My Nerdy Valentine (Nerds, Book 7)

VICKI LEWIS THOMPSON

Synopsis from Goodreads: Aspiring psychologist Amanda Rykowsky's schedule is certifiable. Between study, bartending, and an internship with a sex therapist whose techniques would make a Playboy bunny blush, there's zero time for romance. Still, Amanda is flattered to receive an anonymous Valentine…until the messages take a sinister turn.

Stockbroker William Sloan swears he's not the one sending Amanda cards, but he suspects the culprit's intentions are more dubious than sharing a box of Godiva. Something about gorgeous, determined Amanda brings out the usually reserved William's inner he-man, and he insists on acting as a decoy boyfriend.

With a fake relationship masking some very real lust, it's only a matter of time before William and Amanda give in to the sweetest of temptations. And once he's dealt with her secret stalker, William's next mission is to strike Amanda with Cupid's arrow…

Stats for my copy: Mass market paperback, St. Martin's Paperbacks, 2006.

How acquired: Bought.

First line: The paper bag crammed with sex toys began to rip as Amanda Rykowsky trudged up the marble staircase to her boss's second-floor office.

My thoughts: This is the seventh book in the author's Nerds series. I loved the first two books, but after that each book seemed to be a little more ridiculous or over the top than the one before. That doesn't mean I didn't enjoy them, because I did. They are all full of wacky characters and humorous dialogue/situations, and despite the times when I scoffed or rolled my eyes, they were all still fun reads, even if not quite as good as the first two.

Until now. In fact, this may be my favorite book of the series.

I loved all the characters in this book. Amanda, who takes college classes by morning, interns for a sex therapist by afternoon, and tends bar at Geekland by night, where the staff all dress as geeks, complete with nerdy glasses. She is focused on her studies, planning to go on to Harvard when she graduates. Sex therapy is definitely not the field of psychology she wants to go into, but it was the only internship she was able to get, after having fallen for a man, losing her focus for awhile, and letting her grades slip. Now she's back on track, and a relationship is not part of the plan. Not in the near future anyway.

Then she meets the stockbroker down the hall. William at work, Will to his friends, he wants to date her from the get go, but she puts him off. Meanwhile, Amanda's boss, Gloria, decides Will will be her next conquest (she's never had a nerd before), and she is blatant in her desire. At first Amanda is fine with helping Gloria land the nerd, because if Gloria gets Will, then Amanda doesn't have to worry about him pursing her and can stay on the track she's set for herself.

But then there's a stalker, leaving anonymous Valentines for Amanda. Amanda believes it's Will at first, and keeps trying to discourage him, but eventually she is persuaded to let Will help her try to track the stalker down,and keep her safe.

When Will and Amanda finally do the down and dirty, it gets pretty hot, even if a little over the top there as well. Seriously, three or more orgasms every single time? Who does that?

Gloria was a bit over the top as a character. She's very open, very free, very self-centered, very sexual. But Amanda is so down to earth, they balanced each other out nicely. And of course working for a sex therapist led to all kinds of crazy and potentially embarrassing situations, that were also very funny. Despite Gloria's outrageousness, I loved her interactions with Amanda and Will, and Will's friend Justin. Amanda also has a couple of kooky neighbors who were fun characters in their own ways.

Fun. That's the bottom line, I guess. This book was just plain fun.

Nerds Like It Hot (Nerds, Book 6)

VICKI LEWIS THOMPSON

Back cover copy: She's unleashed her inner vixen…

Hollywood makeup artist Gillian McCormick wouldn't normally be caught dead on a cruise aimed at single geeks. But as the sole witness to a murder, hiding out may be her only chance at staying alive. With P.I. Lex Manchester guarding her, and a voluptuous disguise in place of her plain-Jane wardrobe, Gillian should be safe… if she can resist a titanic attraction to Lex that's making her fantasize about some extra-naughty cruise activities…

He's rediscovered his inner nerd…

Lex thought he had left behind his nerdy ways, but his suave demeanor has no chance against Gillian's bombshell image and the smart, sexy woman within. And when the scent of seduction wafts through the sea air, what's a red-blooded male to do?

And the passion they've found is about to get out of control…

With a passenger list that includes a mobster on a mission, a cross-dressing sociopath, and hundreds of lusty nerds, Lex must find a way to keep Gillian safe--and prove that he's truly her nerd for all seasons…

Stats for my copy: Mass market paperback, St. Martin's Press, 2006.

How acquired: Bought.

First lines: “Gillian, Darling, it's Cora. Four out of five women surveyed say that nerds are amazing in bed. You simply must go on this cruise with me. Kiss, kiss.”

