Happy Birthday to Me by Brian Rowe

Happy Birthday to Me by Brian Rowe

Review by: Lauren

Copy from: Brian Rowe

Amazon Associate: Buy book, we get small percent

Official Summary: Seventeen-year-old Cameron Martin has a huge problem: he’s aging a whole year of his life with each passing day! High school is hard enough: imagine rapidly aging from seventeen to seventy in a matter of weeks, with no logical explanation, and with prom, graduation, and the state championship basketball game on the horizon. That’s what happens to Cameron, a popular pretty boy who’s never had to face a day looking anything but perfect.

All Cameron wants to do is go back to normal, but nobody, not even the best doctors, can diagnose his condition. When he falls for a mysterious young woman, however, he realizes his only hope for survival might be with the one person who started his condition in the first place…

Review: I’d never read a book like this one before, which is great. While a lot of what Cameron experiences and has to learn about isn’t new, it’s made unique by the fact that he’s growing a whole year in just one day. He comes to understand just how unimportant looks can be, who his real friends are, and just how far a family can be pushed…but still survive.

One of my favorite characters was Wesley, Cameron’s best friend. Wes isn’t like the rest of the people Cam hangs with…he’s a bit more nerdy, loves his camera and wants to be a filmmaker, and doesn’t seem to care so much about the physical or outside of a person. Not that he doesn’t get caught up in good looks! It happens to the best of us, but not nearly as bad as Cameron. Plus, he actually cares about Cam.

As for Cameron himself…it’s not hard to completely hate him. Yes, he can be dumb and superficial…but you get to see a lot of sides of him. He loves his little sister, even if he doesn’t always consider her feelings and she (named Kimber) really seems to adore him. It just takes a bit of learning for her to be able to really rely on her brother.

Cam’s dad was another interesting character. I really disliked him for most of the story. I could understand him wanting his son to “be the best he can be” and everything, but he goes a bit far at times. Just think: he’s a plastic surgeon and he wants his son to be perfect. Where does that lead Cam to go?

Now, I must mention Mrs. Gordon. She’s the librarian. Normally, us book lovers would go “yay! a librarian character” but this lady is cra-zy. I’m not kidding. It’s actually a bit extreme sometimes. While parts were realistic enough for me, some of the things she said or how she acted toward Cam were a bit out there…would she really not get in trouble for that? It had me a bit skeptical, but it didn’t ruin the story.

Really…it was interesting overall. The mystery of it isn’t too difficult to figure out, but I think people would enjoy it more for the relationship aspect (between Cam and various people – not just romantic either!) and the fact that it deals a lot with growth and becoming a good person.

This is the first in a trilogy. I’m definitely curious to check out the second one. I think it could be just as good.

I don’t rate books for the most part…and I won’t rate this one…but my final opinion is that it’s worth checking out if you’re interested. It didn’t BLOW ME AWAY, but it was a pretty good start!