Reviewed: - (Review Updated: )
Oyster 50 created the “smart girl” universe about scary smart girls who fall in love with and marry much older men who all happen to be electrical engineers. Most of these couples have been assimilated into a larger “Community” series. Oyster50 himself recommends reading certain stories before taking on the Community tales.
Nina is alone in the smart girl universe in that she and her husband Dan didn’t become part of the Community. Oyster50 says that’s because there’s already two Dans in residence!
(UPDATE: Oyster50 is indeed bringing Nina and Dan into the Community. Read “Bill and Haley and Deena” and “Community Four(Ever)”, because “Dan 3.0” and Nina are sneaking in the side door, thanks to their daughter Sandy.)
Nina’s Dan meets her at a park, and friendship quickly grows into romance. As has been described elsewhere, the “Oyster50 formula” is fully employed here. In this reviewer’s opinion, “Nina” is the best of Oyster50’s stories that didn’t make it to the Community, and one of the best of his stories in general. There is plenty of romance, a decent amount of sex, and enough drama to make it interesting.
Oyster50’s stories are all well-written with believable characters, although often it feels like the time that usually passes until two people fully commit their lives to each other is a bit compressed. Dan and Nina’s relationship seems to have had more time to develop, and there is plenty of the story left after their nuptials to hold the reader’s interest.
I’m giving this story 10 for plot, because even though it conforms to the famous oyster50 template, there is still plenty of meat on these bones.