Nerve [Hardcover]

Okay WOW, I am not even sure where to start with this review. My mind is still racing with how creepy and disturbing yet entertaining this book was. Suspense/Thriller doesn't even begin to cover this book. While I was reading this book I was living in an alternate world. I have not had a book put me on edge like that in a very long time. I was glued to every page. The further I read, the more intense it got. This book totally had my full attention.

I loved the sound of this book. A game, a reality show, and a mysterious company... sounds like the making of something to stay far away from. We start the book with Vee, a quiet girl who lives in the shadows of her best friend, has a crush on the popular boy, and does make-up for a show that everyone else gets to star in. Her life is pretty calm; the only thing holding her back from full enjoyment is her long term grounding. She is tired of sitting in the backseat of life and starts to participate in a game called NERVE. A mysterious company sends dares to the participants to complete for pretty awesome prizes. The darers start off a little embarrassing and end up completely intense, playing on your worst fears. This company knows everything about you too, so not only are they sadistic, they are stalkers. Vee doesn't think anything of the dares at first. They are silly and they take her out of her comfort zone and now she is getting tons of attention. She takes the game further and soon realizes something is very very wrong.

The story is amazing. It is very original but plays on something very real in our world, reality shows that people like to watch for entertainment, even when it's at someone else's expense. The story does start off light and funny, Vee does some pretty simple but dumb t things that totally made me crack up. As things progress, it went from funny to really wow, I can't believe she is going that far. Where I ended up... on the edge of my seat, biting my fingernails, completely terrified of how this book could possible end and thing OMG how did this even happen. The writing is awesome, very intense, very fast paced, very real. I was completely engulfed in this book.

Part of what makes this book awesome is the character development. Vee was very real to me, as were her friends, fellow players, and the watchers. The main characters, I was able to connect with Vee the most because the story was from her point of view. I was able to experience the embarrassment, excitement, and fear right along with her. I was hanging on her every decision and I think I was even jumping at the same exact moments she would have been.

I would recommend this book for any book thrill seekers. It's been a while since a book really put me on edge like this one. Very intense, really a must read.

(Actual rating 3 1/2 stars)

Holy hair raiser.

Holy stomach churner.

Dear sweet "I WANT TO STOP READING BUT I CAN'T."

That, in three sentences, was Nerve.

To be honest, this book didn't set off on a good foot with me. The prologue chapter takes place at the end of the book, with the first chapter backing way up in time. This is a pet peeve of mine, and personally I thought it took a ton of suspense out of the ending, which upon reading the prologue still didn't make any sense. But once you hit the first chapter, all that is forgotten.

It actually goes through that whole, "everything is perfect" phase before heading into hair rasing territory. Vee is the best friend of the most popular girl in school but pining for the hottest guy. She is quiet, she's more of a loner-she's basically the best friend cliché. It is this normalcy and the distinct want to feel something different that forces Vee into the game of NERVE in the first place. As far as reasons go, it was a fairly believable one, even if it was never developed as fully as I'd have liked.

The game of NERVE is sickening on several levels-and it's meant to be. Vee is forced to do a whole lot of things that NO sane person would do. The reasons she keeps going after things clearly start getting sketchy were, again, not as developed as I'd have liked, but this book seemed to sacrifice fleshing out of the plot in a lot of places to make room for the pacing.

And OHMYGOD was that some pacing.

Nerve never stops. Not once. Even when you want to because your stomach is attempting seven kinds of sailor's knots. Vee's rationale towards NERVE at the beginning is one I've used a thousand times to scoff at reality TV shows: it's scripted, it's fake, it's just a game. NERVE pulling information about her from her ThisIsMe page sounds creepily similar to the kinds of things people maintain Facebook does. The book takes on all these secret fears we have about technology and throws them into one fiery explosion. There were several times when I felt like I had to step back and breathe or even stop reading all together because OHMYGOD, but I couldn't do it because the book just kept charging forward into darker and darker territory.

As I said, though, the downside of this was that many aspects of the plot were never fleshed out. This goes for characterization and key plot points alike. There were passing comments made for some things and half-baked explanation for others, but all in all many parts of the story almost became useless in the HOLY CRAP THIS IS MADNESS of NERVE. Though I'd say Ryan managed to make it work because of her awesome pacing, the nitpicky side of me can't let it go.

Personally, I was not entirely satisfied with the ending. Unfortunately, I can't tell you why because part of my blog tour compliance is that there are no spoilers. Sorry! However, I CAN tell you that I'm begging someone to tell me there's a sequel coming, because you CANNOT end it like that and leave us all hanging. But then, there were several things I thought you could not do and then Ryan did them and left me reading faster with a dryer mouth.

What an amazingly, suspenseful, fascinating and morbid book! I had no idea what I was getting into when I started Nerve, but it reminded me of a combination of The Hunger Games, Matched and One Night That Changes Everything by Lauren Barnholdt. Weird combination, I know, but read it and you'll understand.

What dare would you perform if your prize was something you always wanted? Vee sees herself as the privileged sidekick to her popular and beautiful friend Sydney and subconsciously wants someone (Matthew) to notice her. When Matthew, the flirty male lead in the play she is fashion director for tells her she should be more daring, she challenges herself to complete a dare for the online reality show NERVE. What she doesn't know yet is that NERVE uses baby steps to get you to agree to more dangerous dares. They also have unlimited access to all your personal information which they use to both bribe you and threaten you with to continue.

Once Vee experiences the thrill of completing the first dare and is bribed into completing another with the promise of winning a pair of drool-worthy shoes she has had her eye on, she is sucked into the world of NERVE where EVERYTHING is in their control. NERVE is like a reality show where Watchers are the paparazzi and are paid in prizes to get the best shots of the contestants performing their dares. The Watchers are careless and dangerous, but necessary to get the audiences approval ratings. Vee finds herself behaving in a very different way than her friends would believe in order to win her prizes and to win the respect of her friends who are paying to watch her.

At first, it is fun, and working with Ian is better than she could have imagined as they share some chemistry, but the dares start to get scary and dangerous and even life threatening. It becomes all Lord of the flies and sadistic entertainment and she finds herself desperate for her old life back.

This was really well written being creepy, suspenseful and poignant, but also realistic, romantic, and fun (at least at first). It is a book you think about even when it is over as it has a lot to do with privacy and what we are willing to put on line for people to see and potentially use against us. Fascinating!

There is occasional language especially towards the end when the dares get more dangerous (b-word, f-word, a-hole), no sex, some kissing, underage drinking, a lesbian couple, and very dangerous situations.

Would I/Did I buy it? Yes (ARC $8.00)
Would I read it again? Yes
Would I recommend it to friends? Yes!