Book Review: Romancing the Nerd by Leah Rae Miller

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Romancing the Nerd
Author: Leah Rae Miller
Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Contemporary
Released: April 5th 2016
Review Source: Entangled: Teen

Dan Garrett has become exactly what he hates—popular. Until recently, he was just another live-action role-playing (LARP) geek on the lowest run of the social ladder. Cue a massive growth spurt and an uncanny skill at taking three-point shots in basketball and voila…Mr. Popular. It’s definitely weird. And the biggest drawback? Going from high school zero to basketball hero cost Dan the secret girl-of-his-dorky dreams. A tuba-playing nerd with an eclectic fashion sense, Zelda Potts’s “Coolness” stat is about minus forty-two. Dan turning his back on her and the rest of nerd-dom was brutal enough, but when he humiliates her at school, Zelda decides it’s time for a little revenge—dork style. Nevermind that she used to have a crush on him. Nevermind that her plan could backfire big time. It’s time to roll the dice…and hope like freakin’ hell she doesn’t lose her heart in the process.

Let me start off by saying that I absolutely adored this story so much I might just start it all over again from the beginning. It was a complete cheeseball of a story but not in a bad way, in fact Romancing the Nerd has a certain charm that keeps your attention the entire time. Honestly I thought I would get bored with the story, I love a good love story but sometimes they can be too much.

This is the story of a geeky dude (Daniel aka Dan) who, thanks to puberty, suddenly finds himself mixed in with the popular people of his school but not at all happy with that discovery. In fact, he kind of hates his newfound popularity. Written as a story from two characters, it is also the story of a geeky girl (Zelda) who stays geeky and proudly owns it. These characters, once upon a time ago best friends, get thrown back into each other’s worlds by a complete and total accident and that’s where the story picks up. We see both sides to one story that is full of misunderstandings and misplaced anger and go through with them on this journey called high school.

The character development of both Zelda and Dan is nice to see play out as the story progresses and both of them realize that maybe things aren’t always as they seem, in different and unique ways to each of them. Of course there are other characters throughout the story that add to it but there is one in particular, Douchebag Donovan, that I wish I had more of.

This was a quick and easy read that’s funny and heartwarming and kind of cheesy wrapped up in the perfect package of geeky goodness and I wish there was more for me to read.