A review by bernadettebloom
The Wrong Kind of Weird by James Ramos

4.0

Cameron Carson is a nerd. In fact, he is a member of the Geeks and Nerds United (GANU) club, and loves all things anime. After spending the summer working at his coffee shop job with Karla Ortega, the student council president, cheerleader, and popular girl, they begin "dating". Except when school starts again for their senior year Karla pretty much pretends Cameron doesn't exist. She can't be seen with a nerd, and he becomes her little secret. But when Cameron meets Mackenzie, he realizes that it's okay to be who you are, talk about the things you love, and not apologize for them. And that's when Mackenzie starts to look very attractive to Cameron...

What I loved about this book: 1) fitting in at high school is hard, and finding your niche is so important. Cameron's actual friends are top notch. 2) Friendships > hook ups. 3) No one is any one thing, everyone is multifaceted and suppressing parts of yourself to fit in only hurts you. 4) High school is the jumping off point for the next chapter in a young adult's life and not the deciding factor of who/what you are. 5) The ending! It was a great, mature, positive stance to take for two young people.

All the anime summaries really slowed the story for me. Retelling an anime plot over and over to describe a character trait got old.

Thank you, NetGalley, for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.