Book review: Reasons To Love A Nerd Like Me by Becky Jerams

The book:

Reasons To Love A Nerd Like Me by Becky Jerams
Pages: 508
My copy: Review copy

The 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?

*** I received a pdf version of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review. ***

My thoughts…

This book is narrated by Scotty, who is definitely the hero of this book. He is totally comfortable being who he is – in his own words a “gay, maths-loving, non-fashionable nerd”, and he’s also just a good guy all round. He can seem a bit too squeaky-clean at times, but he does seem like a well-rounded and pretty believable character in the main, as does his best friend Olive. Other characters in the book aren’t as sweet and innocent as Scotty, and there are some pretty unpleasant people that Scotty has to deal with in this novel. But there are some surprises too and not everyone is as they may at first seem…

I whizzed through this book as it’s really easy to read with a very straightforward, simple writing style, but also you do want to know what’s going to happen to Scotty. It’s a proper page-turner and this is a testament to the quality of the writing. However sometimes I did feel unsure which age group this was aimed at – at times the writing felt like it was very much aimed at the younger teen audience, although the themes (and occasionally the language) seemed suitable for older teens.

One character I wasn’t quite convinced by was Vincent – his back story was interesting but I couldn’t quite get my head round him at times. Also the ending tied up all the loose ends very neatly – I personally like a bit of an ambiguous or less-perfect ending, but this is of course my own personal preference!

Overall I really enjoyed reading this book. It is sweet and very well-written with endearing characters, and I was hooked by the story. I would definitely check out the follow-up novel which I believe the author is working on!