Review: The Nerdy and The Dirty by B. T. Gottfred


Goodreads|Amazon|Author Website
Release date: November 15, 2016

Publisher: Henry Holt

Genre: YA/Contemporary Romance 

Blurb: 

Pen Lupo is sick and tired of hiding who she is. On the outside, Pen is popular, quiet, and deferential to her boyfriend. On the inside, however, Pen is honest, opinionated–and not quite sure that she’s like other girls. Do they have urges like she does?


His classmates may consider him a nerd, but Benedict Pendleton knows he’s destined for great things. All he has to do is find a worthy girlfriend, and his social station will be secured. Sure, Benedict is different–but that’s what he likes about himself.


When fate intervenes, both Pen and Benedict end up at the same vacation resort for winter break. Despite their differences, the two are drawn together. But is there such a thing as happily ever after for a nympho and a nerd?

Review: 

Ugh you guys. This was a painful and cringeworthy read. That pretty much sums up my thoughts on this book. Just ugh. I hate writing negative reviews, I really do. But I cannot allow some other unsuspecting soul to think like me and say, oh this sounds cute and original! It’s not. It tries really hard to be but it misses the mark by like a mile. I won this book through a Goodreads giveaway and thank god, because I would’ve been pissed had I actually spent money on this.

There’s two POV here, Pen and Benedict. Pen is popular and sex obsessed. Weird that’s how I describe her, right? I have no choice because the author ensured that ninety nine percent of what she thought about was sex. She talks about how much she masturbates constantly, then as if that isn’t enough, there are multiple scenes where she’s masturbating as well. Look, maybe I’m just old, or prudish, but I don’t want to imagine a sixteen year old girl masturbating, much less have to read about it in detail. I felt like a voyeuristic creep way more than I’m comfortable admitting. 

Benedict has more substance to him than Pen, but honestly, that’s not saying much. He’s a nerd but he is overly confident and doesn’t care what anyone thinks. He’s unabashedly honest and totally awkward. Oh but behind all that he’s gorgeous, because of course he is. This hit every annoying YA trope you can think of.

My biggest gripe, (and I have many) is that there was so much shaming going on. Fat shaming, slut shaming, nerd shaming, it went on and on. Then, everyone used the word retard or retarded as an insult all the time. Even the adults! Why? This is not ok, it’s disgusting and totally insulting. 

This is way too risqué and sexually explicit for a YA novel. It’s recommended for kids 14-18 and there is no way in hell that I would be comfortable recommending this to a freshman. No way. I can see where the author was trying to go and a message of self acceptance was there, but it was hidden beneath insta love, terrible language and overused tropes. 

There was one thing I liked and it’s only fair to point out, but the acknowledgment  was awesome. The characters in the book helped write it and that was unique and fresh.

Overall rating: 1.5/5

Thanks to Goodreads and the publisher for my copy. 

39 thoughts on “Review: The Nerdy and The Dirty by B. T. Gottfred”

  1. LizScanlon says:
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    Liis's avatar

    Oh my word… this sounds properly… crazy!
    I mean, at first reading the blurb, I was laughing here thinking, oh this my make an awkward reading experience.. but then again, not thank you… creeeepy… plus all the shaming thing then? Yeah, no thanks, I shall pass… Thanks for the honest review!

    Liked by 1 person

  3. amandalynn9204 says:
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    amandalynn9204's avatar

    Ahhh, This makes me want to cover my eyes! Recommend to 14 – 18 year olds!? Heck no! Totally awkward, and you are right the blurb gives off a very different vibe. Noo thank you! Even though your review was negative, you did it in a great way!

    Liked by 1 person

    • novelgossip says:
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      novelgossip's avatar

      I wondered the same thing! Like who is the target audience here?! It sure shouldn’t be young adults! I hated even typing it out, so awful. It was bad enough when it was being used by kids but when one of the mothers used it I was done.

      Liked by 1 person

  5. rantandraveaboutbooks says:
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    Jillian Quinn's avatar

    The cover alone had me thinking I would see an unfavorable opinion, and I was right. Yay for rant reviews. I love a good rant. This was great and made me laugh so much. I can’t believe the author thought that was appropriate material for teens. No way! I would’ve also felt like a creeper reading that. You’re not too old. That’s just a weird thing to have in a YA novel.

    Liked by 1 person

  6. knovelcafe says:
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    kristin's_novelcafe's avatar

    Wow, great review! I think the hardest thing about writing a book review blog is having to write bad reviews. Ugh, it’s so hard, but you did awesome! I’m also cringing at the material. Like you, I think I would have felt just icky reading it!! I’ll definitely stay away. (Btw, I’m still shocked about the age group…14,really?!)

    Liked by 1 person

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  10. Books, Vertigo and Tea says:
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    Vertigo79's avatar

    Oh Amy, so sorry this was such a bad experience! I love how open you are about it though. I can feel for you. One of the first titles I received from NetGalley to review, was way inappropriate for YA and disgusted me. I struggled to bad. In fact my review was pretty crass. Of course I have learned since.

    Liked by 1 person

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  12. Amanda @Cover2CoverMom says:
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    Amanda @Cover2CoverMom's avatar

    This title sounds like a bad porno…

    “Look, maybe I’m just old, or prudish, but I don’t want to imagine a sixteen year old girl masturbating, much less have to read about it in detail. I felt like a voyeuristic creep way more than I’m comfortable admitting. ”

    Um. I know masturbation is a very normal thing and all, but I would feel uncomfortable reading about a teen masturbating all the time too…

    “Fat shaming, slut shaming, nerd shaming, it went on and on. Then, everyone used the word retard or retarded as an insult all the time. Even the adults! Why? This is not ok, it’s disgusting and totally insulting.”

    WTF? Fat shaming? The word “retard” was used?!?! That’s horrible. I LOATH that word.

    Liked by 1 person

    • novelgossip says:
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      novelgossip's avatar

      lol it does! I know I still can’t believe it. And it wasn’t just like one time either. The male MC was clearly autistic or at least on the spectrum but instead of using that as an opportunity to shed light on autism he was only described as socially awkward. And he was the one called retarded repeatedly. If it was once I would’ve been annoyed and let it go, multiple times and adults using it?! No way. My son is autistic too so it hit a nerve.

      Liked by 1 person

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  14. TeacherofYA says:
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    TeacherofYA's avatar

    I would never recommend this to teens by the sound of it. Who in their right mind thought this was appropriate YA?? As a future teacher, I’m appalled that someone would think this kind of story is right for 14-18! How ballsy!
    Pisses me off when shit like this passes as YA. It is NA, but no one wants to categorize their book as NA bc then they won’t get their big book sales from the YA market. And though it is the fault of the genre being stigmatized (NA is always going to be stigmatized bc it falls into that younger for adults but too adult for teens, so no one really gets into it and there’s no shelves in bookstores for the genre, which they should really differentiate more and make more popular SO books like this can be put in the right category).
    I’m not someone who likes to read a lot about sex and that’s why I usually like YA.
    Ok, enough rant. Thanks for the honest review!

    Liked by 1 person

    • novelgossip says:
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      novelgossip's avatar

      Haha I love this rant!!! I don’t understand why NA doesn’t have its own section, it’s dumb! I wouldn’t even want an 18 yr old reading it to be honest. I know they’re adults but ugh. No one needs to read it 😂 except Jill I sent it to her just to see what she thinks

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