{my thoughts} - This book is about a seventeen year-old boy named Cameron Martin and a girl named Liesel Maupin. Cameron is a boy that likes to obtain free gifts for his birthday so he tells people on a daily basis that it is his birthday in order to get free things. One day he and his friends some of them know and some of them don't do this it's his birthday scam and the next day everything changes for him. Eventually through the worst of situations that force him to find himself, realize what a jerk he had been and who his real friends are he begins to find a will and a desire to do better in his life. I really enjoyed reading this book because it was different as in not something I had read before, and it was well written with a nice storyline and plot. I look forward to reading the second book in this series.

{reason for reading} - It was a free download on Amazon and I figured why not, since it sounded interesting and even if it turned out I didn't like it I wasn't losing any money. It was worth the download. ( )

{my thoughts} - This book is about a seventeen year-old boy named Cameron Martin and a girl named Liesel Maupin. Cameron is a boy that likes to obtain free gifts for his birthday so he tells people on a daily basis that it is his birthday in order to get free things. One day he and his friends some of them know and some of them don't do this it's his birthday scam and the next day everything changes for him. Eventually through the worst of situations that force him to find himself, realize what a jerk he had been and who his real friends are he begins to find a will and a desire to do better in his life. I really enjoyed reading this book because it was different as in not something I had read before, and it was well written with a nice storyline and plot. I look forward to reading the second book in this series.

{reason for reading} - It was a free download on Amazon and I figured why not, since it sounded interesting and even if it turned out I didn't like it I wasn't losing any money. It was worth the download. ( )

Every now and then I start a book in which I instantly loathe the main character. It doesn't mean that I'll feel that way through the whole story, and usually the author means it to be that way anyway, but it happens. Cameron? He fell into this category instantly. Pretty boy Cameron is the epitome of your high school jock. He's cocky. He uses other people however he sees fit. He doesn't really care about anyone very much, because he's much too self absorbed. Luckily, this is all necessary because it sets up a fascinating story in Happy Birthday to Me.

What comes next is a twisting and turning adventure into assessing self worth and recognizing the worth in others as well. As Cameron realizes that his life is shorter and shorter with each passing day, the reader gets to see his slow build into a real, feeling person. I loved this part of the story so much. At first Cameron fights it for all he's worth. He figures if he just looks good he'll feel good. However as the story progresses you really see Cameron grow into a person who realizes that the world isn't all about him. It was this portion of the story that really touched me. Rowe does a fantastic job of taking this character from an unlikable pain in the behind, to someone that you really appreciate by the end.

Hidden in the folds of this breakneck foray into adulthood are other themes as well. Cameron explores the facade of high school life. He realizes that friendship is a two way street. It's all the little things that come through in Cameron's story that really kept me reading. Rowe manages to address all the petty things that high school students have to deal with every day, and how to see past that seemingly unbreakable wall. Best part? He does it without being preachy, and is instead funny and sincere. Cameron's character does a 180 in this story, and it's a beautiful thing.

Suffice it to say that I really enjoyed this book! It took me two or three chapters to really get fully into Happy Birthday to Me, mostly because I initially wanted to slap Cameron, but once I was immersed I was hooked. I'll honestly say that Brian Rowe has done a fabulous job of sharing this coming of age story with us. Think of it as the Cliff Notes version of growing up! ( )

I’d seen this book around the blogosphere and thought the premise sounded interesting – what would you do if you were ageing a year for every day that you lived? How would you cope with ageing faster than your peers, becoming physically older than your parents, knowing that instead of having another 60 years to live, you would only have another 60 days. And how much worse would it be as a teenager, with your whole life ahead of you, knowing your dreams and plans would never eventuate?

For Cameron (who I have to say is a bit of an arse in the beginning of the book), he decides to continue living his teenage life as normal – despite being ridiculed and ostracized by his former girlfriend and basketball team-mates, the pressure of his father and the fact that every day he wakes up looking and feeling a year older than the day before.

The characters of Happy Birthday to Me are interesting – Cameron is a self-assured brat at the beginning of the book, but as he rapidly ages he comes to realize some important things about life – as well as having a few creepy and surreal experiences as a 17 year old in the body of an adult. His parents and sister struggle with watching him age before their very eyes, and the adults around him begin to treat him differently, despite that he is still a teenager on the inside.

Happy Birthday to Me is well written – the story is clear and moves at a good pace, is engaging and raises some interesting questions about the restrictions we place on people when they reach a certain age, a family dealing with a medical anomaly and a little bit of supernatural thrown in for extra entertainment.

I did have one niggle with this book, and that was Cameron’s relationship with his girlfriend, Charisma (the name just grated on me!). I didn’t feel it added much to the story, only made me grind my teeth a little.

As this book is part of a trilogy, I won’t say much about the ending (although I did tear up a bit!), but it did definitely make me want to move on to the next book as soon as possible. As a YA writer, Mr. Rowe has amazing potential! ( )

You've had someone ask you, on your birthday, if you 'feel any older,' right? Well, what if you didn't necessarily feel older but you looked older - a lot older?

Seventeen-year-old Cameron Martin has just about the perfect teenage life. He's a star on the basketball team, dating beautiful, popular Charisma, has applied to Yale and is only waiting on his acceptance. Cameron's friend Wes also loves birthdays - and the free things they can get you - and would celebrate his every day of the year if possible. Cam doesn't think it's as fun as Wes, but doesn't see the harm in it.

Until he wakes up the next morning and each day after that looking one year older. At first Cameron doesn't notice anything, he just thinks he's finally grown some facial hair, but after a few days he and his family become alarmed.

With Cam growing one year older with each day that passes, his time may be limited. Very limited.

This is a terrifically fun idea for a novel. The start reminded me quite a bit of Beastly by Alex Flinn: the popular, hot guy who's a little full of himself, has a bad relationship with his dad has something unexpected happen that affects his looks and things go from there.

Happy Birthday to Me is different though because Cameron is a very different person and the journey is also vastly different. It's interesting to me to see how Cameron reacts to his predicament - it might not have been the most logical reaction, but it worked well for a story. It was nice to see the way the family's relationship with each other developed of the story.

I would have liked a little more character growth with Cameron, to get just a little more insight into how he was dealing with things. There seemed to be not a lot of introspection from Cameron about a huge situation - or maybe I just wanted him to have more.

One of the characters - as well as the other characters reactions (or lack thereof to that character) seemed kind of inappropriate - and in one scene - a little squicky. I wasn't quite sure how to react to them.

It's a great idea for a series and now that I know the 'how,' too it might be possible to enjoy the sequel more - in the beginning of this one I wondered about the 'how' a lot. ( )