Brian Rowe

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!… (mehr)

Goodreads Synopsis: The Wizard of Oz meets Jurassic Park!

Zippy Green never meant to fall in love with a girl, but when she does, her ultra-conservative father tries to send her to anti-gay camp. At the Kansas City airport, however, she hides inside a giant suitcase and sneaks onto an airplane headed not to the camp, but to Seattle, where her online love Mira lives. Halfway through the flight, the plane barrels out of control and crashes into the ground, knocking her unconscious.

When Zippy awakens, she finds that most of the passengers have vanished. She doesn’t know what’s happened, but she’s determined to find out. She begins a quest on foot toward Seattle, and along the way, she meets a teenager with a concussion, a homeless man with a heart condition, a child without a shred of bravery, and a terrier named Judy. Together the group discovers that more than two-thirds of the world's population have mysteriously disappeared. But that's only the beginning...

All Zippy wants is to find her Mira, but before she can she has to contend with two outside forces. The first is her homophobic father, who does everything in his power to keep her from the girl she loves. And the second is extinct creatures of all shapes and sizes, including living, breathing dinosaurs, which have replaced the missing population.

My Review: To be completely honest, this book was a little confusing in my opinion. The timelines bounce around a lot, the whole rapture thing is a little weird considering it triggered dinosaurs and other extinct species to just pop back up again, and the ending was a little disappointing. The main characters are pretty solid, although we really only get to know about Zippy, and the other characters in the book were just kind of there and nothing else. I was really unhappy with the ending. I think I might have downloaded this book for free on amazon, and it just wasn't for me. I get that she likes Jurassic Park but it didn't help out the story at all, aside from identifying the different dinosaurs that didn't have a reason to be there. I like the cover, however, and Zippy was a very strong teenage character, but she didn't act her age. Thanks for reading!

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