I made it about 50% through the book and gave up. I had a hard time with the way the author structured time in the book. Flashbacks interwoven with present time always mess with me and don't read right. I also really did not care about any of the characters so I decided to stop reading. I will not be providing a public review since the book was just not for me.

This story, while it seemed very appealing, just did not draw me into it. I was unable to connect with the storyline and the characters.

Thanks to Netgalley and Inkyard Press for the ARC of this!

Cute, funny story about an outsider and a queen bee having a secret relationship, him meeting another nerd and starting to fall for her, and the kind of drama you’d expect from secret relationships and love triangles. It wasn’t ground-breaking but it was fun to read and I enjoyed it. I definitely liked seeing all the friendships in the background and how social dynamics came into play.

Recommended: sure
for a sweet story of figuring out what's right for you, for healthy and balanced looks at teen / first-time sexuality, for really lovely friendships that are important as well

Thoughts

What stands out to me most in this book is that there's a boy who is hesitant about having sex because he's unsure he's emotionally ready for it, and a girl who enjoys sex and appreciates a partner who ensures she's satisfied and taken care of as well. Both of these are SO IMPORTANT AND HEALTHY! I feel like these are almost complete opposites of the usual tropes, where boys are portrayed as having no emotional involvement in sex and just want sex with anyone anytime, and women are not enjoying it (or at least not supposed to talk about enjoying it) and not empowered to do anything to change that.

And look, sex is a driving plot point in a way, but it was about so much more than that. It's the kind of story that I read now as an adult and think "man this would've been great to have as a teenager." It would've been comforting to read about characters who assuaged some of the common questions. Anyway.

There's not quite a love triangle in this, but it's definitely a bit of a "who do I choose" storyline. Where it shines in that is ensuring no one is made out to be a villain for no real reason. It's not like one person is manipulating another; it's just a matter of being young and trying to figure out what you truly need and want when hormones are wreaking havoc on your brain at the same time.

Everyone was portrayed as a multifaceted person and had something shown about them to admire and love and empathize with. The friendships were key in this all through it and I love me a romance (or any story) where relationships with friends are not pushed to the wayside due to a romantic relationship. They are wonderful as well!

So overall, this was a sweet read with a fairly predictable plot and genuinely likable characters. They do make some stupid choices (see: human, teenager) but they also learn to own up to them and grow from them. The healthy portrayals of sex are something I'm always a fan of, and robust friendships that last and matte are icing on the cake!

Thanks to NetGalley and Inkyard Press for a free advanced copy. This is my honest review.

The following review will be posted on my blog, Thursday, December 29th, 5 days before publication. It will be shared on Twitter and Instagram between that day and the day of publication, and has already been posted on Goodreads. The blog post includes links to order the books and to its Goodreads page, so readers can add it to their to-be-read books.







Genre: Young Adult
Actual Rating: 3 stars
Spicy Meter: 1 fire emoji
Content Warnings: Has some bullying and miscommunication.

“The Wrong Kind of Weird” follows Cameron Carson, a self-proclaimed geek, as he travels through the ins and outs of love in high school. Cameron is secretly hooking up with Karla Ortega, who’s by all definitions popular, but she isn’t the best at showing him appreciation when they’re around people. So it’s really weird for Cameron when Mackenzie Briggs, a nice and funny girl, becomes his friend and isn’t afraid of other people knowing.

I think my enjoyment—or lack thereof—when it came to this book was completely my fault. I just never really connected with the main character. I don’t think it’s because he’s male, because I’ve loved narrators of all genders, but there was definitely something that was keeping me from connecting. Maybe I’m not as ‘Young Adult’ as I think I am.

One thing I did like, though, was how, slowly, Cameron began understanding his worth—and Mackenzie’s worth as well. “The Wrong Kind of Weird” is definitely a coming-of-age story and, although I expected more romance sprinkled in it, I truly loved all the characters as a concept. What I didn’t enjoy as much were the dialogues and the way Cameron narrated. I’m not sure how to explain it, it’s like I was rooting for the characters but just didn’t want to listen to them speak or think.

