Book Review: REASONS TO LOVE A NERD LIKE ME by Becky Jerams

Blurb

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.

Goodreads Link

Buy on:

AmazonUS - AmazonUK

Carra's Review

I must say, for a debut novel...author Becky Jerams did a fantastic job!  This story perfectly captures the teen angst, school cliques and the pain of going through that time of life when you don't fit in to the expectations of others, especially from the point of view of a gay teen.  While there are a few things that were slightly annoying (to be expected in most books that are set in an upper teenage environment), and the story could probably have been trimmed a bit as it felt longer than it really needed to be, overall it was a really good read.

Scotty is a great character.  He and his friends are probably the ones I would have been hanging out with in school had they been there, which made it very easy for me to identify with them as a group and to empathize with Scotty for what he had to go through.  I adored Vincent.  Even with everything he's gone through with his family, he pushes on through and is a stronger person for it.  He does what he wants and doesn't worry about what other people think.  At first glance, you'd never think he and Scotty would fit--until you actually read their story.  

As far as some of the other characters go, Olive did get on my nerves a bit-sometimes I just wanted to duct tape her mouth shut.  She could be somewhat overbearing, but her continuing support of Scotty and their close friendship helped me tolerate her through the book.  Taylor...I went from liking to loathing to absolutely detesting and then just got to the point where I became indifferent.  I did feel bad for him in the end though, and hope that we might get a story for him in the future.

There's no shortage of teenage angst and drama, ranging from the typical to the downright nasty, and the secrets being kept added to the angst factor.  Some of it felt a little drawn out, and in those places I did put the book down for a few hours here and there to give myself some down time before picking up with the story again.  I did have to look up information about the British schooling system as the terms were unfamiliar since here in the US our system is different, once I did that it became a bit easier to understand.

Even though it took me a bit longer to get through this than I expected, it was still a really good story and is one that I will definitely re-read in the future.  I'm looking forward to the sequel, and hope that we get more Scotty and Vincent as well as something for Taylor.  4.5 stars for Reasons to Love a Nerd Like Me, and I'd recommend this to M/M romance fans who enjoy stories in the mature YA age range.  While most of the intimate portions of the story take place off-page, there is one scene near the end that is a bit more descriptive, though still tastefully done and not graphic, and the story does contain adult language...so while this could be read by those 16+ (assume the maturity level is there), it may be better suited for readers 18+ on a general level.

About the Author

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  ver 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.

She lives with her boyfriend in a little flat near the sea and splits her time between fiction writing, songwriting sessions, performing gigs and working in a student art shop. Her songs have been featured internationally on various shows and adverts, and her stories have been read by thousands of young people across the world gaining her fans from UK, US, Spain, Philippines, Nigeria, France, Egypt, Jamaica, Australia, India and beyond. Her pacey, emotional style of writing aimed for a young adult audience has been compared to the likes of John Green, David Levithan and Jenny Downham.

Becky is currently working on the spin-off sequel to Reasons To Love A Nerd Like Me titled Could You Love An Apple? which will be available on Kindle in the near future. She hopes to continue writing about the characters she has created for as long as people want to keep reading about them.

Website - Twitter - Facebook - Tumblr - Youtube (Featuring Book Trailer)