Author: Jeanne Ryan
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary
Source: S&S Australia
Goodreads
Soon to be a major motion picture starring Emma Roberts and Dave Franco--a high-stakes online game of dares turns deadly in this suspenseful debutReview by Nara
When Vee is picked to be a player in NERVE, an anonymous game of dares broadcast live online, she discovers that the game knows her. They tempt her with prizes taken from her ThisIsMe page and team her up with the perfect boy, sizzling-hot Ian. At first it's exhilarating--Vee and Ian's fans cheer them on to riskier dares with higher stakes. But the game takes a twisted turn when they're directed to a secret location with five other players for the Grand Prize round. Suddenly they're playing all or nothing, with their lives on the line. Just how far will Vee go before she loses NERVE
I have to say, I probably wouldn't have read this book if I saw it in a bookstore or library, and thought I'd give it a go because it was relatively short and it was something I got sent for review. Unfortunately, it turns out that it wasn't exactly a book that I enjoyed, and it's not really one that I can recommend.
The thing that bothered me the most about the book was how unrealistic Nerve seemed. Actually, I guess it's realistic in the sense that it's something that probably could happen, but the background of the competition wasn't that well explained, and I wasn't completely convinced that it was realistic in the setting of the novel. Especially the fact that the people behind Nerve could instantly find out everything about Vee and accordingly change the prizes up for grabs.
Some of the prizes were kind of shallow compared to the prizes that the other contestants seemed to be getting, and it was probably more of a personal thing, but I just couldn't take Vee seriously with how much she was willing to stake for a prize such as a shopping spree or a pair of shoes. Maybe if it was some cash or some books I would have been more empathetic haha. The dares themselves weren't that great either. I was expecting high stakes, but instead got dares like "go ask 10 people for condoms" or "get someone to agree to pay you $100 for sex". Not really something that I would be interested in watching if Nerve was real, and not really something I was interested in reading about either.
The love interest Ian was about as compelling as a tin can, and while he seemed to have this "bad boy" thing going, his past was never really explained. I definitely wasn't a fan of the romance- it never seemed like Vee and Ian were compatible in the slightest.
I also very much disliked the fact that the ending is left so open. We never really get a good idea about who the people behind Nerve are and how they got so powerful. And this is a standalone, so we'll pretty much never find out (not that I would have read any sequels anyway, seeing as though this book wasn't the best).
I watched the movie trailer for Nerve, and it actually looks like it'd be better than the book. I suppose we'll see whether it's any good once it's released.
It was okay
RatingsOverall: 4/10
Plot: 2/5
Romance: 1/5
Writing: 2/5
Characters: 2/5
Cover: 2/5