Anyways, I would definitely recommend this book to a younger audience. This would be a phenomenal gift for any young reader that’s just now learning how to fit into their crowd by being themselves. I’m just not sure if I would recommend it to anyone 25+.

If you click here, you’ll be redirected to Goodreads, so you can add the book to your TBR list.

Or you could click here, and be redirected to Amazon, so you can order the book.

ARC provided by NetGalley and Inkyard Press in exchange for an honest review.

Publication Date: January 3, 2023

If you sat with all the nerds in your high school cafeteria, this book is definitely for you. It’s a sweet and funny love letter to to geeks and nerds (especially the anime ones!) about being true to yourself.

Cam hadn’t expected senior year to have so many changes. Mackenzie, who’s new to both the school and the Geek and Nerds United club, spends most of her time dissing him. The fact that she’s the sister to one of the biggest (ex-) jocks in the school doesn’t make him less suspicious. Or maybe that’s because he’s been secretly hooking up with that ex-jock’s ex-girlfriend. Things may have changed between Cam and Karla while working together last summer, but once school starts she’s back to being the student council president and queen bee of The Caravan, the coolest kids in the school. GANU and The Caravan don’t mix, and since the rest of GANU (his best friends Jocelyn and D’Anthony) hate their guts, he can’t even confide in them. As the school year goes on, can Cam find a way to bridge the two worlds?

Cam is delightful! He’s a huge anime fan, the kind who, when he runs into a new situation, applies lessons from Dragon Ball Z. While I was only a casual watcher of DBZ at best, his reliance on Goku as a guide for his behavior was both hilarious and endearing. And let’s be honest, the amount of sympathetic cringing I did at his awkwardness was 100% because I was also That Person in high school.

“This is why Goku will always be my hero,” Mackenzie said as we watched. “This. Despite how carefree or airheaded or just plain stupid he can be, at the end of the day and when push comes to shove, this is who he is, and this is what he fights for. Hands down one of my favorite moments in the entire series. That’s why no other anime character comes close to comparing to Goku.”


While all of Cam’s friends were well-rounded characters, it’s the evolution of Mackenzie and Cam’s relationship that steals the show. While they start out sniping constantly at each other, repeated contact (including a scene where he’s bewildered that he’s enjoying playing Mario Kart with his frenemy) leads to a sort of cease-fire. And from there it’s a short jump to seeing how much they have in common. It’s easy to see where this is going, right?

Cam and Karla’s relationship is the obvious counterpoint. While it would’ve been easy to write Karla as nothing more than a villain who’s cruelly using Cam to get back at her ex, that’s not the path the author takes. What happens is instead a much more nuanced take on high school cliques and how people change. I wasn’t expecting her to be a sympathetic character, but she was.

I also particularly loved the skillful way the book handled consent. In this case, it’s the girl who’s interested in going further, but she respects the guy’s need for more time. That, combined with the Cam’s empathy and the book’s sympathetic choices, make this an enjoyably gentle read. The way Cam is written was wonderful, especially the often humorous way Cam’s thoughts were portrayed. Even in the depths of the most tenuous comparisons (a guy crying over the end of a relationship vs a dying guy begging Goku to avenge them) it never felt like we were laughing at Cam. For this old person, it felt like more of an invitation to remember how end-of-the-world things felt as a teen and how, without the life experience to rely on, media – anime in Cam’s case, books in mine – becomes the way people process the world.

“There’s more to it than that, isn’t there? I mean, there’s a whole class system between them, too. Everything about how their world is set up says they can’t be together. But they make it work, in the end.”


What knocked off half a star for me, though, was that it’s a bit heavy-handed with the parallels. In order to spend more time with Karla and get an in with her crowd, Cam gets the assignment to write about the nitty gritty of the school play. Of course it’s Pride and Prejudice, and of course he initially thinks it’s dry, boring and of course completely void of any sort of lessons that could be applied to, oh, high school life today. There’s a particularly hilarious moment where Cam’s sister (a true P&P aficionado) explains the Hand Flex in detail that I simply loved, but some of the rest of it didn’t work as well for me. Look, I love a good Austen callback as much as anyone else, but the similarities between P&P and Cam’s situation were hammered into our (and Cam’s) face so many times that I lost count. Maybe it’s because I’m old, but hey, give the reader (and Cam) some credit! To me, though, this felt more like a debut writer bobble (while this is the author’s second book I could find, it’s their first that’s tradpub)

Overall, a solid 3.5 stars. While some things didn’t work for me, it still skillfully evoked my geeky high school years. I’ll definitely be looking forward to this author’s next book!

