Publisher: Entangled Teen
Release: 30th May 2013
Genre: Young Adult, Summer, Contemporary, Coming of Age
Source: Bought
Goodreads Summary:
"On the outside, seventeen-year-old Madelyne Summers looks like your typical blond cheerleader—perky, popular, and dating the star quarterback. But inside, Maddie spends more time agonizing over what will happen in the next issue of her favorite comic book than planning pep rallies with her squad. That she’s a nerd hiding in a popular girl's body isn’t just unknown, it's anti-known. And she needs to keep it that way.
Summer is the only time Maddie lets her real self out to play, but when she slips up and the adorkable guy behind the local comic shop’s counter uncovers her secret, she’s busted. Before she can shake a pom-pom, Maddie’s whisked into Logan’s world of comic conventions, live-action role-playing, and first-person-shooter video games. And she loves it. But the more she denies who she really is, the deeper her lies become…and the more she risks losing Logan forever."
Review
If you know me you’ll know that I love nerdy contemporary YA, so as soon as I heard about The Summer I Became a Nerd I freaked out and bought it straight away and I’m so glad that I did! This was such a ‘Jess book’ and I loved it so much that it’s now up there as one of my favourite contemporaries.
Like her favourite superhero’s Maddie has a secret identity - popular cheerleader by day, nerdy comic book lover by night. Summer is Maddie’s favourite time of year, she gets a break from school and from being the person everyone expects her to be, can catch up on her TBR list and chat on online fan forums to her hearts content. I loved Maddie from the moment I found out that she keeps a comic book journal to write down her thoughts and favourite quotes! I could understand her wanting to keep her nerdy side a secret – although my friends knew about my nerdy ways when I was at school I was teased for it and know first-hand that that’s no fun. I love this book for busting stereotypes and Leah Rae Miller for creating a heroine who’s a cheerleader but who also loves comic books with a passion. Basically I thought that Maddie was pretty freakin’ awesome and only wished that she had the confidence to share her awesomeness with the rest of the world.
During a secret mission to the local comic book store for the latest issue of her favourite comic - The Super Ones #400 – Maddie runs into Logan the cute nerdy guy from school who works there. Logan quickly sees through Maddie’s poor disguise and the two soon start regularly hanging out as Logan introduces Maddie to the world of nerd and teaches her to embrace her inner geek. Sweet, nerdy, boy next door types are my favourite, so I fell for Logan at Flash speed. Maddie and Logan’s romance was so adorbs and is full of super cute moments. A personal favourite of mine was when they showed each other their very best happy dance. You see! Isn’t that adorable!? This book was full of moments like this one that made my cheeks hurt from the big goofy grin I wore during every page of this book.
The Summer I Became a Nerd is full of nerdy references that are worked into the story that you’ll appreciate if you’re into the same things as Maddie. I also enjoyed learning more about LARPing (live action role play) which is something I didn’t know a whole lot about before reading this book. Now I definitely want to take part in something like it in the future because it sounded like so much fun!
Overall I pretty much loved everything about this book. It was a cute, fun, summer read packed full of awesome nerdy goodness and the important message of being true to who you are. The Summer I Became a Nerd is without a doubt one of my favourite reads of the summer so far!
