DNFed - I chose to DNF this book in the past. I am typing as a review so it doesn’t harm my %. I haven’t chose to pick the title back up.

I can’t believe it took me so long to read this one, as it was practically made for me. A strong debut with a cute and nerdy heart—I’m excited to see how Jenna Miller’s future books progress. My one big negative here is that the teens in this book use millennial slang, so they sound thirty and it took me out of the story. 3.5 stars.

4.75⭐️ i really loved Cass and i wish i had this book as a teenager bc it would’ve been my entire personality lol my favorite parts were having a fat, queer main character and her relationships, both platonic and romantic. I wanted to love the roleplaying parts, and did like them quite a bit, but the inclusion of a niche online community felt shoehorned in, or maybe the rest of the plot was shoved in around the role playing. Either way, that element of Cass’ story was underwhelming to me. I loved Rowan and I was so here for the plot line involving Cass’ mom. Overall i think it was a great book and yeah, 10 years ago me would’ve been screaming about this from the rooftops so im rounding up to 5stars for her

This was a good solid read. I felt like the main character was kind of bratty but her mom leaving was a decent reason to be that way. I did like the relationship that developed with her dad though.

This sounded like it would be a fun story of fandom and friendship, but something about the tone of the voice was off-putting when I started reading. It was definitely a story that has a place, especially with how much fandom and fan fiction has become a part of mainstream culture, but this just didn't end up working for me.

As someone who lived in/lives in the same space Jenna Miller describes, I think there's a lot she gets right about it--you can tell her RP time meant/means a lot to her and I think that's wonderful and so I had to add in an extra star. Personally, I don't know that I loved any of the characters except for Cass's dad and Tate. I didn't love Cass, I didn't love Taylor, I didn't love Rowan, they just all...felt whiny to me. But again I think the parts Jenna Miller gets right, she gets RIGHT, RP drama, people flaking on lines and ships, feeling guilty about missing out on scenes, even not wanting to tell RL people.

There were a lot of different reasons that I liked Out of Character. Between the online world, the romance, family dynamics and body positivity. The book felt very realistic.

I loved the romance in the story. Yes partially because the interactions were adorable but also because of the fact that it felt more real. So hard to explain why without spoiling anything ugh. The fact of the matter is that sometimes our expectations of what our relationships should be don’t live up to reality and I don’t always feel like YA expresses that enough. I think too often characters are in a one and one type of scenario and I like to see characters explore different things just like normal teenagers do.

The online community was also something I really enjoyed. Just because I can remember being involved in a lot of online communities when the internet was new. I have made many friends online but my best friend and actually started out as pen pals from a letter/review I wrote to an anime magazine. Finding connections with people in a way you wouldn’t normally is always a win for me.

I loved how much family was a part of the story and how trauma isn’t a singular thing. It can impact many parts of our life. In ways we don’t always even realize. Finding that space that makes you feel like you can have room for your emotions. Being able to see the relationship Cass has with her dad was nice.

I just really liked the story and I loved Cass. Such a great read.

This was such a fun and nerdy coming of age romance. I enjoyed getting to know Cass and the world that she lives in, and the romance was precious.

This is a perfectly lovely YA book about a fat white lesbian who’s into role playing games. There’s family drama with a high school backdrop, and a satisfying, nuanced romance. I like getting to learn about how fan fiction is played out on Discord servers, and there was just the right amount of content from the characters’ scenes sprinkled throughout the book. I gave it 4 stars and not 5 because the story didn’t hit me in the gut or make me cry, but I definitely look forward to reading Miller’s forthcoming work.

Amazing and fat positive 💯❤️

What I loved:
1. Cass!!!! She is unapologetically herself and I’m obsessed with her. She is proudly a nerd, fat and a lesbian. And she loves role playing and a fellow book worm!
2. Tate!!!! Their friendship was amazing and different from typical YA friendships.
3. Family dynamics written really well, I loved reading about her relationship with her Dad being so strong.

What I didn’t love
1. I wasn’t a huge fan of the role playing scenes but that’s just my personal preference and think others might really enjoy this!

All in all, a great 4⭐️ read!!!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC!

