I have mixed feelings about Gamer Geeks and Fashion Freaks.  I liked it, I hated it, I wanted to throw it against the wall, and I wanted to give it a squishy hug.  I picked this book up because the main character is a woman in the computer game industry and the best thing about the book is that her qualifications and expertise are never in doubt.  Everything else was iffy.

I was interested Gamer Geeks and Fashion Freaks because of the main character — the computer game expert.  I’m not a gamer (due solely to time constraints).  But I have a lot of female friends who are gamers, so I think of women in gaming as a norm.  There’s been tons of online controversy recently about sexism in gaming but it doesn’t seem to be stopping women from playing games across all kinds of mediums including handheld devices, Nintendo, Wii, and multi-player online games.  According to a 2014 survey by the Entertainment Software Division, 48% of gamers are female. 

The plot is that Evie and Derek are best friends but Evie wants a romantic relationship with Derek.  Evie had a computer game show on YouTube.  She still does the show, but she sold it to another company and therefore lost creative control.  Her boss tells her to get a makeover on the show, and tells her that she and Derek have to do a show where they pose as couples seeking an open relationship and try to pick up potential lovers in bars and then interview them.  It’s all very gross.  Evie decides to embrace the makeover, because she thinks she can get Derek to think about her in a new way if she changes her appearance and picks up some “moves”.

I’d like to start this review out by confessing that I walked into it with a deep affection for women who game mixed with deep ambivalence about “makeover” romances.  As in – I hate them.  I think they are sexist and shallow and also – why hasn’t anyone done a makeover for meeeee?   Honestly, you guys, I am so hypocritical about makeover stories that I could just spit.  So this book had some heavy lifting to do, since on one hand I’m all – “Eww it’s so shallow that she’s going to get that guy’s attention by getting all dressy” and on the other hand I’m all, “Why can’t I find someone to magical things to my hair?   Whyyyyyy?”

By far the best thing about the book was that Evie’s expertise in her field is never questioned.  Her business sense is questioned, but not her knowledge about games.  Evie, who is not confident, is confident about this.  Evie’s enemies attack her on many levels, but not this one.  No one thinks that because Evie is a girl she doesn’t know her stuff.  That doesn’t mean sexism in the gaming industry isn’t addressed, it just means that even the most sexist people in the story acknowledge that Evie is competent in this area.

Here’s some other things I liked about the book.  Evie’s background with finding community both among gamers and among runners felt real.  I enjoyed her friendship with Jeanette.  Overall, there was a refreshing refusal to portray gamers in a stereotyped manner.  Evie may not be “sexy” but she’s clearly attractive, and both she and her brother, a game designer, are socially adept and professionally successful.  Derek loves gaming and he’s considered quite the hottie.

There were a ton of things I hated about the makeover but I liked the way Evie finds ways to have fun with the makeover and how matter-of-factly she discusses it.  Ultimately she finds her own style for filming days – less heavily made up than the makeover, and a bit more polished than the yoga pants look of the pre-makeover days.  When not filming, she sticks to her yoga pants because she likes them.  When her producer wants to film her lounging on a bed in lingerie, she uses the bed, but invites her best friend Jeanette to hang out with her and does a show in which she teaches Jeanette to play Call of Duty (they both wear flannel, and it’s hilarious).  She understands the need to raise ratings but doesn’t lose herself in the process.

Here’s the big problems with the book:

1. There’s too much exposition.  Everything is tell, not show.  If something is shown, we’re provided with a helpful explanation in case we didn’t get it.
    
2. I can’t stand Derek.  He’s shallow, he’s sexist without realizing it, and he’s a user.  I could not root for the romance because I hated that guy.
    
3. I have mixed feelings about Evie.  I would have liked to have seen more of her doing the things she likes and that she excels at, because when she does, she’s incredibly likeable.  The rest of the time she wallows, manipulates, whines, and cries a lot. 
    
4. The project of seducing people and writing about it is despicable regardless of how far the seduction goes.
    
5. The focus on using manipulation to get your man is depressing.  Don’t manipulate Derek into realizing that he loves you, Evie.  Just dump his sorry ass.

Ultimately this book was something of a guilty pleasure for me.  I liked a lot of things about the book’s resolution.  I liked everything about the book that didn’t involve sex and romance.  If this had been a book about a gamer who earns her family’s respect, has fun with her friends, and experiments with different ways of presenting herself until she finds something she’s comfortable in, I’d have loved it.  Evie was fun sometimes and awful other times, so she averaged out to tolerable.  She was at her worst when it came to sex and relationships. 

Derek was simply abhorrent.  He’s a terrible friend and a terrible boyfriend.  I couldn’t get invested in the romance, but I would absolutely watch Evie’s show!

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This book is available in the Sassy Seven bundle: Goodreads | Amazon | BN | Kobo