out of her house and sell her mothers beloved Starfield collection to pay for the funeral, she’s stuck working a job she hates to make sure she can pay for college. The only brightness in her life is her father, her two best friends Quinn and Annie and the memory of her night spent with the General Sond cosplayer. Then one night she nearly runs over a dog, follows it into a house she thought was abandoned and accidentally takes a dive into a pool with a priceless copy of the first Starfield novel she ends up having to work at the house, putting the library in order to pay for the damage. But the house is currently housing THE General Sond, Vance Reign while he hides out from the paparazzi after his last stunt, and while her friends are ecstatic, Rosie knows otherwise, Vance is a beast and working in the library with him is not going to be the romantic story they think it will be, at least not until Rosie realises something that may change her perspective of Vance forever.

If you know me then you know this is not the type of book I normally read, however Beauty and the Beast is one of my all time favourite Disney films, and I had read some really good reviews for this series so I decided to give it a try. I am SO glad I did, Bookish and the Beast is a fun, easy and charming read, with a brilliantly written enemies to lovers romance, full on nerd MC’s and lots and lots of Easter eggs that any Disney lover and nerd will appreciate.

The characters really make this book, Rosie and Vance are our MC’s and I loved their interactions. At first Rosie thinks hes stuck up and just another spoilt rich kid and Vance thinks Rosie is only after one thing… a story to tell to TMZ. But being stuck with each other makes them realise that first impressions can often be misleading and they may actually have more in common than they think. Quinn and Annie, Rosies BF’s whose reactions were basically mine throughout the book. Space Dad (quite possibly my favourite side character), Elias, Vance’s guardian and Garrett, our Gaston, and honestly someone I could quite easily punch.

Poston throws back to the Beauty and the Beast story we all know and love, while giving us a ‘small town girl meets famous boy’ story that I absolutely adored. One thing I loved about this is she doesn’t try to tone down on the tropes from enemies to lovers, oops we got caught in the rain, one hell of a homecoming and reading too each other *swoon*. Plus pop culture filled Easter eggs throughout the book she unabashedly throws in everywhere including Sansa the German Shephard.

If you’re looking for an easy and fun filled read then I can highly recommend this and I will be searching out the other books in the series!