Geek Girl: Head Over Heels

Title: Head Over Heels (Geek Girl #5) 
Author: Holly Smale
Genre: YA
Rating: 5/5
Cover: 6/10

Head Over Heels follows self-assumed geek girl, Harriet Manners, and her newly-acquired clique. After the disastrous happening of All That Glitters (Geek Girl #4), Harriet has decided to take a break from modelling, and just stick to what she does best: studying.

Of course, the fashion world stops for no one, and when Wilbur calls her asking to join his new modelling agency, Harriet finds herself agreeing to help her friend. As she later finds out, she is Wilbur’s only client, and quite literally the only thing standing between her friend and the end of his career.

Smale has always shown a great ability to create a character who is both quirky and unique, while also being uniquely relatable. And for her audience of young tweens and teens, it is vital to have role models such as Harriet Manners in their lives; Harriet tells them that being different is okay, that being clever doesn’t mean you have to be socially awkward or ugly — and that, no matter who you are, and how you relate to the world, there are people out there who see the world in the same way as you, and will be happy to spend time with you, no matter what others might say.

I think to me, however, the biggest gift of these books is always seeing Harriet discover a new and empowering truth about herself; last one was that her happiness wasn’t dependant on a boy, no matter how cute. In Head Over Heels, it was Harriet’s approach to modelling. While so far she’d been able to skate her way through with minimal effort to the actual job she was doing, Head Over Heels finds Harriet having to take it seriously in order to help Wilbur. That felt like such a huge turning point in her character development, and a step towards maturity; she’s learning to take responsibility for her choices and her actions, learning that modelling is an actual job that takes work and preparation and involves more than just showing up and hoping for the best.

What I liked the most about Harriet, from the very first novel, was how unapologetic she was about being herself, and it’s always an absolute pleasure to see this theme continue throughout the novels — Harriet is a geek girl, and very proud of it.

Overall, yet another great coming of age novel by Smale, and one in a series that I hope young girls everywhere will take heart; we need more Harriet Manners in the world.