Wendy reviews Reasons To Love A Nerd Like Me by Becky Jerams. Published October 12, 2016 508 pages.
RGR received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Why I read this book: I read this book for our New-to-me author week.
Scotty Williams is the nerdiest 17-year-old at UK-based Havensdale College – and proud of it. However being a nerd can have its downsides, particularly when you’re constantly being targeted by the school bully Taylor Raven and his cronies. As Scotty tries to navigate his final college years with the aid of his best friend Olive, he also finds himself on the radar of the mysterious and intimidating Vincent Hunter, toughest guy in the Sixth Form. Is Vincent really as bad as he seems? Will Scotty’s darkest secret ever be revealed? Can he ever just finish his last few college years in peace? But most importantly… will any guy ever find the reasons to love a nerd like him?
The Wattpad hit “Reasons To Love A Nerd Like Me” by Becky Jerams comes to Kindle for the first time in a new and improved edition. With over 2.4 million reads and counting, the first draft has resonated with readers across the world and been compared to authors such as John Green and David Levithan. Recommended for fans of teen drama and unconventional romance.
Buy Links: Amazon | Add to Goodreads
*****
This is a YA story of a nerdy young gay student and his misadventures through a school year.
Scotty, as I mentioned above, is a nerd. I liked his character very much. I like how he accepted and embraced himself for being just the way he was. He seemed to always be trying to make the best out of his lot in life. He has bunches of drama though, which is like most of the people his age.
He’s suffered the loss of his father and that inadvertently brought him to his first love, the resident jock/cool kid Taylor. I was saddened by the fact that his first love betrayed him and spent endless hours torturing and bullying him all because he felt the need to hide his sexuality. Then he finds love again in an unexpected person, Vincent.Vincent has his own demons and I found his character to be broken and afraid to trust anyone. He can’t seem to help falling for Scotty and with him in Scotty’s life, things seem to be going smoothly.
I thought this book was fairly low-angst, with the exception of Taylor and his bullying, until I was well into the story. Then BAM! There were tons of plot twists, suspense and angst. What had started out as a sweet read, turned into a very exciting story. I wasn’t expecting it, but I wasn’t disappointed either.
I thought the chemistry between the main characters was intense. The bedroom scenes were passionate without being explicit. I think that is a hard thing to nail, but this author does a fantastic job of it.
The secondary characters played such large roles in the story that I think they could almost be classified as main characters themselves.
The author did a good job of keeping the story age appropriate throughout the book, while also making it a wonderful read for adults.
I liked this book, it has a bit of everything that you could want in a YA book. I quickly became invested in the characters, they have warmth and depth, anger and forgiving natures. Even the ones that I wasn’t happy with in the beginning of the book, soon found a way into my heart. That’s a great gift for an author to have. I liked that they didn’t instantly get their HEA, they had to work for it and at one point I didn’t know if Scotty hadn’t lost everyone he loved.
8/10 Pots of Gold (80% Recommended) – Compares to 4/5 Stars.
*****
Becky Jerams (born June 26th, 1987) is a writer and musician from Portsmouth, UK. Reasons To Love A Nerd Like Me is her debut novel and has been featured on the website Wattpad where it has gained many loyal readers and over two million hits. After receiving such an overwhelming response for her writing, she recently released the new and improved edition of her story as an official eBook through Kindle Direct Publishing.
Rainbow Gold Reviews 