I received an advance review copy of this book from NetGalley. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Thank you NetGalley for this copy of the wrong kind of weird! It is one of the 2023 releases I was very interested in ready so im so happy I got the chance to read early!

I was initially interested in the story from the love triangle and the coming from two different worlds tropes aka some of my faves! Cameron trying to pick between being part of the cool kids (the caravan) or stay true to his nerdyness with GANU is a struggle that’s relatable in high school. Wanting to be apart of something you think will make you happy while still enjoying what you love.

The GANU friendship was top notch. Accepting Mackenzie (kinda) into the group added a little spice to the friend group. I did find it a little confusing that Lucas wanted to be friends with Cam out of no where? But it did provide him the perfect excuse to hang out with Mackenzie.

On the other side of the triangle was Karla. Now I get it, she’s the pretty and popular girl but I never felt any connection with her and Cam besides the fact that he wanted to hook up with her. She wanted a project, which had me wanting to shake Cam to realize she wasn’t treating him right!

I enjoyed seeing Cameron work his way into the cool kids group thru the school play. It felt organic and the friendships he made while doing that felt true to him. The side character relationship that was rev related (no spoilers here!) was cute and adorable. I hope D’Anthony got his own love story too!

Overall, I enjoyed my time reading this book! While the love triangle wasn’t the most compelling to me, I did enjoy the strong friendship group! I will keep this author on my radar for future releases!

This book felt like it would make a good movie….a teenage rom-com movie that is cheesy but fun. (And honestly this might be the exception that proves the rule that the book is always better than the movie). I thought the story was cute, but it wasn’t ground breaking and felt pretty typical to the movie tropes that exist for high school movies. The main dorky character is having a hidden physical relationship with one of the most popular girls and while he tries to figure out how to bring that relationship out of the shadows the perfect for him geeky girl appears leaving him endlessly confused. I did like the queer representation (with side characters). I also loved the level of geeking out the author did even if Anime is not my particular geek cup of tea, the passion was fun. I also liked the play and the comparisons between the play and the story in this book. I gave it 3.5 stars which I rounded down because I thought there was potential not quite reached. That being said this book is a quick read and I had fun reading it.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4889681083

Let me start this review out by saying O.M.G.

This was so much better than I could have hoped for!
Secret lovers between the Nerd and the popular girl? Check!
Humourous? Check!
Amazingly relatable characters? CHECK!
Love triangle? CHECK!
I couldn't put this book down! I fell in love with every character, I enjoyed every moment I had with this read and will be recommending it to everyone!!! This is one that you won't want to miss out on!

If you enjoy Becky Albertalli's Simon vs. The Homosapiens, YOU HAVE TO READ THIS ONE!

Thank you to NetGalley, the author James Ramos & the publisher for letting me read this book early. This may contain some minor spoilers.

Off the bat this book started out hilarious. The descriptions of the school building layout was funny!

This book does have random flash backs that are helpful but at random times so the flow can sometimes be a little bit awkward. I think we need at the start of the chapter for a flash back for it to say flashback.

This book is a love triangle where our main character Cam is kind of seeing Karla, our resident popular girl who can’t speak to him in public, and Mackenzie, the bullies twin sister & fellow nerd.

In the beginning Karla propositions Cam to losing their virginities together. Cam is truly a pretty respectable guy & is genuinely a nice nerdy guy. Her friend group is the popular kids in school who hate on the nerds who love StarTrek & manga. She can’t get passed the hierarchy in school to date someone that might be a little nerdy that her friends who make fun of her for.

Mackenzie in my opinion is the obvious choice because she is just straightforward with who she is. She isn’t hiding or pretending about her life like Karla is which should be the route you’d want in a partner. Someone who isn’t ashamed of who you are & if you are a little weird.

