Once Upon A Con

Classic fairy tales reimagined through the lens of sci-fi fandom, cosplay, and convention culture in this warm, witty YA romance series.

For readers who've ever counted down the days to a convention or fallen head over heels for someone they only know through a screen, Once Upon a Con by Ashley Poston is the trilogy that gets it. Published between 2017 and 2020, this YA romance series takes three beloved fairy tales - Cinderella, The Prince and the Pauper, and Beauty and the Beast - and transplants them straight into the world of fandom, cosplay, and comic conventions, with a healthy dose of geeky charm and genuine heart running through every page.

What makes the trilogy so beloved isn't just the fairy tale framework - it's how lovingly Poston renders fandom itself. The fictional sci-fi show Starfield sits at the centre of the entire series, giving readers a shared universe of in-jokes, beloved characters, and devoted fans that feels instantly familiar to anyone who has ever loved something a little too much.

Books in the Once Upon a Con series

Geekerella (2017) opens the series with a modern Secret Identity twist on Cinderella. Elle Wittimer, a die-hard Starfield fan working a food-truck job and dodging her dreadful stepfamily, enters a cosplay contest in hopes of attending ExcelsiCon. When she starts anonymously texting a number she assumes belongs to a fellow fan, she has no idea she's actually talking to Darien Freeman, the famous actor cast as the convention's biggest draw. It's a romance built almost entirely on Online Identity vs. Real tension, as both fall for each other without knowing who's really on the other end.

The Princess and the Fangirl (2019) flips the dynamic with a Prince and the Pauper-style swap. Imogen Lovelace is an unstoppable fangirl campaigning to save her favourite character from being written out of the franchise, while Jessica Stone, the actress who plays that very character, is desperate to escape the fandom spotlight entirely. When the two discover an uncanny resemblance, they strike a deal to trade places - a setup that delivers the trilogy's sharpest Rivals to Lovers energy as both women get far more than they bargained for.

Bookish and the Beast (2020) closes the trilogy with a Beauty and the Beast retelling grounded in grief and books rather than enchanted castles. Rosie Thorne, who's been quietly holding her late mother's bookshop together, finds herself unexpectedly entangled with Vance Reigns, a moody actor working through a public scandal of his own. It's the most emotionally textured entry in the series, pairing Opposites Attract chemistry with real questions about loss, identity, and what it means to be truly seen.

Beyond the three core novels, Poston added two short companion stories - Once at Midnight and Once an Ever After - giving devoted readers a little extra time with fan-favourite couples between instalments. Across the whole series, the Found Family of recurring side characters, the relentless Pop Culture References, and Poston's gift for witty, fast-paced banter make Once Upon a Con one of the most purely joyful YA romance series in modern fandom fiction - proof that sometimes the best fairy tales happen in cosplay lines and DM inboxes rather than enchanted forests.