On one of my weekly trips to the comic shop, I noticed a copy of The Secret Loves of Geek Girls. A quick glance at the list of contributors and I knew I had to bring it home. Click below for more.

The Secret Loves of Geek Girls  described as “…a celebration of the stories we tell each other but never make public —until now. This non-fiction anthology of text stories and comics features stunning work from an amazing cast of female creators negotiating their way through love, dating, and sex. ”

What makes the book so interesting is that is such a wide variety to the types of romantic stories included. It’s not just they typical, boy meets girl they end up living happily ever after stuff of fairy tales that mass media is constantly trying to force feed us. There are tales of, homosexual love, asexual love, a myriad of different labels of sexuality included. More importantly it’s not just happy endings here. Sure you get a few, such as Megan Lavey-Heaton’s “How Fanfic from an American Girl Captured an English Boy”, but there are also tales of heart ache like, “None the Wiser” by Diana Nock, of a girl who thinks by going on an already planned trip to comic con, with her boyfriend who has just dumped her, she can make him see how much he loves her and take her back.

The stories we are told are real, and real life isn’t a fairy tale. The road of life, is full of twists and turns, wrong ways and dead ends. every step you take leads you on a journey to become who you will ultimately be. So clearly, there’s no fun in finding your happy ending first hike out. Although, there is nothing wrong if you do.

Over all impression: I find it to be very brave of the woman who have contributed and put themselves out there so fully. Telling personal tales is a lot more raw/revealing than writing a story. Sure, most great stories have some biases in reality, but with fiction, you are gifted the option plausible deniability. This book truly is  an interesting and heartfelt read. One I would definitely recommend checking out.

-EM

Have you read The Secret Loves of Geek Girls? What did you think? Got any recommendations on what Em should read next? Hit up the comments and let us know.