During this book we get to hear a lot about different anime & it was fun to learn because I know nothing.

Also the ending was totally unexpected! I definitely enjoyed this book & I would love if a sequel was written picking up where we left off & going to college.

If you are in the mood for a YA highschool book then this is the perfect one. Thank you again for the opportunity to read this early.

The Wrong Kind of Weird
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Genre: Romance
Format: Kindle eBook
Date Published: 1/3/23
Author: James Ramos
Publisher: Inkyard Press
Pages: 320
GR: 3.99

I requested a digital advanced readers copy from NetGalley and Inkyard Press and providing my opinion voluntarily and unbiased.

My Thoughts: If you love anime, you will love this book. It’s funny, sarcastic, crisp, and energetic. The story is narrated in first person POV by Cameron, it was nice to see it from a guy’s perspective. This is just a lighthearted fun read. Ramos tackles some important topics in this book, much more than a high school romance, such as sex, consent, and the high school social order (probably the most important thing to a teen). I literally laughed out loud many times. I loved the developing friendships and the romance was spot on. The characters were very well developed, with depth, witty banter, chemistry, and emotion. The diversity in the characters was brilliant and enjoyable. The author’s writing style was complex, yet crisp, intriguing, humorous, and engaging. The author did a fantastic job at delivering a plot that was realistic and I could absolutely imagine happening. While this is geared towards a younger audience, I was able to relate to the characters and enjoy reading, so this book could be enjoyed by any audience. This book publishes next month and I would recommend picking up.

The quick cut: A self professed high school geek who has been in a secret summer fling with the popular girl feels torn when she won't even acknowledge him in public. Chaos ensues when another girl gets his attention.

A real review:
Thank you to Inkyard Press for providing the arc for an honest review.

While the romantic cliche is that opposites attract, the truth is that it's a rarity in high school. It's the time in life when people are just coming into their own, with their hormones on high and wanting a place to belong. With Cameron wanting to forge a real connection to popular girl Kayla, will he find a way to be with her or get disappointed instead?

Cameron has a very big secret going into his senior year of high school: he has been in a summer fling with popular girl, Kayla. Being that he's a member of multicultural Geeks and Nerds United (G.A.N.U.) club, this makes their connection one that she wants no one to know about. While he keeps trying to find a way to be closer to her friend group, she keeps trying to keep their connection a secret. In comes Mackenzie: the newest GANU member who has no problem being herself. Is Kayla worth it or will Cameron forge a path ahead with Mackenzie instead?

I think the description for this book is a great book concept because it's something that anyone in that age range can relate to. Being in cliques can make it hard to make new relationships with people different than your own. Finding ways to be yourself can be hard when you just want to fit in and the standard high school society is working against you.

That being said, I found myself increasingly hating the lead characters in this book. The author tried to make Cameron nerdy and attractive in an unconventional way, but he came off as an overly woke jerk to me. He kept finding ways to point out how he's more enlightened when it comes to sexism and in the process making himself awful.

Meanwhile, Kayla is a typical popular girl who is used to getting what she wants without question. While Cameron tries to build a stronger bond to her, she refuses to change at all and doesn't want anyone else in her life to know. The only person I really liked was Mackenzie and I thought she was too good for Cameron unequivocally.

A romantic contemporary story lacking likeable characters.

