Liquid Silver Books, $4.25, ISBN 978-1-59578-780-4
Contemporary Romance, 2010
I’m sure you can guess what the story in Lauren Fraser’s The Geek Next Door will be.
We have a romance novel nerd, Dylan Crane. He’s a romance novel nerd because he is a good-looking fellow behind those Buddy Holly glasses. He’s in love with Erin Sharp, her neighbor, but so far he finds himself feeding the goldfish or watering her flowers while she’s off on a hot date with guys who drive sports cars.
Predictably, her dates are all boring and non-fulfilling types, so imagine her surprise when she all of a sudden lusts after Dylan. He teaches her how to play World of Warcraft, gives her good sex, and she realizes after a while that, oh, no wonder she is unhappy: she is working hard to get money. That is such horrible thing for a heroine to do! (Of course, when a romance hero works hard for the money, that’s a virtue.) She runs back to the male model who just happens to play World of Warcraft and wear ugly glasses in order to be passed off as a geek, casts aside her grubby greed for love, and is finally happy at last.
The Geek Next Door would have been a fabulous read back in 1980. In 2010, there are probably a million incarnations of this very same story that follows the same script out there already. As readable as this one may be, it’s too generic and predictable to be of much use to anyone who isn’t seeking a comfort read.
