☆☆☆3/5 stars

*Non-spoiler review*


The concept of Jeanne Ryan's 'Nerve' is a dangerous but tempting all or nothing game played to win various prizes by the general public. Anyone can play but not everyone will have the chance to go for the big prizes. I thought the idea was great, it was thrilling and intriguing, with its constant need to win more and explore the main characters edgy side. With that being said, it wasn't all I'd hoped it would live up to be. When I saw the trailer to the movie adaptation I was hooked, it was the only thing I wanted to read and yet I couldn't find it! All of my local bookstores were restocking or just didn't have it and I didn't want to buy it online. Needless to say I fell into a book slump for about two months, anything I picked up I just wasn't interested in, and then I finally found it when we stopped at a Barnes and Noble on our way back home from a trip. I read the whole thing in one sitting and even though I enjoyed it, there are many things that could've been elaborated and defined to thicken the plot. There were many unanswered questions that would have easily been addressed had the ending not been rushed, we don't know much about any of the main characters even by the end, and the planning of the story wasn't as puzzling and elaborate as it could've been. I should give this book 2 & 1/2 stars but I threw in the other half to make three just because I did enjoy reading it.

“we've learned an interesting rule about fame. Those who seem desperate for it are the people that others least want to see.” 
― Jeanne Ryan, Nerve

*Spoiler Review*

To start off with the prologue was very gripping, and the author should have used more backstory to feed the energy into the book. The main character was whiny and I didn't enjoy her attitude throughout the book, she had every chance to quit the game yet she continued to play and whined about it. The prizes Vee was offered for the beginning challenges seemed petty and not worth it, if the author would have enticed the reader as well it would have made us more interested in the main character continuing on. I would have liked to see more details into the characters lives, as the info we were given was very vague. The whole unraveling of Vee's mysterious backstory wasn't very satisfying to me, I still don't understand why her parents would ground her for months and months if they really believed that she tried to commit suicide. I understand that you would want to keep a close eye on her but to ground your child for something like that is crazy, you'd want to figure out the problem and see how to help not punish them! (I honestly don't know why the author even put it in the book)  As for Ian his character really fascinated me, and we really lost the chance at character development when the author decided to leave our thoughts wondering. Ian's prizes and vague comments meant more to him that Vee's prizes did, you know up until the whole free ride to college for completing the final rounds. There was so much opportunity for this book and I'm sad it just didn't play out in the way it could have. It had so much potential in the beginning and if it would have been better planned out with foreshadowing and intricate clues then it would have been such an amazing book. I just want anyone who is reading my review to know that I did enjoy the book no matter all of the critiquing I gave it, sometimes the hype just kills it and sometimes the potential doesn't reach it's expectations.