My thoughts: As I've now come to expect with this series, the characters and the situations they find themselves in are a little campy, a little over the top. Well, actually, not the characters this time around as much as the situations.

Gillian does makeup in the cutthroat world of Hollywood. Leaving the studio late one night, she overhears a ruckus coming from one of the star's dressing rooms, and just like that she's a witness to a murder with mob connections. Her elderly friend Cora, a former star who was friends with Marilyn Monroe back in the day, is headed out on a singles cruise for nerds the next day, and Cora convinces Gillian to go along as a way of getting out of the country. And she convinces Gillian to dye her hair and put on a sexy dress and bam, Gillian is a Marilyn Monroe lookalike. Because rather than blend in with the crowds of ill dressed and badly coiffed nerds and be inconspicuous, Cora says that she needs to stand out and participate in as many cruise activities as she can, so nobody would ever mistake “Norma Jean”, her fake cruise name, for Gillian.

Lex and Dante are childhood friends who have a fledgling private investigations business. They grew up in Cora's neighborhood and she considers them the grandsons she never had. So Cora hires them to come along on the cruise as bodyguards for Gillian. Cora happens to know the owners of the cruise line, so has no problem making last minute arrangements. Unfortunately, trouble follows Gillian as it soon becomes apparent that someone else managed to get on the cruise as well, and that someone wants Gillian dead.

A few scenes left me shaking my head with disbelief – Gillian verbally admiring how well endowed Lex is; a cross-dresser using fruit in a way nature never intended – but overall it was a fun and quick paced screwball romp with plenty of the author's signature humor and heart. 

Talk Nerdy To Me (Nerds, Book 5)

VICKI LEWIS THOMPSON

Synopsis from back of book: Fashion model Eve Dupree is fed up with being labeled “the pretty one” while her sister's called a genius. Eve's got loads of brilliant ideas, not least of which is the invention she's building in her garage. But when she turns to the nerd next door to help get it off the ground, she finds herself on dangerous ground.

Charlie Shepherd has discovered that there's more to Eve than meets the eye. But it's not just her body he likes – it's those sexy brains of hers. Romance is a complication he doesn't need right now. The problem is, she has something he needs and he can't seem to resist her.

Keeping her creation under wraps is harder than Eve expected – as is denying her attraction to Charlie. But when a saboteur starts sniffing around her project, she questions everyone around her, even her nerd in shining armor. Can opposites attract, or will they light a fire they can't control?

Stats for my copy: Mass market paperback, published by St. Martin's Press, 2006; purchased new.

First line: The explosion caught Charlie by surprise.

My thoughts: Is it just me, or are these Nerds books becoming less and less about characters who actually are real nerds, and more and more about sex?

The synopsis above sums it up pretty well, so I'm not going into a description of the plot. Suffice it to say, Eve and Charlie meet, then lust after each other. Eve is new in town and thrilled to have found a place in a cozy homey little middle American town, away from the bright lights/big city of her usual life. Charlie has lived in said town his whole life and can't wait to get away. Thus, they both realize the other person is unattainable as a permanent mate, so they try to hold back, leading to much brooding and internalizing.

Eve supposedly has genius level smarts, though she didn't graduate from high school. Which is OK – I think I'm fairly intelligent myself and I also did not graduate from high school, so nothing wrong with that. When Charlie tells her his phone number, she doesn't need to write it down, because she can just remember it right off the bat. Yet when she visited her sister one time, she set off the alarm at her sister's house several times over a weekend because she couldn't get the code right. And those codes are usually only four digits.

I liked Charlie, very much. He's a good guy, who is protective of his mother and aunt, and rides a motorcycle while wearing leather chaps. Eve was OK. She's sweet enough, a little naive despite being a runway model and having been raised in elite society, and of course she's beautiful with her perfect 36B figure. The supporting characters were all definitely characters, with the neighbor who claimed to have been abducted by aliens and taught all sorts of alien love techniques being the most out there. The whole book just seemed a little silly and over the top.

And yet, I still really enjoyed it. It was a fun read, with some hot scenes and lots of humor. I just hope that at least continues in the rest of the series. 

Gone With The Nerd (Nerds, Book 4)

VICKI LEWIS THOMPSON

Synopsis from back of book: Movie star Zoe Tarleton has everything but respect. Now she's determined to get it by snagging the coveted role of a plain-Jane chemist. All she needs is for her decidedly uncool attorney, Flynn Granger, to teach her the award-winning subtleties of being a nerd.

California's “Bigfoot Country” is the ideal secret hideaway for coaching. That means rehearsing the steamy scenes too. Who'd have guessed that Zoe and Flynn's performances would be so convincing? Unfortunately, something is turning their hot love story into a hair-raising thriller.

