Guest Blogger Vivi Andrews - Nerd Lovin'

Thanks so much to the Nine for having me here today! Hi, my name is Vivi, and I’m a nerd-o-phile. My heart just skips a beat when I see someone geeking out over something with too much passion to be self-conscious about it. And nerdy characters? I can’t get enough.

What can I say? I’m a sucker for a good nerd whether it’s Brennan from Bones, Chris Knight in Real Genius, Sheldon from The Big Bang Theory, or my personal favorite, the nerd-turned-spy, Chuck. Yep, I’m the girl with a crush on Q in the Bond movies. Maybe it has something to do with growing up with Doogie Howser as my dream guy. Sherlock Holmes, Spengler from Ghostbusters, and, oh my, Tony Stark! Who doesn’t love a man with an obsession for knowledge who can build me something explosive with just his bare hands and massive quantities of grey matter?

Considering my adoration of the elusive nerd-in-his-natural-habitat, it’s a little surprising that I haven’t written a plethora of nerdy-licious characters. Until now.

The heroine of my newest release Finder’s Keeper (out TODAY from Samhain http://store.samhainpublishing.com/finders-keeper-p-7059.html; Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Finders-Keeper-ebook/dp/B008Y3RDQE/; & B&N http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/finders-keeper-vivi-andrews/1112567995?ean=9781619212176 – so please excuse me if I’m extra bouncy) is a mega nerd. A neuroscientist studying how the brain reacts to love. She’s just not so good at the falling in love part herself. Or really anything involving social interaction.

Here’s a little peek inside Finder’s Keeper, a look at what happens when hyper-analytical Mia tries her hand at speed-dating.

“I have three weeks left to fall in love.”

Mia Corregiani, Ph.D, groaned as her date blanched, a look of blind panic entering his eyes. Apparently she wasn’t supposed to be honest when the man sliding into the seat opposite her flashed a toothy grin and asked, So Mia, why speed-dating?

Her other possible response—explaining the efficiency of testing her pheromone compatibility with twenty potential mates in a single evening, with the assurance that each of those potential mates had been vetted by the agency as educated, of appropriate breeding age and monetary stability, and currently single matrimonial status—had seemed the less romantic choice, but evidently confessing you were on a clock to fall in love was a first date faux pas.

God, why had she let her sister talk her into this?

Mia tightened her grip on her pen and considered the empiric criteria for declaring an evening the Worst First Date since the Big Bang. Did speed-dating count as one date or twenty? Was the effect taken cumulatively or did each five-minute encounter qualify as its own independent assault against humanity?

Or perhaps there was a world record for the fastest dating failure. Mia glanced at her watch. Under sixty seconds. That had to be a personal best.

Bachelor Number Twelve was still sputtering, his face flushing to an alarming purple color. “I… Are you… I mean… Do you have…”

Fabulous. She’d paralyzed his frontal lobe. Mia frowned. “I need more words to understand your meaning.”

“Cancer?” Twelve said at a near-yelp.

“Oh no. I’m in perfect health. Excellent condition to breed.”

A choked noise erupted from Twelve’s throat and Mia flinched. Crap, why had she said that? She may not be socially savvy—okay, yes, when it came to social interaction she was a human wrecking ball—but she knew better than to bring up reproduction in the first five minutes.


Nerd mating. Not for everyone, but like Mia says, intellect is one hell of an erogenous zone. Do you have a favorite nerdy hero or heroine?

Vivi Andrews was born and raised in Alaska and still lives in the frozen north when she isn’t indulging her travel addiction. The author of over a dozen paranormal romance novels and novellas, you can find her online at http://www.viviandrews.com.