Nerve – Jeanne Ryan

(Jeanne Ryan, 2012)

ARE YOU PLAYING THE GAME OR IS THE GAME PLAYING YOU?

Vee doesn’t know if she has the guts to play NERVE, an anonymous online game of dares. But whoever’s behind the game knows exactly what she wants, enticing her with lustworthy prizes and a sizzling-hot partner. With Ian on her team, it’s easy to agree to another dare. And another. And another. At first it’s thrilling as the Watchers cheer them on to more dangerous challenges. But suddenly the game turns deadly. Will Vee and Ian risk their lives for the Grand Prize dare, or will they lose NERVE?

(via Goodreads)

What I Liked

• Fast paced
  • This book took off running and didn’t stop until the very end! The action wasn’t super action-y, which I liked, but it was fast enough that it kept me wondering what was going to happen, and had me reading through the night. This book could definitely be read in one-sitting, but too me far too long to read (because of work and life, and a horrendous reading slump).
• Characters
  • Let me specify- the MAIN characters were pretty well thought out. I really liked Ian and how he had Vee’s back but also stayed somewhat mysterious throughout the story. It made me question his true loyalty, which was fun. I could relate to Vee’s character, and I really thought that Sydney was very well imagined. I was also a theater kid in high school, and knew plenty of Sydneys who had no problem bossing people around.
• Inconclusive ending
  • Normally this would go in the dislike section but I actually was pretty happy with the open ended conclusion to Nerve. I feel like the author was probably anticipating a series or at least a sequel to this book, but it didn’t happen (at least to my knowledge!) and that is ok. The company was so mysterious that it isn’t much of a surprise that they get away with what they did, and that they are able to keep going with their dares.
• Giveaway win
  • This copy of Nerve (which is also why I used this movie image instead of the original) was a book I won in J.M. Martin’s 200 follower giveaway!
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What I Disliked

• The prologue
  • I read a few reviews on Goodreads for this book (not many of them were good) and I found that some people had no idea how the prologue connected to the story at all. While you connect the pieces at the very end, I always felt like the prologue was looming over my shoulder until I figured out how it was all connected. That took away from my focus on what was going on in the actual story. My suggestion would have been to include it at the end of the story instead of the beginning because Abigail’s name is still fairly fresh in your mind, and it allows for a better image of what life could end up like for the characters (after the game).
• The movie
  • Not that this belongs in the BOOK review, but I didn’t like how much they changed about the book in the movie adaptation. I mean they kept some things, but I think that the book ending was more interesting than the movie one. I did like the actors though, so it wasn’t all bad.

Final Thoughts

I didn’t hate it! Despite the terrible Goodreads reviews, I thought it was pretty good! I didn’t think it was that ridiculous and rather enjoyed the story as a whole. Actually, in my FIF featuring this book, I guessed a much lower rating so I was pleasantly surprised. You can see that FIF here: FIF Nerve. I ended up giving Nerve a 4.5 out of 5 stars. Thank you again to Joe for sending me this book! I have been wanting to read it for quite some time, and now I am super excited to watch the movie (I checked it out at my library the day after I finished reading so that I could watch it right away and compare notes). Update: as you can see above, I DID watch the movie. It was meh-ok.

And there you have it folks! Another book bites the dust. Have you read Nerve? Did you see the movie? Let’s talk about it!

 

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