The Wrong Kind of Weird by James Ramos (Review by Stephanie Rowitz)

Rating: 3/5

The Wrong Kind of Weird is an engrossing YA novel about high school senior Cameron, and his friends in the Geeks and Nerds United (GANU) club. Cameron is a die-hard geek, who has somehow won the attention of the most popular girl in school, Karla. They keep their relationship a secret because it’s high school. Someone from the popular group wouldn’t be caught dead with someone from the nerd group and vice versa. So, Cameron tries to improve his image to become someone Karla could stand to be around in public, but the more he morphs into what she wants, the less he recognizes himself.

We also see Cameron navigate a growing relationship with Mackenzie, a fellow GANU member who, like Cameron, is also into anime and video games. Cameron thinks he wants to be with Karla, but he can’t deny his growing feelings for Mackenzie, who seems to accept him just as he is. It’s the classic real girl vs. dream girl dichotomy.

This book will take you back to high school, with all of the intensity of first loves, hormones, and figuring out who your real friends are. The good part is that you get to be just a visitor in Cameron’s world. While you may feel all the painful bits right along with him, you will walk away feeling satisfied and think that Cameron is probably a lot smarter than the rest of us were in high school.

I wasn’t sure if I was going to like this book. After all, who wants to relive their high school experiences as an adult? However, this book was delightful. I wasn’t a nerd in high school, but I struggled with fitting in and finding my people. So whether Cameron’s experience mirrors your own, or you can just relate to it here and there, it will definitely speak to you on some level. Thankfully, there’s no other time in life like high school, but maybe it’s not such a bad thing to revisit some of those feelings every now and then through a book like this one.