The killer bees, the poisoned food, and the toppled tree are no accidents. Someone's out to get them. Does Flynn have a love-struck woman in his life? Does Zoe have an insanely jealous fan? Or is Bigfoot real – and more resourceful than anyone imagined? It's just Zoe's luck. She's finally found the man of her dreams and the role of a lifetime – and both of them could be her last.

Stats for my copy: Mass market paperback, published by St. Martin's Press, 2005; Christmas present from my mom.

First line: Two blocks from the restaurant, Zoe Tarleton knew she was screwed.

My thoughts: Zoe is a fun heroine, a movie star who's been relegated to glamour girl roles and who longs to be taken seriously. She's auditioning for the role of a nerdy scientist, and decides she needs to immerse herself in the world of nerdism. Enter Flynn, her contract lawyer. He wears glasses, he drives an older car (she has to ask him how to lock the doors because the car does not have power locks), he's in a long distance relationship with another lawyer, and his PDA is never out his reach. When Zoe asks him to go to a remote cabin in the woods under the assumed names (from the movie script) of Tony and Vera (in order for her to avoid being recognized by anyone) and teach her everything she needs to know about being a nerd, he is resistant, but finally gives in and agrees, on one condition – he has to tell his girlfriend where he'll be and why.

Part of the nerd training sessions involve reading lines of hokey dialogue from the movie script, with Flynn coaching Zoe on how a nerd would talk or act or respond to situations, such as telling her the character of Vera would not leave the top two buttons of her blouse undone, or she would not sound so sure of herself, etc. I thought the movie dialogue was a little over the top, and that Zoe was wrong in thinking this was a serious movie that would get her serious attention. I kept anticipating that in the end the movie would be a bomb or be canceled before it got off the ground, or something along those lines. But no, it actually was a serious movie.

Of course all kinds of wacky times ensue, some between the two of them, some involving the local townspeople. Flynn quickly gets into the spirit of things and embraces his nerd persona, and Zoe quickly realizes she wants to embrace Flynn. They dance around each other, and the build up to their relationship was played out slowly (though not too slowly since it is a single weekend) and satisfyingly.

I went into this one a little leery compared to the other Nerd books, as the backdrop of the Bigfoot storyline did not appeal to me at all, but I was satisfied with the way that played out.

As usual with a Vicki Lewis Thompson book, there is plenty of humor to go along with the heat. One of my favorite passages:

As long as Flynn kept his tie on, he wouldn't turn into Tony. Besides, most sexual encounters began when a guy loosened his tie. A loose tie led to everything becoming loose. Flynn wanted to stay tight.

Unfortunately when I made a note of that passage I forgot to write down the page number and I'm too lazy to flip through the book and look for it now.

Very enjoyable, and I'm looking forward to continuing with the series. 

Nerd Gone Wild (Nerds, Book 3)

VICKI LEWIS THOMPSON 

Synopsis from back of book: Inheriting a fortune means less to Ally Jarrett than fulfilling her real dream: to take off for the wilds of Alaska and photograph animals. Unfortunately she;'s also inherited her grandmother's personal assistant – an overprotective nerd who couldn't survive a snowball fight.

As a PI and bodyguard, Mitchell Carruthers is the perfect man to protect his late employer's granddaughter. However, keeping his geek-masquerade – and the secret behind his real mission – isn’t easy when the freeze between Ally and Mitchell begins to melt.

Yet all's not well in the sub-zero paradise. Ally's bad seed uncle is staking a claim on the family inheritance with a dangerous masquerade of his own. With Ally's life in danger, it's time for her right-and nerd to expose the real man undercover, and prove himself to the vulnerable body he's been hired to guard.

Stats for my copy: Mass market paperback, published by St. Martin's Press, 2005; purchased new.

First line: “Here in Porcupine, some folks have sex just to keep warm.”

My thoughts: Ally is an heiress who's grandmother has recently passed away, leaving her a fortune. But Ally has no desire to be involved in the running of her grandmother's estate or affairs, or being a society woman. Instead she packs up and flies to Alaska, camera in tow, to photograph wildlife. Her uncle Kurt, who lives in Alaska, has arranged for a famous photographer to meet her there and provide some one on one mentoring.

She's dismayed when Mitchell, her grandmother's nerdy personal assistant shows up, under the flimsy excuse of coming across some paperwork that needs her signature. She thinks he's really followed her because he has a crush on her. She doesn't know that he's actually a private investigator/bodyguard, hiding behind a nerd persona, but she does slowly become aware of the hot bod he's hiding under his nerdy clothes.

