The Wrong Kind of Weird by James Ramos - OPTIONAL

The Wrong Kind of Weird by James Ramos,  320 pages. Inkyard Press, 2023.  $19.

Language:  R   (100+ swears, 67 “f”); Mature Content: PG-13 (teenage sexuality e.g. frequent make out sessions, heavy petting, references to losing virginity throughout, several drug references); Violence: PG (one minor physical conflict at school);

BUYING ADVISORY: HS - OPTIONAL

AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE

Cameron is a bicultural senior (mom is latina, father is black), who has a small group of geek friends in Minneapolis, Minnesota. They even have a club (GANU - Geeks And Nerds Unite) where they watch anime, design cosplays, and celebrate that #geeklife. However, when one of the most popular girls in school starts working with Cameron, he tries to break down the rigid clique system at his school to make their relationship more acceptable to their different friend groups. However, Cameron's complicated web of half-told truths and posturing catches up with him and falls to pieces around him. Can Cameron figure out who he really is and what he really wants?

This was not my favorite contemporary YA rom-com that I’ve ever read. I had a hard time getting into it and the storyline kept jumping back and forth, from the summer when Cameron and Karla first met to the current school year, without a lot of rhyme or reason. Add to that, there was a LOT of language throughout the book. The one thing I liked about it was the celebration of multicultural students in geek culture. It shouldn’t be that revolutionary, but it was nice to see someone other than sickly white boys being the nerds.

Reviewer: Kiera Beddes, #bookswithbeddes