Back in July, I began reading the series Geek Actually. I last left the story where Aditi and Michelle were mulling over a poor working relationship, Christina was in a precarious work/love relationship, Taneesha fended off doxers, and Elli considered whether she’d found her calling. For this review, I’m summarizing episodes nine through thirteen, which is the rest of this season.

In these five episodes, we see the tensions that were stirred up at the beginning of the series become the main issues characters deal with. For Aditi and Michelle, this means struggling to balance their friendship and working relationship. Aditi, as an author, tries to follow her muse and use her voice but does so without regard to the position this puts Michelle in as her editor. Michelle supports her friend’s vocal writings when confronted by her boss but also comes off cold to Aditi when critiquing her work.

Elli revels in the good working relationship with her boss Ruby, who has helped her to identify her tendency to envision a fairytale life instead of dealing with the world around her. This realization also helps Elli to understand her asexual identity. Unfortunately, this good relationship comes to a halt when something tragic happens to Ruby.

Taneesha and Christina are exploring new relationships but Christina’s mix of business and pleasure takes a wrong turn as Vivi continues to put her in uncomfortable situations, which Christina never completely calls her on. The whole relationship turns when Vivi puts Christina in a dangerous sexual environment. Taneesha, on the other hand, is happy to explore a new relationship with Diego, until he weighs in on her doxing and work issues. After having a “your faves are problematic” talk with her brother and Diego receiving eye-opening information from the women in his family, the two give their relationship another shot.

The plot thickens when Elli, after weeks of being M.I.A., shares her sexual assault with her friends. Despite the different issues weighing on each woman, they all rally to Elli’s side and help her get to a better place. Returning home after her trip to support Elli, Taneesha is ready to confront Steve, her co-worker and the figurehead behind her doxing issues. This confrontation takes place about an hour before their job doles out their judgment and resolves the greater antagonization that Taneesha has faced. In the last pages of the final episode, Michelle confronts her boss, a white woman, about her desire to placate a sexist, white male, best-selling author by deflecting from Aditi’s work. Michelle asks her boss to avoid telling Aditi to change her writing so that it “broadens her audience,” which they all know to means “appeal to white people/whitewash the story.” She stakes her job on this strategy and her boss takes her up on it.

I enjoyed my overall experience of reading another serialized series, especially one that focuses on the professional and personal travails of a group of progressive and self-actualized women of color. I was most inspired by the group’s commitment to friendship, especially when one member of the group was in an awful place. The fact that they made sure to check in with each other regularly makes them, as the final episode of the series is very accurately titled, Squad Goals. I look forward to reading the next installment (or season) of this series.

I love this series! It's my comfort reading for when I'm travelling: the short length makes me feel like I can get stuck into a story even if I don't have much time, the chattiness is comforting, and it's an easy (though not dumb) read.

The characters, from my favourite to least favourite:

Michelle, a book editor who's just getting into BDSM after a divorce. She feels real to me, and deals with her problems like an adult. She gets into difficult situations through no fault of her own, and while often her hands are tied (no pun intended) and things don't go as she wants them to, she's not a pushover.
Taneesha, who works as a games company and ends up dealing with all kinds of Male Bullshit including getting doxed. I don't usually like descriptions of characters' clothing and hairstyles, but she's a badass black woman and I liked when she got dolled up.
Aditi, an author whose debut novel is about to be published. I thought I'd identify with Aditi most as she's a writer, but she frustrated me. She's such a brat, and whines whenever Michelle (her editor) asks her how her second novel is going because whhhhhyyyy should she have to write? (Because you're a writer, bitch. Get it done.)
Christina, a PA to a Hollywood movie star. She doesn't feel real to me, and neither does her boss/lover, Vivi.
Elli, a cosplayer. If I didn't know better, I'd think Elli was 12 years old. I couldn't relate to her at all and found her childish and annoying.

The books are a nice mix of all the characters, and towards the end I feel like they focused more on Michelle and Taneesha, which suited me because they were the best characters. I hope there's a season 2.

Reading Episode 11 makes me feel kind of sad as it means that I only have two more episodes left and then the Serial of Geek Actually is over, and I have been enjoying it. In Episode #11 it focuses on the issue of finding yourself and who you are which includes going back to your roots and discovering what made you happy in the first place. More often than not, this can also force you to make some decisions which you know will be difficult but in the end, work out to be the best outcome. We have Taneesha and Diego's story continuing as we know they had a standstill in their what could be called a relationship in Episode #10. In Episode #11 Diego shows his nice guy side to Taneesha as he did go away and think about what she said. In the past ten episodes, we have seen Aditi and Michelle's friendship waver as Michelle is her friend but also her editor to a book Aditi has been digging her heels into not writing. Aditi realizes that she needs a new editor and requests a new one, but will Michelle take it personally as a betrayal or will she realize it is the best option to keep their friendship in tact? Aditi also finally called it off with Cuddlebug, as she realizes her friendship/ arranged marriage with Devi has been slipping. Is Christina and Vivi's relationship ready to be taken to the next level, especially when Vivi starts to show signs of jealousy when Taneesha calls Christina? I hope in the next book that we read more of Elli's story as I want her friends to be there to help her especially since she hasn't told them about Ruby's death yet. This serial needs to be read in order and fans of Geek Chic Lit will enjoy the quick read.

It’s Not Me, It’s You
Geek Actually, Book 1.11

I Picked Up This Book Because: Continuing the series


The Characters:

Aditi Sodhi, Christina Webber, Elli Kelman, Michelle Andrada, Taneesha Adams:


The Story:

Because I didn’t write this when I finished the story and my memory sucks I can’t remember what happened here. I know I’m pleased with the Diego/Taneesha situation and I’m 100% behind Aditi’s decision concerning Michelle. Working with friends can kill a friendship.

The Random Thoughts:



The Score Card:

Score card thwarted by part time job computer

4 Stars

I continue to want to like these books and in part, I do. Mostly because some parts are entertaining but it feels like I have to read pages and pages of boring side characters to get to something I enjoy. The grammar and writing style is nice but the characters feel a little lost to me. In the sense that there are so many not one of them really stands out.

I'm kind of running out things to say in these reviews because for the most part they're all the same. This was a pretty decent episode, I feel like things are starting to wrap up as we head towards the end of season one so I'm happy about that. My biggest problem with the serial style is that there's absolutely no closure between parts so I've been struggling with this series a lot, even the parts I actually like. I'm still not sure how I feel about the whole Diego thing in this particular episode but I guess it's a good message, even though I personally would not be able to be around him again.

Once again, this serial box exceeded my expectations with its insight about intersectional feminism while delving into the depths of supportive friendships in an engaging manner!