Crushing on You: Nerd Vs. Jock Romantic Fiction (4 Stars)

I recently finished reading Crushing on You by Sara Beaker. It is a sometimes cheesy book about Ingrid, a PhD student in sociology. Her dissertation is based on stereotypes being true with a focus on the “dumb jock” stereotype. Her plan might backfire a bit when she decides to involve her high school crush, Connell, as a test subject. While Ingrid was the stereotypical high school nerd, Connell was a high school basketball star. This book came out earlier this year, so you can read it now.

Messages to Consider

This was an enjoyable book, which I felt was about how stereotypes are not always true. Along with that, it’s about how people aren’t one-dimensional. I would also say that there’s a big message about how people do grow up and mature. We are not the same people that we were twenty years ago. This book, while lighthearted really did have some deep messages if you’re willing to accept them.

Stereotypical Anti-Stereotype Book?

I was actually impressed with how this book didn’t quite go in the direction that I expected it to go. I thought from almost the first page that I knew exactly how the “misunderstanding” would turn out. While I was somewhat correct, the actual issues between our two main characters were better thought out than I anticipated. I was going to explain that, but I feel like it might be a bit of a spoiler if I elaborated more than that.

Where It Went Wrong

There were points throughout the story where the dialogue was a bit choppy. Some parts of the plot felt a bit too farfetched and like the author should have researched the topic a bit more. While I did enjoy the story, it needed a bit more polishing to make it a 5-star book.

Clean or Not?

There is no violence or graphic sexual content in this book. There’s some kissing, but that’s as far as it goes. There are a few swear words, mostly the ones that some people might consider more “minor” swear words. The most jarring for me was that the characters fairly regularly take the Lord’s name in vain. I’d say this probably happens around 15-20 times. If not counting the “Lord’s name in vain” swearing, there were probably about five swear words in total. Ultimately, while it was overall a clean novel, the swearing, particularly the use of the Lord’s name in vain, puts this as an almost-clean novel in my mind.