A sweet and nerdy coming of age story, Out of Character is the kind of book that teen-me would've been absolutely obsessed with! The main character Cass is fat, a lesbian, a massive nerd, and both relatable and flawed. Living a double life between her real life and the character she roleplays online with fellow fandom nerds, Cass quickly gets caught up in trying (and failing) to separate these two lives, trying to untangle her romantic feelings for two people, and things get much more complicated than she anticipated. Admittedly, I found this part of the plot a bit tedious to read about, I often struggle with characters who lie by omission or just make things complicated for themselves and everyone around them.

I enjoyed the nerdy representation but also found it a bit cringy at times, which might just be a sign that I'm genuinely no longer the age this book is meant for. Either way, while this wasn't a hit for me, it was a fun read and I'm glad that teens get to have these kinds of stories!

This was requested when I first found out about NetGalley and I had requested so many ARCs that I could not get to all of them before they were archived. I really wanted to get to this one, as it seemed interesting. If I can find this somewhere for a reasonable price, I will try to get it! I am giving this book three stars, as I don't want to give it a good or bad rating, since I did not get to it and we have to leave a star rating.

First off, I love that Cass describes her self as a Fat Lesbian Nerd. She seemed relatable for most parts. I didn't care for her lying all the time. The whole hiding how much you're online is kinda weird because it's not a big deal. I give this novel a 3.75 but I'll round it up!

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I really enjoyed this nerdy little coming of age! I really liked that this was not just a romance but more about our MC discovering herself with some romance mixed in. Her friends and side characters were great and this book felt soo relatable to teenage me who saw the internet as an escape. This was really well done and I am excited to see what the author comes up with next.

This book is an absolute breath of fresh air! I grew up a fat queer outsider in rural Ohio a million years ago (80 +90s) and to say that everything was complex would be an understatement. I'm always grateful to read good books about plus size and LGBTQIA2S characters who get to live their lives as themselves and find something in their journey but I don't really have too many experiences where that character is both. I can't quite tell you how happy it makes me to see the kids getting to read books where being fat and queer isn't a burden to be overcome, where living beings with those traits can just be accepted, loved, and thrive BECAUSE they're themselves. Queer, fat, AND nerdy? Oh man, this was equal parts sweet, satisfying, and honest- everything younger me would've loved to find in all those books she happily ate up back then. Read it for your inner teen, give it to your favorite teen relatives, and recommend it to any tren who needs a good book about a kid figuring things out.

This is a super cute, geeky YA queer romance. This is a million percent the kind of book I wish I had access to as a goofy, nerdy, closeted sixteen year old. Perfect for queer nerds, outcasts, fan fiction enthusiasts, online role players, and former citizens of Tumblr.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for giving me access to the free advanced digital copy of this book.

4.5 Stars
I really loved a lot about this book. Geeky readers will find the MC sweet, albeit flawed, and relatable. If you are a lover of YA and want to set your fandom heart on fire, this could be a great pick for you.

Gosh, I really loved this book. It's painfully relatable, and the connection I felt with Cass was unrivalled. Cass' confidence is nothing short of exceptional, and normalising a fat lesbian feeling confident without shoving it in your face is what we desperately needed in a book like this.

Jenna Miller has done something wonderful here, and I hope everyone that picks it up finds a piece of themselves in it.

Out of Character centers around our main character Cass, Cass who would happily describe herself as fat, queer, nerdy, and absolutely obsessed with a book series called Tide Wars. She would not, however, go on to tell you that a majority of her time is spend writing Tide Wars role play with her online best friends.
That’s not a problem at all for her until she starts dating someone new and trying to balance school, her new relationship, and her role play addiction. Can she balance it all while still keeping her online life secret?

Cass is the type of narrator I love. She’s the authentic kind of messy that a real seventeen-year-old is. She makes awful decisions based in teenage emotion. She gets in dramatic fights and fall outs. She makes rash decisions and feels hard and big. It reminds me so vividly at being seventeen that it’s easy to be swept up in this YA story. Queer joy radiates from this book, and it carries a powerful message of self love and acceptance.

This book was written for you if:
1. You’ve ever read or written fan fiction
2. You look for queer YA books that are joyful and authentic
3. You love a messy, lovable main character