Reasons to Love a Nerd Like Me (Becky Jerams)

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?

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I didn’t know exactly what I was expecting from this book, but this was not it! And that’s a good thing, oh, such a good thing. I will admit that it took me a bit to actually understand where I stood in the story, not being familiar at all with the british school system, it took me a while. It was also a challenge to familiarize myself with all the british slur and that kind of stuff, but I got there 😉 .

The writing is pretty impressive, it really surprised me how easily I ended up going through the 500+ pages of this book.

I really liked most of the characters. Scotty was pretty amazing, in all of his imperfections. I loved that he was who he was and that he was sure and confided in his own skin. And even if I wanted to bludge his head with something for most of the time, I do understand why he did what he did, and why he kept all the secrets. Ollie got on my nerves sometimes, mostly because she fluctuated too much between being too much of a grown-up and too much of a kid, and I had a really hard time pegging her as a 17 yo. She was a great friend to Scotty though, and I appreciated how their friendship was built.

I absolutely loved Vincent and I was swooning for the guy most of the time. His relationship with Scotty was kind of perfect and I really loved that he didn’t really care about what people thought. While with his best-friend, Alexis, I had a similar problem as with Ollie: I liked her, but she got on my nerves sometimes… her reaction to what her interpretation of the truth was was awful, she didn’t even think about things before she started to bully Scotty, it was just not right at all.

Now for the bully, Taylor, it really took me surprise the real reason why he did what he did, and even after I knew it, and I kind of understood it, his cold reactions and violent behaviour while they were alone still baffled me a bit. I did like his ending, and I’m kind of curious to read his story 🙂 .

I really liked the plot and all its elements, but I do think that the book could have been shortened. As much as I liked seeing Scotty and Vincent’s relationship blossom, I do think it could have come a little faster. The same with their fallout, it was bound to happen, and it was terrible – my heart was hurting all that time – but it could have come and been resolved faster.

I obviously liked the ending, though the fact that Scotty and Vincent not only forgave, but became friends with Taylor kind of put me off. I understand the forgiving part, and I applaud it, but hanging out with the guy that bullied you for over a year… I don’t know…

Also, I applaud that Becky Jerams was bold enough not only to include sex in the novel, but to include explicit M/M sex. I APPLAUD YOU!