I selected this book for Pop Sugar reading challenge 2016 for the category : A book that's becoming a movie in 2016. I finished this book in 4 hours not because it was "un-putdownable" as the blurb says , but it was an easy read. 
 The cool cover and the blurb seemed interesting , which is why I selected this book. But this book left me feeling disappointed. The whole time I was reading this book, I felt that there was something off (not in the story , but in the way it was framed). 
 The plot is interesting, but the execution seemed inadequate. I have mixed feeling towards this book , my original rating is 2.5 *. 
 (view spoiler)[ This story is told in first person by our MC, Vee (Venus). It may be one of the reasons, that this story seems not completely developed. Vee is a teenager, who works behinds the scenes in the school play events. Day after day, she sees actors shining in the stage and getting praised for their performance while she is invisible to the audience. She develops a crush on a guy who seems to be into her friend. Finally she decides, she needs to be visible. (hide spoiler)] 
 Some of the problems I found in this book : 
 1. The other characters including her best friend Sydney or Ian (her game partner / to be boyfriend) were not fleshed out. We were provided very little information about every other characters like the grand prize dare partners. 
 2. The game "NERVE" seems to be happening for sometime in this story, but we have never been provided a background on the game. Seems like this book could have used some subtle exposition in this section. 
 3. It was mentioned when this story was talking place, but for some reason I imagined it taking place in the future. The author made it sound like everyone knows about this game, which means the game has a lot of visibility in turn means more regulations, so is it possible for the coordinators of the game to remain invisible or anonymous? 
 4. I consider this point as the most important development which should have happened. At the grand prize dare, some of the other participants were acting totally psychotic. It would have been so much scarier, if we had known what were the prizes offered for them or what are their intentions. (view spoiler)[ I mean, those other participants were ready to shoot others to win the prize, what could have made them so desperate? Wouldn't the situation be more intense if we had known a little bit about them? (hide spoiler)] 
 5. The entire dare game happened on a single night, which was a very less time for the participants to lose sanity. So many more things in the story such as the NERVE investors , Tommy's actions where glossed over, making the story weak. 
 The ending seemed so weird, I assume the author may have planned for a sequel but it didn't work out for some reason. Everything was glossed over and then there is a cliffhanger. This is where it failed for me. If the ending was better , I may have given this more stars. 
 Pros : 
 1. The author seemed skilled and the story was never boring even though it wasn't as thrilling as I expected it to be. 
 2. The MC is neither weak nor stupid. She has a clarity in her thought process (which seem to be missing in lot of YA). 
 3. The author seems to have a good handle on the language. I would say it is written well. 
 Overall, pick up this book only if you want a quick read.