My rating: 3.5 out of 5

Super cute and realistic! This YA buts you smack dab in the middle of high school with all the drama and cliques and life changing decisions! I’d definitely read more of this author.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book! This reminded me of the teen rom coms i loved in the early 2000s. I really loved Cameron as a character and i loved his personality. He never really felt that awkward to me . I think he believed he was a lot more awkward than he actually was and i loved his dry and sarcastic humor but at the same time he was very observant and considerate. I also wish i was as cool as Mackenzie when i was that age. Mackenzie was so funny and confident and artsy. She never boxed herself in which is why she was not part of any one clique. Karla was the most insecure to me. I will say that i didn't feel much chemistry between Karla and Cameron and sometimes it did frustrate me to see Cameron working so hard to work his way into her circle and Karla made no effort whatsoever to do the same. I will also say that while appreciated how level headed Cameron was through everything he did give me a bit of whiplash in the beginning. At first he seemed resigned to the fact that he needed to end things with Karla and then it suddenly shifted to this plan to win over her friends so they would be able to finally be open about their relationship. I kind of felt like Karla was a coward, for as much as she claimed to really like Cameron and connect with him it still wasn't enough for her to stop caring so much about what everyone thinks.
I also wish we got more Cameron and Mackenzie time together. I loved their banter and the way they were so comfortable around each other. I found myself literally screaming at the page multiple times "DUDE, SHES YOU DREAM GIRLS, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!!!!". I was smiling the entire time when Cameron came to her Art show an they were hanging out with her friends. For Mackenzie to be end game it didn't really feel like we got a lot of time with them. We spent a lot of time with Cameron and Karla, even in flashbacks. Even when she wasn't physically there Cameron was either thinking about her and their relationship or he would get a text from her.

i also really thought that the correlation between Pride and Prejudice and the relationships between Cameron, Mackenzie and Karla was very clever. i couldn't get over how dense Cameron was about who the actual "Elizabeth" was....i could only laugh as i was reading. I also loved the nerdy references and while i didn't understand all of them , i caught a lot more than i thought i would but i appreciated the author taking the time to have the characters explain certain references so that if you are not a "nerd" or anime fan you would not be left confused feeling excluded.

One of favorite parts was Cameron coming to the realization that everyone was weird in their own way and that almost everyone one can be "nerdy" about something they are passionate about. I completely understood the animosity since Cameron and his friends had suffered years of being made fun of for liking the things they do but i loved in his attempt to win over Karla's friend he actually got to now them and made an effort to build a bridge between the two groups when he realized that they might be as different as they think. Also loved D'Anthony and Jocelyn.

The Wrong Kind of Weird is full of nerdy charm! Cameron is a nerd and proud of it it but he has a secret. He's been hooking up with the popular girl all summer. The problem is she won't tell anyone and wants to keep him a secret. Cameron finds himself torn when he starts bonding with his friend Mackenzie. He has to decide who will be his person. The Wrong Kind of Weird is a charming and sweet read!

Thank you to Inkyard Press and NetGalley for allowing me to read an eARC of this novel.

Cameron is a high school senior, looking forward to his future as a journalist and hanging out with his friends, who form the GANU (Geeks and Nerds United) club at their high school. But he's got something that he's been hiding from his friends - since the summer, he's secretly been hooking up with popular girl Karla since she started working at the same coffee house he works at. Having decided to try to ingratiate himself with the popular crowd in order to get his "relationship" to go public, Cam has to deal with the pull of being himself with people who know him or to try to change his interests in order to fit in.

Heavy on the Anime and geek references, The Wrong Kind of Weird by James Ramos was kind of a fun read. His characterization was very good, as is his depiction of the struggle to try to fit in during high school. The one criticism I have (and it might have been on purpose), is that the narration switches around in time between chapters, and it could be a little hard at first to figure out if the action was taking place in the present or the past.

There's a tie in to Pride and Prejudice, which I enjoyed - I thought the novel was fun and an entertaining book to read.

I got as far as Geeks and Nerds United (GANU) club before requesting this book on NetGalley. That’s all I needed to know.

High school senior Cameron makes better than average grades, works part time as a barrista, trades snarky comments with his sister, and has a deep, abiding love of Dragonball Z. His social circle isn’t wide, and that’s just fine with him. He shares many common interests with his two (sometimes three) friends in the GANU club. The usual crowd populates his school – cheerleaders, athletes, theater group, band geeks, etc. What no one knows, not even his closest friends, is that he’s been secretly seeing popular crowd member Karla for several months. Their summer fling carried over into the school year, and Cam is hoping to find a way to fit into her crowd and be accepted by her friends. As a reporter for the school newspaper, his new assignment is to cover the play, Pride and Prejudice. With Karla and her friends involved in it, Cam thinks it’s the perfect opportunity. The problem is that he can’t stop thinking about Mackenzie, the sometimes member of GANU and his sort-of friend.

