See, nerds can be cool!
Over the weekend, when I should have been working on my Humanities Portfolio, I read a fun book. I’m not about to say the novel should get the Nobel Prize or anything, but it’s a good way to spend the afternoon.
Gone With the Nerd is Vicki Lewis Thompson’s fourth book where the romantic hero of the piece happens to be a nerd, more brains than brawn. The collection also includes: Nerd in Shining Armor, The Nerd Who Loved Me, and Nerd Gone Wild.
In all four books, the classic image of a nerd, the guy with the dorky glasses and no women skills, has a slight twist. The most obvious being that all four of these nerds appear to do some kind of workout because the heroine undoubtedly refers to the muscles hiding behind the stuffy white button-up dress shirts.
In her latest novel, the unlikely couple of a bombshell movie star and her nerdy lawyer strike out to the wilderness for “nerd training” for her newest movie role. They find themselves in the Bigfoot capital of America quite by accident and later have their own encounters with Sasquatch. Crazy, right. The book follows this strange turn of events and somehow or another, the starlet and the nerd end up falling in love. She even dumps a hunky costar to be with him while he leaves his nerdy girlfriend behind. No hard feelings all around.
The other books have equally unrealistic plotlines.
In Nerd in Shining Armor, the nerd in question saves the day when he must land a plane to save the heroine’s life. By using the knowledge gained in flight simulation video games he easily accomplishes the feat. The two are stranded on a deserted island for the majority of the novel and seem completely unconcerned with finding a way off the island.
The Nerd Who Loved Me stars a Vegas show girl with a brainiac son and the club accountant, the son of a retired show girl. The nerd saves the day with some help from his mother’s alleged mob boss of a boyfriend when the heroine’s ex returns to take his son away.
And Nerd Gone Wild stars a former nerd, current bodyguard, who must protect the girl by pretending to be a nerd once again while her scheming uncle tries to take her inheritance away from her.
The books are fun and corny, which just makes them even more enjoyable. But don’t expect to read her novels and learn the meaning of life or anything equally intense. Her stories are written for a quick, fun read, just the kind of thing to take on a trip for the long drive/flight.
Obviously, she has a soft spot for the intelligent man behind the glasses. In her Notes on the Author, she talks about her husband who “insists he’s not a nerd but who does, in fact, wear glasses and is very good at math.”
Personally, I would like to see the nerd in her next book as a female because, so far, the women have far less intelligence than the men. Seeing the smart woman win over the beautiful one would interest the younger readers. Most women in their early twenties are insecure in their own looks and a heroine that doesn’t look like a supermodel would go a long way towards proving that looks aren’t everything. Sadly, I don’t see that happening with Thompson’s novels. If there is another story, the nerd will undoubtedly be another man, but I will still continue to come back for more because you just never know what she’ll come up with next.
Gone With the Nerd is Vicki Lewis Thompson’s fourth book where the romantic hero of the piece happens to be a nerd, more brains than brawn. The collection also includes: Nerd in Shining Armor, The Nerd Who Loved Me, and Nerd Gone Wild.
In all four books, the classic image of a nerd, the guy with the dorky glasses and no women skills, has a slight twist. The most obvious being that all four of these nerds appear to do some kind of workout because the heroine undoubtedly refers to the muscles hiding behind the stuffy white button-up dress shirts.
In her latest novel, the unlikely couple of a bombshell movie star and her nerdy lawyer strike out to the wilderness for “nerd training” for her newest movie role. They find themselves in the Bigfoot capital of America quite by accident and later have their own encounters with Sasquatch. Crazy, right. The book follows this strange turn of events and somehow or another, the starlet and the nerd end up falling in love. She even dumps a hunky costar to be with him while he leaves his nerdy girlfriend behind. No hard feelings all around.
The other books have equally unrealistic plotlines.
In Nerd in Shining Armor, the nerd in question saves the day when he must land a plane to save the heroine’s life. By using the knowledge gained in flight simulation video games he easily accomplishes the feat. The two are stranded on a deserted island for the majority of the novel and seem completely unconcerned with finding a way off the island.
The Nerd Who Loved Me stars a Vegas show girl with a brainiac son and the club accountant, the son of a retired show girl. The nerd saves the day with some help from his mother’s alleged mob boss of a boyfriend when the heroine’s ex returns to take his son away.
And Nerd Gone Wild stars a former nerd, current bodyguard, who must protect the girl by pretending to be a nerd once again while her scheming uncle tries to take her inheritance away from her.
The books are fun and corny, which just makes them even more enjoyable. But don’t expect to read her novels and learn the meaning of life or anything equally intense. Her stories are written for a quick, fun read, just the kind of thing to take on a trip for the long drive/flight.
Obviously, she has a soft spot for the intelligent man behind the glasses. In her Notes on the Author, she talks about her husband who “insists he’s not a nerd but who does, in fact, wear glasses and is very good at math.”
Personally, I would like to see the nerd in her next book as a female because, so far, the women have far less intelligence than the men. Seeing the smart woman win over the beautiful one would interest the younger readers. Most women in their early twenties are insecure in their own looks and a heroine that doesn’t look like a supermodel would go a long way towards proving that looks aren’t everything. Sadly, I don’t see that happening with Thompson’s novels. If there is another story, the nerd will undoubtedly be another man, but I will still continue to come back for more because you just never know what she’ll come up with next.
posted by britabeth at 9:23 PM
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