Mitchell isn't a true nerd, though he has nerd roots from his high school days, which helps him carry off the persona. And of course he is attracted to Ally, but he really did follow her because he promised her grandmother he would protect her. Ally doesn't know the true story behind why her uncle Kurt was banished from the family home and why her grandmother would never even allow his name to be spoken in her presence. But grandma did confide in Mitchell, and Mitchell is determined to keep Kurt from trying to get his hands on any of Ally's inheritance.

There are lots of wacky supporting characters – in fact, every supporting character seems to be wackier than the last. There's plenty of humor, and there's a pretty hot strip poker game. I didn't love this one as much as Book 2 in the Nerds series, THE NERD WHO LOVED ME, but it was a lot of fun. 

The Nerd Who Loved Me (Nerds, Book 2)

VICKI LEWIS THOMPSON

Synopsis from Goodreads:

She's got the high-kicks...
Lainie Terrell is no ordinary single mother. With feathers in all the right places, she's one of the hottest showgirls in Vegas. Aside from a hot-tempered ex-boyfriend on her sequined tail, Lainie's biggest problem is finding a decent babysitter for her son. Lainie's dilemma is solved when she ropes Harry Ambrewster, the casino's shy-but very smart and cute-accountant, into the task.He's got the low-down...
Inheriting his chemist father's high I.Q. and sexy good looks, Harry has always been intrigued by Lainie. He isn't thrilled at the prospect of babysitting, but he'll do anything to get near the gal who fuels his craziest fantasies. Then Lainie's dangerous ex comes knocking...Their option? Run faster than a pair of net stockings...
In disguise and on the lam, Lainie's masquerading as the perfect wife. Harry's doubling as the he-man protector. But with a set-up this hot, who's fooling who? When the lights go down, and the masks come off, a nerd like Harry could be just the right ignition to set a woman like Lainie on fire...

Stats for my copy: Mass market paperback, St. Martin's Press, 2004; bought at a used book store in 2005.

First line: “At work, my mommy wears teeny-tiny, sparkly clothes.”

My thoughts: Vicki Lewis Thompson is one of those authors who, after first discovering them, I begin collecting everything of theirs I come across. NERD IN SHINING ARMOR was the first of her books I read, way back in 2005, and since then I've collected the entire Nerds series, though this is only the second of those I've gotten around to reading. I've read seven other books by Ms. Thompson, most of which I've enjoyed, and I have another whopping forty-three of her books in my massive to be read pile!

From the first page I was hooked. I don't think this is considered a trope, but I do especially like stories where the hero is not used to being around children but finds himself having to interact with one. Although since Dexter, aged 4, is one of those kid geniuses who talks and acts much older than he really is, and Harry the accountant is also pretty danged intelligent, Harry doesn't really have much trouble talking to and relating to Dexter for long. Which makes him the perfect babysitter, as the usual babysitters don't last since they're all apparently to dumb to keep Dexter amused. I have this thing about kids in books. I like when a character has kids, but I want the kids to be realistic actual characters in their own right, and not just overly precocious plot devices. Dexter, with his super intelligence and often adult behavior, sometimes tread close to that brink, but he never toppled over it. Since my own kids are intelligent but non-geniuses, I don't know how realistic Dexter is, but overall I liked the way he was written and was happy with him.

While Harry has admired Lainie from afar, or at least from the audience at her shows at the casino where they both work, he would never seriously consider asking her out. For one, why would she want to go out with a boring accountant? And for two, Harry's mother was also a single parent show girl, and Harry wants a wife who is the complete opposite. Meanwhile, Lainie doesn't think Harry could ever get serious about her because, for one, see his for two above, which Lainie is aware of, and for two, she figures he wouldn't think she's smart enough for him.

I really liked Lainie. I was just a tad uncomfortable with the fact that she moved her child out of state and away from her ex without having anything set up legally through the courts to protect her rights in case the ex came calling, though I know women do this all the time. And I totally get why she did it. And when the chips were down, I admired that she was prepared to sacrifice her own happiness for the future well being of her son. I would do just about anything for my kids, but I don't think I would have been wiling to do what Lainie was prepared to do.

I loved Harry. He isn't the chiseled bronzed stud that the hero often is (not that I don't like them also), but neither is he the stereotypical nebbishy geek that the word nerd often suggests. He's a good man, who wants a good woman who can satisfy him both sexually and intellectually. When there is danger, his adrenaline flows and he may be frightened, like a normal person would be, but he tamps the fear down and acts courageously. He's a gentleman, but he's also a man.

Throw in the worthless ex who needs to show his father he has an heir in order to inherit a fortune and pay off his gambling debts, Harry's mother and her ex-showgirl friends, her long time boyfriend with suspicious mob behavior, and a good ole boy time share salesman/snake wrangler, a little suspension of disbelief for the slightly outrageous plot, and you've got a funny and very enjoyable good time that will leave you with the happy feels.