Customer Reviews

The Nerd Who Loved Me

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

In Las Vegas accountant Harry Ambrewster baby sits four year old genius Dexter Terrell while his mother Lainie dances at the Nirvana Casino. Dexter's dad Joey Benjamin angrily arrives drunk demanding to see his son who he has ignored since the kid was born. Concerned for Dexter's safety, Harry takes the kid, finds Lainie and drives to the home of his mom Rona, who comes up with a plan to confuse Joey. Dexter will remain with Rona while Lainie and Harry pretend to be Mr. and Mrs. Fred Ambrewster visiting a timesharing resort in Sedona, New Mexico.

Joey tells a bartender that he can inherit billions if he produces a kid but because he had the mumps so the probability of a second child is zero. He needs Dexter to show to his father.

A crying Lainie and Harry travel to reach Crimson Canyon Resort, which is a dump. Lainie and Harry make love, but she insists nothing permanent will follow. When she learns why Joey wants their child, Lainie wonders if Dexter might be better off with his father's wealthy family though she loves Harry.

The strong lead couple and the terrific "good guys" support cast make for a delightful tale that is part comedy and part intrigue. Joey is too dumb of a drunk to be a challenge while his latest girlfriend pulls off a stunt that endangers Dexter, but she never appears again. Still the interaction between all the good guys and the retired chorus line make for a fine amusing romantic suspense just do not play chess with a four year old prodigy.

Harriet Klausner

Really enjoyed this book. Loved the main characters. Harry and Lainie really had a connection on the pages. Lainie's son, Dexter with Harry was so cute. Enjoyed the atmosphere of the Vegas showgirls. Harry's mother was hillarious. This is an extremely quick read. If you're looking for a light, funny, cute book this is the one for you especially just to lay in the sun.

Las Vegas showgirl Lainie Terrell has to leave town fast. The abusive father of her five-year-old son suddenly decided he wants their child. Joey Benjamin owes some really bad people some really big money. He doesn't give a damn about his son. He never claimed Dexter and hasn't even told his family the kid exists. But things have changed. Joey's billionaire father wants a grandson, and Joey plans on using this kid to obtain the money he needs. Now if he could only get rid of Lainie. There's no way he can take a showgirl home to "Daddy."

Lainie doesn't know what Joey is up to, but she knows it's no good. She turns to her friend Harry Ambrewster for help, but she's apprehensive because she has feelings for Harry-feelings that could change their relationship from just friends. She knows he could never accept a woman like her in that way-or could he?

Harry Ambrewster, accountant and genius extraordinaire, has to save Lainie and her son Dexter from this drunken madman who came banging on her door claiming to be the child's father. Harry sneaks the two out of town to his mother's. His mother, a former showgirl, comes up with this crazy scheme to help keep Lainie and Dexter safe while she matchmakes between Harry and Lainie. If everything works out for his mother, she'll have a daughter-in-law and a grandson by the end of this ordeal.

While I was reading THE NERD WHO LOVE ME, my children came to check on me a few times. They couldn't understand why their mother who was in a quiet room, sitting in a chair, reading a book would just burst out in hysterical fits of laughter. The cast of characters, both main and secondary, were well-developed and fun to read about. I'll definitely be in line for future works by Vicki Lewis Thompson.

Reviewed by Deatri King-Bey
of The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers

A little backstory: I was in a public library with a friend when I found this book. We are both engineering students, and were on our way to the science fiction section when this series caught my eye. I pointed it out and we both laughed, and I picked a book at random to see how well I could relate to these so-called "nerds."

Vicki Lewis Thompson claims to love nerds, but after reading this, I find it hard to believe she's met a nerd in her life. She just doesn't know enough about her characters to write them convincingly. What makes Harry a nerd? He's an accountant, kind of shy, not a body builder, and he wears glasses. So what?! The nerdy references are few and far between, and painfully contrived, so it's easy to forget that this guy is any different from the usual studs of romance literature. This guy isn't a nerd, he's just normal, boring, and a little shy. At age 33, a real nerd's D&D campaigns would still be going strong.

Aside from that, the story was pretty ridiculous. Not very much makes sense, and the characters' reactions and emotions seem a little off. Not my favorite genre to begin with, but I'm sure there's better out there.

Most people's objection (if they had one) to Nerd in Shining Armor was that the heroine was distasteful. My objection here was to the hero - not that he was unpleasant, just that he wasn't well-portrayed as a nerd. The charm of Nerd in Shining Armor was the metamorphosis of the hero into a hero. Here it seemed to me that Harry was already there. This may be due to the fact that the plot was so overwhelming that none of the characters really got deep enough for my tastes.

