Remedial Rocket Science

Chemistry Lessons, Book 1

By: Susannah Nix

Narrated by: Caitlin Kelly

Length: 8 hrs and 35 mins

Publisher's summary

College student Melody Gage is craving a night of no-strings fun when she meets charming out-of-towner Jeremy, and that's exactly what she gets. Until three years later, when Melody relocates to Los Angeles and finds herself thrust back into Jeremy's orbit.

Not only does her hunky one-night stand work at the same aerospace company where she's just started her dream job, he's the CEO's son. Jeremy's got a girlfriend and a reputation as a bad boy, so Melody resolves to keep her distance. Despite her good intentions, a series of awkward circumstances - including an embarrassing crying jag, a latte vs. computer catastrophe, and an emergency fake date - throw her together with the heavenly-smelling paragon of hotness.

As the billionaire playboy and geeky IT girl forge an unlikely friendship, Melody's attraction to Jeremy grows deeper than she's ready to admit. How much will she risk for a shot at her happy ending?

Contains mature themes.

©2017 Susannah Nix (P)2018 Tantor

Average, Tame, and Plodding

This is my first Susannah Nix story. If this is a good indication of what I can expect from her stories, I am not inclined to read her again. That being said, it wasn't bad...but it wasn't remarkable. The story is pretty basic and, while there are a couple vaguely intriguing subplots sprinkled throughout, none are really developed enough for me to care about them one way or another (i.e., Jeremy's provocative dating history, Melody's former relationship, Jeremy's mother, etc.).

The biggest drawback is how slowly the story moves, which is ironic, considering the not inconsiderable duration of time spanned from start to finish (it's not a whirlwind insta-romance) AND the aforementioned subplots left unexplored. Despite all the plot fodder, the author instead chose to ignore all the interesting rabbit holes, and simply filled the pages with mundanity and the devleopment of non-romantic relationships with side characters, which were never quite meaningful enough to justify the time dedicated to them. I can only presume the author was aiming for a slowburn romance, but, if so, she missed the mark; there is a distinct difference between a slowburn romance and a romance that is so protracted as to be virutually nonexistent.

The characters aren't unlikeable, but they both border on being lackluster more often than not. In terms of being compelling or fascinating, both main characters pretty much peak in the first chapter or two (of note, the confidence and/or initiative of one or both of the characters at their first meeting is markedly absent throughout the rest of the story...where did it go???). Jeremy probably had more potential than Melody. While she wasn't completely unsalvageable, she was just a touch too bland, a little too passionless, for me to love her (so why would I expect the hero to love her?). And, if the character who is the conduit by whom I experience the romance is not overly passionate, then it follows that I, too, felt little passion in this romance.

I did feel a sense of anticipation throughout, because I kept thinking 'when exactly is this romance going to deal with the two main characters actually interacting significantly, let alone falling in love?!?', but I wouldn't go so far as to call that sensation longing. And when the story finally...FINALLY!...focuses on their romance, it doesn't feel profound, or as if I were holding my breath all along, just waiting for this moment to come. No, I just felt like at least 50% (a conservative estimate) of everything that occurred between the beginning of the story and the end could easily have been cut, and it would not have had a significant impact on the plot.

My overall impression of this author is that she is a good writer, but not a good storyteller. Also, I really believe this story should have been written in first person, particularly as the story is entirely from the heroine's perspective anyway. Perhaps the first person perspective would have lent an intimacy between the reader and heroine that would make the reader feel more invested in the heroine's life and fate; at the very least, it would have justified the amount of the story we readers were forced to spend in Melody's uninspiring head. And where the heck was the comedy? Did I miss it? I don't recall laughing -- or even cracking a smile -- once.

Painful

Maybe it's that I can't relate to a 22 year old's pining. Maybe it's the narrator's valley girl whine.
Maybe it's the used up plotline of "pretend to be my boyfriend/girlfriend" and naive person meets player.
I had a hard time finishing this book.
I didn't root for anyone but the lesbian. The characters fell flat, their plights fell flat.

Super fun and romantic!

Remedial Rocket Science not only was a quirky, fun and romantic story, but also an amazing audiobook. Caitlin Kelly did a great job with this story by Susannah Nix. Most of the books I've read with nerd characters portrait a male nerd character instead of a girl, and this was a refreshing change. Melody was smart and fun, and I had a lot of fun listening to her story with Jeremy. It kept me entertained in a long road trip and can't wait to listen the next titles in the series.

Very cute

Such a cute story. I enjoyed it a lot. A little more on the wholesome side of my usual listens but still interesting enough to keep me listening.

Incredible narrator for a fun story

Loved the fun and simple story, and the narrator brought a lovely humour to it all!

Cute and quirky

I loved it. Melody is sweet and quirky, Jeremy is kind and needs her so much. Easy to listen to, funny, not too sexy.

Fans of Penny Reid and Helen Hoang will enjoy it (with fewer hot scenes).

Cute and funny

This book was actually well done, meet cute as they say and interesting story lines. Some really funny references intertwined into the book, good single person narration.

Good book.

This was a good story. I
Liked all the characters. I didn’t like the obsession part that much but overall worth the read.

I adore this story and strong performance!

If you could sum up Remedial Rocket Science in three words, what would they be?

Delightful, entertaining, happy-making.

What did you like best about this story?

I love how the relationship between Melody and Lacey were turned on their head. The romance between Melody and Jeromy is obviously the main course but, I love how much Nix values female friendships.

What about Caitlin Kelly’s performance did you like?

She's just so easy to listen to. Most performers have quirks that end up driving me batty by the end of the story but so I found most of Kelly's choices spot on and lovely.

Any additional comments?

Listen to this lovely little book. You won't regret it. And then get the second one when the audiobook drops at the end of February. I'm so stoked about that one, too!

A love story

I believe that the twist and turns make this a thoroughly enjoyable story. The characters are well done and play well off of each other. Caitlin Kelly does the narration with a flair that is not overdone and has a quality of tone that is easy to listen to.