WWW Wednesdays #103 – August 10th

WWW WEDNESDAYS is a weekly meme hosted by Sam @ Taking On A World Of Words and is all about answering the three questions below.

• WHAT ARE YOU CURRENTLY READING?

I started my previous TBR jar pick Secret Letters by Leah Scheier a few days ago, but I’m really struggling to get into the story. I’m not sure if it’s because of the prose or the main character, but I cannot seem to manage to convince me to continue it. Maybe after I finish my last pending Netgalley ARC: All Fall Down by Tom Bale? That one is turning out to be yet another brilliant thriller! I’ve also finally FINALLY picked up my copy of A Dance With Dragons by George R.R. Martin. I’m hoping I will be able to make a dent into this monster during my 15 hours on a plane this Sunday…

• WHAT DID YOU RECENTLY FINISH READING?

* The first book I finished since last WWW is The Summer I Became A Nerd by Leah Rae Miller. It was a fast read and I LOVED the comic/geeky references, but the many high school cliches and the fact that the main character was ashamed of liking comics and seemed to prefer being popular ruined the story slightly for me.
* I then gave in and read Harry Potter And The Cursed Child by J.K. Rowling, Jack Thorne and John Tiffany. It was quite an entertaining read and brought back a lot of nostalgic memories, but it wasn’t as good as the first seven books. The fact that it’s a script makes it less pleasant to read as well…
* The Girl From The Sea by Shalini Boland is yet another psychological thriller to add to my list of favorites. SO good! It’s well written and the fact that the main character has amnesia and therefore is an unreliable narrator is a refreshing twist. Recommended!
* The last book I finished is The Last Girl by Joe Hart, which unfortunately didn’t turn out to be as good as I thought it would be. It’s not a bad read and the synopsis sounds interesting, but I felt it was missing that little something that would turn it into something special. In fact, it all sounded all too similar to the typical dystopian story with a strong female character… I did really appreciate this story has almost no romance and NO love triangle. Definitely a miracle when it comes to the YA dystopian genre.

• WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU’LL READ NEXT?

I can’t wait to finally start Red Rising by Pierce Brown! If I like the first book I will probably read both sequels as well… I also want to read Vicious by V.E. Schwab (and This Savage Song as well, but I have decided to read this one first). The Art Of Being Normal by Lisa Williamson is also high on my list. A Court Of Mist And Fury by Sarah J. Maas is my newest TBR jar pick, which is really convenient since I wanted to read it soon anyway. I will probably reread ACOTAR first though…

BOOK REVIEW: The Summer I Became A Nerd – by Leah Rae Miller

Title: The Summer I Became A Nerd
(Nerd #1)
Author: Leah Rae Miller
Genre: YA, Contemporary, Romance
First published: May 7th 2013
Publisher: Entangled Teen
Finished reading: August 3rd 2016
Pages: 352

“Be true to yourself and others will be true to you, too.”

I picked this book up on a whim because of the summery title, mostly because I needed something to distract me from the cold weather down here. And while it’s certainly a great summer read, I’m having mixed thoughts about The Summer I Became A Nerd. It’s without doubt a fast-paced and mostly entertaining contemporary romance story and I LOVED the geeky/comic references. Those nerdy elements are without doubt the best part of this book! The story reads easily and both Logan and Dan are adorkable (in the best possible way.) And there is where it also went wrong: it really bothered me that the main character Maddie is so ashamed of the fact that she likes comics and other geeky things. Especially since she has been hiding it for so long and creating an alternative personality in order to be popular… Add a bunch of other cheesy high school cliches and a love triangle and it was close to ruining the story for me. Luckily the final part did manage to satisfy my inner nerd and that probably saved the rating from plummeting even lower. If you don’t mind cheesy high school cliches and a love triangle, you will probably end up loving this contemporary romance story though.

Seventeen-year-old Maddie looks like just another typical blond cheerleader and she has worked hard to create that image; picking only popular friends, liking only the right things and even dating the quarterback. But Maddie has a secret: she is a huge fan of comics and doesn’t really care about pep rallies or her best friend’s favorite singer. She is desperate to keep her secret nerd identity hidden, and doesn’t even enter the only comic store in town because she is afraid someone will see her. But when de delivery of issue #400 of her favorite comic is delayed, she can’t resist and enters the local comic shop anyway. And working at the counter is Logan, a geeky guy from school she secretly likes but can’t date because it would ruin her reputation. But Logan recognizes her and Maddie will soon have to choose between letting her inner nerd out or ignore her love for comics and lose Logan forever…

I love books with geeky elements, and those parts (especially the role playing!) were probably my favorite in The Summer I Became A Nerd. Logan is adorable as well and I really wanted to smack Maddie various times throughout the story for being that ignorant. I mean, why is it so necessary to be popular if you can’t even be yourself? That and the cheesy high school cliches/ love triangle lowered my rating considerably. I do have to say the story itself is fast-paced, entertaining and I LOVED the role-playing descriptions and comic references. Therefore I would still recommend it to fans of the genre.

WWW Wednesdays #102 – August 3rd

WWW WEDNESDAYS is a weekly meme hosted by Sam @ Taking On A World Of Words and is all about answering the three questions below.

• WHAT ARE YOU CURRENTLY READING?

I’m actually close to finishing The Summer I Became A Nerd by Leah Rae Miller (probably be somewhere later today). I love the geeky/comic references, but the high school cliches and the fact that the main character is ashamed of liking comics is kind of ruining the story for me. I’ve also started The Girl From The Sea by Shalini Boland, a Netgalley ARC I’m really excited about. But I will most likely read Harry Potter And The Cursed Child first… Because I simply can’t resist a new Harry Potter story.

• WHAT DID YOU RECENTLY FINISH READING?

* The first book I finished was When We Collided by Emery Lord, which turned out to be a really entertaining contemporary romance with an interesting twist. Vivi and Jonah are so adorable together!
* I also finished the Jamie Quinn Mystery Collection by Barbara Venkataraman. These three cozy mystery stories turned out to be entertaining and fast-paced; perfect for those who enjoy the genre.

• WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU’LL READ NEXT?

I will probably read my last pending Netgalley ARC first: The Last Girl by Joe Hart. I also want to read both The Art Of Being Normal by Lisa Williamson and The Bird And The Sword by Amy Harmon, depending on which genre I’m in the mood for. And Secret Letters by Leah Scheier is still my newest TBR jar pick…