The Princess and the Fangirl

The Princess and the Fangirl is Ashley Poston's 2019 second instalment in the Once Upon a Con series, published by Quirk Books and set roughly a year after the events of Geekerella, returning to ExcelsiCon and the wider Starfield fandom with an entirely new pair of leads.

Imogen Lovelace lives for Starfield, and she's currently waging the fight of her fangirl life: a campaign to save Princess Amara, her favourite character, from being unceremoniously killed off in the franchise's upcoming sequel. The problem is the actress behind Amara couldn't want the opposite more. Jessica Stone is desperate to leave the role, and the fandom's relentless scrutiny, behind for good - this convention, if she has anything to do with it, will be her last. When a case of mistaken identity throws the two startlingly similar-looking girls together at ExcelsiCon, they don't exactly hit it off. But when the script for the Starfield sequel leaks, with all evidence pointing squarely at Jess, the two find themselves with one option left: trade places, and find out who's really responsible before the con ends.

What makes this Hidden Identity premise work so well as a loose Prince and the Pauper retelling is how much genuine friction it generates between two girls who initially can't stand each other. Stepping into the other's life - Imogen suddenly fielding press and fan demands she's never had to manage, Jess discovering what it actually feels like to walk a convention floor unrecognised - forces both of them to confront assumptions about fame, fandom, and each other that neither expected to have challenged. It's a structurally clever device for a book that's ultimately less interested in the mystery of who leaked the script than in what the swap reveals about both girls to themselves.

That Exploration of Identity and Belonging is the real engine of the book. Imogen's certainty about who she is and what she wants gets quietly tested once she's forced to live, even briefly, as someone else; Jess's guardedness softens as she discovers a version of herself that exists outside the role that's defined her for years. Both arrive at real Found Confidence by the end, and the Found Family that surrounds them - Imogen's two mums and her brother Milo, the wider fandom community itself - gives the book the same warmth that made its predecessor a favourite.

Poston's commitment to Diverse Representation is especially notable here: the book includes an f/f romance handled with genuine care, and Jess's characterisation carries clear ace-spectrum signalling that resonated strongly with readers looking for exactly that kind of representation. The Opposites Attract dynamic between Imogen's open enthusiasm and Jess's guarded reserve drives both the central friendship and the romances that grow out of the swap, all carried along by the same Witty Banter & Sharp Dialogue and fandom-fluent humour that made Geekerella so beloved.

This is a lighter, faster read than its predecessor - the whole story unfolds across a single convention weekend - but it carries real emotional weight underneath its fluffy surface, particularly in its handling of fame's costs and the genuine power of fandom community. For readers who loved Geekerella, returning to ExcelsiCon through Imogen and Jess's eyes is a thoroughly satisfying Coming of Age companion piece.