Blog Tour & Review: Nerve by Jeanne Ryan

 

Today WinterHaven Books has the opportunity to review Nerve by Jeanne Ryan as part of A Tale of Many Reviews blog tour. Thank you AToMR for allowing us to participate!

 

 

Nerve by Jeanne Ryan
Publisher: Dial Books
Release Date: September 13, 2012
Purchase: Amazon / Barnes and Noble

A high-stakes online game of dares turns deadly

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?

Debut author Jeanne Ryan delivers an un-putdownable suspense thriller.

My thoughts:
Nerve is a high adrenaline based novel where I was kept on the edge of my seat waiting to see what the next dare would be and if the prize would make it worth the contestants while.  As part of a game I have to wonder how far is too far for both the players and the gamekeepers.

Vee has always been in the shadows of her best friend.  This never really bothered her until a kiss between her best friend, the lead in a play, and her current crush goes on a little too long while on stage.  This event sends her over the edge to prove that she is not the girl behind the curtains.  She does what everyone thinks she isn't capable of, she enters into a contestant called Nerve. This basically is a game to get you into extremely uncomfortable and sometimes dangerous situations to see how brave you really are.  Her first few dares, while embarrassing are not that dangerous and the prizes that are given for completing are just too enticing.  She continues on with the game with help of a hot guy who is also playing with her and soon they find themselves at in grand finale.  As you can guess the stakes are high, but when the game turns deadly all bets are off and Vee realizes that being that girl behind the curtain may not have been that bad.

I loved the beginning of this book. It was like I said above very intense and my adrenaline was out of control.  I wanted to know the next dare and I couldn't wait to see if Vee and Ian could accomplish it and win the awesome prize.  The dares weren't that bad as far as physically but what they have to go through emotionally was totally heartbreaking.  I felt bad for so many of things they had to do in the later dares but then I found myself saying "They can quit if they want to so it is their choice".  I also had the thought that if everyone was so into this game wouldn't they know that the things Vee did were l=only because of a dare?  Even with that though I thought the beginning was great.  I love the characters and all the twists and turns that were thrown in. The dares that Vee completed were hilarious up until she had to go to the bowling alley.  I can't spoil it but that one event was kinda the turning point in the book for me.  What follows is uncomfortable, dangerous, and just not where I thought the book would go especially the ending.  It all felt like a really weird "Saw" movie spinoff for YA, but without any real scare behind it.  I know it is all psychological but I wasn't scared at the end.  I am not sure what would have happened in those last few minutes and I am sure being in that situation would have been terrifying but for me as a reader I didn't buy it.  I wanted more information on the previous games so that I could really see how sinister the gamekeepers actually could be and that might have given me a basis for what they were actually capable of.  I also had a hard time with the way the characters ended up. I am proud of one, baffled by another, and I need way more information to believe the other.  I think too much was kept from me so I can't really buy into the whole thing.

Okay I know that all sounds bad, but please believe me that this wasn't a bad book at all.  The beginning grabbed me and my heart didn't slow down until the final pages.  I am still very curious about the ending and I am dying to know if there will be a sequel.  The last few lines of the book totally pulled me back in so you can definitely say I am hooked.  I am hoping if there is a sequel we will get to see more of the behind the scenes stuff.   I will also say that with all our social networking sites I can totally see this happening in real life and that is beyond terrifying.

Find the Author:
 Website

3.5 Stars



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