9 Books That Feel Like Overcompensating on Amazon Prime
We’ve all been there—pretending to be someone we’re not, acting in ways we’re not proud of, or hiding the coolest and most unique parts of ourselves for the sake of fitting in. Benito Skinner’s show Overcompensating takes that experience and puts it in a mid-2010s college campus featuring a killer soundtrack. With cameos from Charli XCX and Megan Fox.
This show is hysterical, addictively chaotic, and highlights the beautiful highs and heartbreaking lows of coming to terms with your sexuality. While we’re (incredibly patiently) waiting for Season 2 to come out, we’ve got some books to hold you over.
Jo’s built a brand around confidence and clarity, but behind the scenes? She’s spiraling—burnt out, stuck between two men, and terrified of disappointing everyone. A sharp, heartfelt look at what happens when being that girl starts to crack under pressure.
Trying to define your identity while constantly second-guessing yourself? 10/10 Overcompensating energy. In this sharp, hilarious essay collection, Jen Winston unpacks bisexuality, performative queerness, and what it means to exist in flux. This is for anyone who's ever wondered if they’re doing things “right” while secretly hoping no one finds out they’re winging it.
Sneha’s doing all the right post-grad things—steady job, cute apartment, sending money home, falling for an emotionally unavailable dancer—but beneath the surface, it’s full-blown chaos. It’s Overcompensating, but with more corporate exhaustion, queer longing, and late-night existential dread.
Bad hookups, racial tension, and existential dread…welcome to Edie’s world. She’s broke, flailing, and falling into the world’s most uncomfortable situations—like accidentally becoming the live-in third wheel to a white suburban family. Sharp, messy, and darkly funny, Luster is for anyone who’s ever coped with chaos by self-destructing (but made it art).
Nandan’s got everything under control—until he hooks up with his best friend and suddenly has no idea who he is anymore. This one dives deep into the mess of figuring yourself out while clinging to a version of “normal” that doesn’t quite fit. It’s angsty, chaotic, and painfully real—because nothing says identity crisis like spiraling over your sexuality and your social life in the same week.
Paul’s got all the Overcompensating energy—shifting identities, trying on personas, and juggling queer life like it’s a performance art piece. Except, he actually is. Channeling that frantic, “Who am I really?” college vibe, Paul shapeshifts his way from Iowa to California exploring what it means to be queer.
Dev’s job is crafting picture-perfect love stories for reality TV, and his current Prince Charming is a seemingly grumpy tech bro but mostly an anxious mess. Think queer identity, performance, and trying to keep it together while absolutely not having it together. And a fairy tale ending.
Selin’s a Harvard freshman with no clue what she’s doing—so naturally, she falls into an email situationship with a broody Hungarian math guy and spirals from there. Set in the dial-up days of 1995, The Idiot is peak academic angst and awkward girl era. If Overcompensating had more existential emails, niche electives, and doomed literary yearning, this would be it.
Penny’s escaping her meh high school life, Sam’s broke and existentially stuck, and their “romance” kicks off with peak awkward energy. They only really talk through text—because face-to-face would be too much—and somehow that makes it all the more intimate. Talk about bonding over shared anxiety in the most 2010s way possible: via iPhone.
Whether you’re reading for the “doing the most” aspect of Overcompensating, the 2010s college vibes, or any and all things gay, you’ll find something on this list. Until Season 2 comes out, here’s to authenticity, being a little bit cringe, and looking back on our younger selves with some grace because, you know, she was trying her best.
