Book Review: The Summer I Became A Nerd by Leah Rae Miller

The blurb as seen on Goodreads:
Release Date: May 7, 2013
Publisher: Entangled Teen
267 Pages

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.

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Maddie has a problem. For years, she’s been living a double life. On the outside she’s your typical popular cheerleader who’s dating the football star. On the inside, she’s Sheldon Cooper (if you don’t know who that is, I don’t think we can be friends). 

Because of a traumatic costume experience when she was younger, Maddie has felt the need to hide her nerdiness from the outside world. No one knows that she has anime marathons on the weekends with her father, or that she’s counting down the days until the final issue of her favorite comic series. But when her beloved comic fails to come in the mail, Maddie is forced to do what she’s always feared: walk into the local comic book store where people can see her. It is here we Logan, son of the owners of the store and the person holding the last copy of the prized comic book Maddie so desperately needs. A friendship is forged, one that seems to be leading elsewhere, but it is kept secret because Maddies fears what people will think when they learn that not only is she crushing on a nerd, but she’s actually one herself. 

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I really enjoyed Maddie. Yes, she drove me nuts with all of her secrecy, but I could understand it to a point. High school is a hard place to navigate and it is much easier when you’re “accepted”. This, however, didn’t stop me from shouting at her to just be herself every two seconds. 

Now Logan…Logan I loved from the moment we meet him.

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He knows who he is and what he wants, and he’s not afraid to show it. He’s sweet, kind, loyal, adorable, and I kept wondering where I could find him in real life. Rounding him out were his family and best friend who all just added colors to this world.

The author must be a nerd herself to write some of these scenarios and I reveled in all the nerdilicious glory. There’s comics, LARPing, conventions…and underneath it all, a great story on learning to accept yourself. A light-hearted, great summer read that I would definitely recommend.I certainly couldn't stop smiling after I read it.

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I received an e-copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.