4.5! ( )

Reviewed by Randstostipher "tallnlankyrn" Nguyen for TeensReadToo.com

Miranda Bloom can be described in one word: Normal. Or maybe two: Slightly Normal.

Her life consists of a laid-back mother, an absentee father who just married a demon (more on that later), two pretty sane friends, a dog who loves her dearly, and no boyfriend (which she hopes will change in just a matter of time). She isn't the prettiest, or the ugliest, and she doesn't have a major talent. She can do an equation before you can say calculator, but that isn't really a talent since she can easily be replaced by a calculator.

It's a new year though, and Miranda hopes she can turn her life around. Make it even better than it is right now, which might take a while. From having the hottest and sweetest guy, Emmett Dutch, notice her, to avoiding vicious comments from the evil Felimonster, Felicity Glen, this is the year she truly wants to remember.

Unfortunately for Miranda, this new year of hers doesn't start out so great. Her mom decides to abandon her and go to London to do some research for her new book. That means Miranda has to move into her dad's drab house, which includes his new demon wife and her demon spawn, the oh-so-perfect Hannah. Her crush, Emmett, does notice her though, but only because Miranda trips on the first day of school right in front of him. And when Emmett first meets Miranda's stepsister, Hannah, it is love at first sight, which is good for Hannah but totally bad for Miranda.

Can Miranda survive living with her dad, find a talent, find at least one guy who would go out with her, and navigate Geek High while trying to make this the year to remember?

The first in a new series, GEEK HIGH is definitely GEEKTASTIC! ( )

I think this is a really good book with a title that does not do it justice. Miranda is a sophomore at a high school for the gifted when her mother announces she'll be moving to London to do research, and Miranda is forced to live with her father, snotty stepmother and stepsister. With this move, Miranda's life turns upside down, and it turns out that things are different from what they seem. I really enjoyed this book. While there were things in the book that didn't get resolved, I'm sure because there is already a sequel, there were a lot of things that worked well. Her relationship with her father and stepfamily doesn't entirely improve, although they all make strides in that direction. Miranda is a math genius, and she doesn't love math, so she is trying to find her talents in other areas. One of the most disappointing things about the book's ending is that one of her friends has exploited her repeatedly in a gossip blog, and it's never explained. Other than that, I felt that the title shouldn't have focused so much on her school life, when the book is equally about her home life. I will keep reading in the series. ( )

Miranda Bloom’s world has been turned upside down. Her mother, a famous romance author, has decided to move to England in order to research her next book, but isn’t planning on taking Miranda. Instead she has to move into her father’s house and live with her step-mother, Peyton, and her step-sister Hannah - neither of which want her around EVER.Miranda attends Notting Hill Independent School for Gifted Children a.k.a Geek High. She is the most gifted math student at school and is known as The Human Calculator - which she hates because being a Human Calculator is pretty useless since everyone has regular calculators.Miranda isn’t popular at Geek High. She has two loyal friends, Charlie and Finn. Charlie is a very talented artist and Finn is brilliant with computers. In fact, to shake things up this year, Finn has created a tell-all website at geekhigh.com. When word gets around about the website and a story is posted about the queen bee of the school the principal accuses Miranda of being the creator of the website. She assures the principal she doesn’t have anything to do with it, but refuses to reveal the author. For punishment she is forced to plan the Snowflake Gala - an event that isn’t very popular with the students.On top of dealing with living in a house where she is considered a guest and being forced to plan the Snowflake she has to deal with the guy she’s been crushing on for two years fall for Hannah. Her principal also blackmails her into joining the competitive math team again even though she wants to be on the high school’s literary magazine instead.Throughout all the stress of the semester, Miranda manages to learn a lot about herself while at the same time pulling off a wonderful Snowflake Gala. Her relationship with her father drastically improves and she and Hannah even form some kind of bond. Even though the story is a bit predictable, Miranda is an enjoyable character that you’ll want to see win in the end. You’ll be happy to know that GEEK ABROAD, the sequel will be available May of 2008. ( )