100 books like How to Date a Nerd

It might not be Korean, but the same feeling is there. So many fangirls dream of visiting their favorite stories—and the main character Jane—in the book Austenland gets to do just that. When Jane’s grandmother buys her a trip to Austenland—the place where any girl’s Jane Austen dream can come true, she feels rude turning it down. Although, she’s enamored by men wearing smart coats and cravats, she’s also keenly aware of how fake everything is. It only takes a few days, however, to get swept up in the realness of the scene. A fangirl can hardly control her desire to be in her favorite book. This adorable and funny romance is exactly my cup of tea. 

K-pop Confidential was so real, I felt like I was the trainee. Candace Park is a fierce character with raw talent who starts her K-pop trainee years not believing in herself. Not only does the reader feel like they’re overcoming the challenges along with Candace, but it goes deep into the K-pop world with an intense knowledge of the industry. Candance’s fun personality and the cute B-story romance had just the right amount of tension to keep me hooked. One of my favorite K-pop books for sure.

What if you were secretly sketching the cutest boy in school and he accidentally found your notebook? First: Get Caught, A Stalkers Guide to Love tackles this very question. Abigail doesn’t mean to be a stalker, but the whole situation places her in an adorably hilarious situation. I loved that when it came to the true romance of this book, Ben fell for her first. He wasn’t just attracted to her, he fell for her—as she was. I loved that Ben was Korean and we really got to see inside his head just as much as we got to see Abigail. Truly one of my favorite all-time reads.

This book is almost better than watching a K-drama. Hasn’t every K-drama fan wished to be toured around the country by a hunky Korean man? Maybe the fan hasn’t pictured doing it alongside a bunch of old ladies, but she’ll take what she can get, won’t she? This super-funny, extra-flirty, good-times book is exactly the type of read I like to escape into. It truly took me on my own Korea tour right from my living room, with all romance included.

This book breaks all the rules because I’m still not certain that it wasn’t a fever dream. Fan culture, particularly K-pop fan culture, is usually depicted as cute and innocent and something for teenage girls. However, Y/N really flips that on its head and delves into the dark underbelly of fandom that includes obsession, stalking, and the break in reality that can happen due to heavy reliance on parasocial relationships.

This book was so immersive in the way it flipped between fanfiction, in which you’re meant to insert yourself into, and the wild journey that the unreliable narrator goes on. I loved this book because it did so much with so few pages, and it was so beautiful on a craft level. It was deeply unhinged, grotesque, and confounding at times, but I couldn’t look away.

In just a matter of a few years the world has been overtaken by Kpop sensations. Their pretty, quirky, and incredible artistic styles have made them garner massive fans all over the world. Behind the scenes of the boy band culture is where My Summer in Seoul shines to show us what it’s like for someone who is new to the country and its culture. It is difficult, funny, sad and the romance is a breath of fresh air.

My recommendation shares a theme with my book about young Kpop/ boy band romance. However, as someone who relates personally to moving to a new country at a young age, I’m fascinated by how people with different backgrounds adjust to new environments. There are challenges with food, weather, and sometimes language, which can be daunting. The worst part is not understanding what is being said to you or about you. This… show more.

This is actually the second book of Zeigler's Tears of Heaven series, but I read this one first and it stands perfectly on its own. There's so much I love about it, from the concept of rebel dark angels working to overthrow Satan with the help and ingenuity of human scientists and soldiers they rescue from Hell's torments to Zeigler's masterful world-building based on scripture and classic depictions of Hell. He pulls no punches in vividly describing the agonies of damnation. But it's his clever use of scientific principles to explain Hell's supernatural rules as well as arm his protagonists that truly stands out for me. I strove to achieve that level of logic in my book, but Zeigler manages to weaponize it as only a trained scientist could.

The apocalypse has come and it is in the form of an alien takeover that looks like a video-game system.  Less tongue and cheek and more grim and gritty we follow John as he tries to survive in the newly re-made world. This book starts one of my favorite series in the LitRPG genre and holds a special place in my heart as one of the series that inspires me to write in that sub-genre. I consider it one of the best places to start if you are interested in the gaming/science-fantasy mix that is the genre.

Did I mention that I am a Trekkie and a science nerd? When I was in eighth grade, my science project was on ani-matter. I was thrilled to discover that it was a real thing, not just something Star Trek made up. In fact, Star Trek has inspired many things, from the cell phone to the tablet, and even Bluetooth communication devices.

In this book, Mark Brake explores all those things, from cyborgs and aliens to planet hunting, and even asking when we will boldly go into the galaxy. It’s available for pre-order now and drops on May 26.

I read this book while on a terrifyingly turbulent flight home from a business trip. Maybe that’s why it has stuck with me, but its memorability is also due to the assurance it offered that I, a fundamentally shy person who finds public speaking almost as terrifying as a bumpy plane ride, could not only speak to audiences but also connect with them in an authentic, passionate way. Leaders are frequently on stage; this book teaches us how to shine (softly) in the spotlight.