This is a light, humorous read that I sped through in a little over a day. It’s built on themes of self-acceptance, acceptance of others, strong friendships, forgiveness, and looking outside of your own little world. Pride and Prejudice is my favorite Austen novel, so I loved all the references to Elizabeth and Darcy. Cam’s sister attempting to explain the emotions Darcy’s “weird flex thing with his hand” conveyed in the movie is a favorite scene and had me chuckling. Cam’s devotion to Dragonball Z is understandable, but I admit to skimming several extensively detailed passages about it.

A sweet romance, awkward moments, charming, diverse characters, worlds colliding, and ride-or-die friendships make this an enjoyable read sure to appeal to fans of anime and Pride and Prejudice alike.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

High School Status Quo's fighting against a Pride and Prejudice vibe.

There was so much to love about Cam when we meet him. He's the nerdy kid who loves all things nerd, but he's also totally aware of the disadvantage of being a woman and how irritating guys can be to girls and women because they think they're superior. His friends don't care about popularity, only being true to themselves. Yet Cam wants to be more, he wants to experience a bit of the popularity.

There was so much that was just detail and background info at the beginning. I loved getting to know about Cam and his friends, but there was also nothing happening toward the description of the book.. The Pride and Prejudice correlation was actually really fun to read about and watch them go through.

However, A lot of the action was in the last 20% of the book, which was kind of disappointing for me. The themes of the book were excellently done and well handled. I think it perfectly relates to all people in wanting to be a part of a different crowd event if you were in the popular crowd. I also think that secretly longing for someone like Cam did hits home for a lot of teens because you sometimes won't pursue something because you're afraid to go for it.

I loved how much nerd was a part of this book. Even if you're not into that kind of neediness you won't be left out or feel like the references don't land because they were explained to the reader and not in a mansplaining or annoying way. Which was very similar to how Cam was aware of sexism, feminism, and how a lot of things he liked had hints of Racism and that wasn't okay. One other downfall was that the ending felt like it was somewhat rushed and not completely resolved, but it was resolved I just wanted to know more.

The story line, theme, and characters really made this for me and I can't wait to get my hands on a physical copy of this. Thanks NetGalley and Inkyard Press for my copy in return for an honest review.

Senior high schooler Cameron is a member of the Geeks And Nerds United (G.A.N.U) club whose focus is on anything manga and anime related. Together with his other nerd buddies and classmates D’Anthony, Mackenzie, and Jocelyn, G.A.N.U is their go to social club — a safe place for them to be what they want to be without being ridiculed as weird.

On the other end of the spectrum, there is a group of seniors known as the Caravan — a group consisting of the most popular kids on campus, whose social and economic status border on elite. It so happens Cameron’s crush, Karla is a part of that group. Not wanting rumors and whispers, Karla and Cameron conduct secret liaisons, hiding their attraction to each other from the public eye. But is this how a relationship (if any) is supposed to be?

The Wrong Kind of Weird is a humorous, light and highly entertaining novel. Although geared toward the Teen and Young Adult crowd, I still found the novel to be very enjoyable.

The story unfolds from a first person’s point of view. In this case, it happens to be Cameron which was a nice change to have a guy’s perspective rather than a girl’s perspective.

Character development is excellent. Author Ramos has managed to capture the diverse flavors of the main characters. It was as though he was describing his own classmates and the issues they all faced.

The plot is realistic and relatable enough as I’m sure at one point or another, we each have faced that nerd vs cool kids situation in our own lives. And we have probably gone through that awkwardness of concealing friendships and love interests with the “enemy.”

Though I found The Wrong Kind of Weird to be fun and entertaining, I did feel that the continual manga and anime references were a little over the top. Four and a half solid stars rounded up.

I received a digital ARC from Inkyard Press through NetGalley as well as a physical book through Bookish First. The review herein is completely my own and contains my honest thoughts and opinions.

Wow, what a well-balanced story! The blend of nerd culture, chunky coming-of-age quandaries, healthy dialog from kids about consent and gender roles, the list could go on. The characters had real depth, I loved following along Cameron's moral journey of figuring out how to stay true to himself and what that meant for him and his friends. What an enjoyable read! Very excited to see what James Ramos does next.