I enjoyed this book, no doubt about it. It was a pleasant way to spend a Sunday afternoon, and the writing was smoother than I recall the first one being. That said, it read like a typical romance novel, rather than an addition to the genre. I recommend it absolutely, but I hope in the next book, the nerd is just a little bit nerdier.

I have read some of this author's other "nerd" books and my one complaint is always that her nerds aren't nerdy enough. They may seem nerdy on the outside but they usually have a nice body under all those clothes or a good looking face once they take off their glasses. The hero in this book, Harry, falls into the same category. Although he seemed a bit more nerdy than her usual characters. The heroine's son Dexter, a 4 year old genius, is sooo cute and I loved those parts with him and Harry. The book was a nice quick read and I liked that he was an accountant and she was a showgirl. I laughed out loud a few times. This author writes well...my only suggestion is to please "nerd up" your men more.

This was rather disappointing. I love brainy characters, and I enjoyed the first book in the Nerd series: Nerd in Shining Armor, but this one fell flat.

Harry, the Nerd from the title, has, according to the cover: "...an I.Q. higher than Einstein's..." We get told this very often, but the only evidence we see of it is that he works as an accountant, and can lose at chess to a 4-year-old. Most of the time, he's just a stereotypically unathletic doofus, except when he gets protective about Lainie, the heroine.

Likewise, his big problem is that he hasn't found a woman he's attracted to who can keep up with him intellectually. I actually like this problem, because I think being able to communicate is hugely important in a relationship. But again, we never really see it. A couple of times, he tries to convince Lainie (and himself?) that her photographic memory and intuition means she's smarter than the rest of her fellow showgirls, but we never, for example, see him trying to talk to someone who just can't keep up.

The bulk of the story is taken up by Harry's retired-showgirl mom, her maybe-mafia boyfriend, and their group of friends while they try to keep Lainie's ex-boyfriend and father of her son from catching up to them.

There are some funny moments in the book, none of them really having to do with the apparent main characters. The laughs are worth the reading time, and if you subscribe to the notion that smart people are really doofuses, you'll probably like the book a lot better than I did.

This book is a bunch of silly nothingness. Sometimes, if I'm in the mood, that can appeal to me; but not in this case. I almost didn't finish it, which would have rated 1 star; but I plowed on through to the end and will give it 2 stars just for accomplishing that. But, sorry, it goes in the discard pile.

After "Nerd in Shining Armor" I was ready for another "nerd" from Vicki Lewis Thompson. Although that novel definitely had its flaws (an unbelievable plotline, heavy use of stereotypes, and love scenes with some questionable prose), the novel was undeniably fun and original.

Thankfully, "The Nerd Who Loved Me" retains all of the spark of "Nerd in Shining Armor" while ditching all of the flaws. The plot is still far-fetched, but if I wanted reality, I wouldn't be reading a romance novel. The chemistry between the two main characters, Harry and Lainie, is great, but the supporting cast may be even better.

Lainie's adorable genius son, Harry's ex-showgirl mother and her mobster boyfriend, a really bad time-share salesman... all of the characters were quirky yet loveable. I don't remember much of the secondary characters from "Nerd in Shining Armor" but I don't think I'll be forgetting this crew for a while.

My only complaints about the novel are somewhat picky. I felt that the author kept the "villian" of the story around far too long--in the last few pages, when all I wanted to see was Harry and Lainie, along comes the bad guy yet again, getting in the way of both the characters and the plotline.

Also, I felt that the author didn't really emphasize Lainie's intelligence anough. Harry's problem with women revolves around the fact that a) he's attracted to them, but they can't stimulate him mentally or b) they are intelligent but can't stimulate him in... uh, other ways. Lainie is a gorgeous showgirl, but Harry's only glimpse into her mind occurs when he realizes she has a photographic memory. Then, viola! She's a genius, and Harry can now feel free to fall in love. I felt that the author could have made Lainie more compatible for Harry in that nature, and the love between the two characters would have seemed more realistic.

Other than that, the novel was fun, the characters were hilarious, and it was a nice diversion from life for a while. For those willing to suspend your disbelief and have a good time, I highly recommend this novel.

Vicki Lewis Thompson has done it again!!! The 'Nerd' books are the BEST books I have ever read!! This is an exciting romantic suspense tale with a touch of the paranormal that hooks the reader from the beginning. An overwhelmingly fun story that comes highly recommended by me!!!