Book 998: Coaching the Nerd (Nerds vs Jocks #2) – Eli Easton & Tara Lain

It’s a toss-up whether this or Schooling the Jock is my favorite from the series. They were both sooooo good.

Coaching the Nerd happens simultaneously as the first book and features, Sean, the smartest of the Sigma’s who has made a New Year’s Resolution to get in shape and lose his virginity, and Bubba, (Gawain – swoon) a massive third-line defenseman on the school’s football team that’s never met someone who wasn’t a future friend.

I can’t quite put my finger on why this one was as good as the first. The story wasn’t as deep or compelling, but the characters were just so perfectly adorable and awkward that there was no question they fit together. And maybe it has to do with the size difference? Jesse and Dobbs aren’t described with quite as much difference in their physicality whereas Bubba is well over six feet and Sean is pretty small. That, but then also that they both had something that helped the other out.

Sean’s awkwardness in social situations was definitely the highlight of the book for me. Anytime there’s a character that has even the slightest awkwardness I’m drawn to them. Sean, however, takes it to a different level and just speaks his mind and asks the questions no one else will. And this is what slowly brings Bubba around to the fact that he’s in love with Sean.

Bubba, on the other hand, is used to being told he’s stupid and that he can’t do anything mentally challenging. That’s part of what’s led to his super nice and open personality, but Sean pushes past that and helps him see that he’s incredibly intelligent and that it’s how he processes information that’s the challenge, not Bubba’s innate abilities. I also LOVED that when Bubba loves, he loves with his whole heart. As soon, as he realized he wanted Sean he came out as bisexual and they were together. What stood in their way was Sean’s parents’ perception of Bubba’s intelligence—which sucked.

There were some hilarious scenes on the flag football field that left me chuckling for hours after. Especially that first scene when Bubba tries to help Sean but seriously screws it up and sends him running in the wrong direction to score a touchdown. It also lets us spend more time with Bubba’s frat and get to know some of those characters. At the same time, the big scene that brings the crisis to an end is also on the flag football field and I held my breath for those few pages. It finally brought Sean out of his shell and he stood up to his parents and declared his love for Bubba.

The sex scenes were great and OMG the first time they kissed—mind blown! The minor characters continued to make the series better. There was another twist that I guessed, but only as a joke to myself (assume everyone is gay until told otherwise), and when it came out that it was true I was like oh wow okay. If there’s one disappointment with the series, it’s that the diver (the second nerd that joined the flag football team) didn’t get his own story. The rest did.

Recommendation: Bubba and Sean are probably my favorite protagonists, but I think Schooling the Jock‘s storyline just beats it out for my overall favorite novel. There were so many adorably perfect scenes in this one. Sean’s awkward directness and Bubba’s goofy friendliness just worked perfectly for me and their interactions left me giddy and happy.

Opening Line: “Go back! Go back! Go back!”

Closing Line: “‘I love it when you talk dirty, baby.’ Bubba laughed and pulled me out the door.” (Whited out to avoid spoilers, highlight to read.)