Happy Birthday to Me

Happy Birthday to Me (Birthday Trilogy, 1) by Brian Rowe, 2011. 316 pages. Source: From author for review.

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 all on the horizon. That’s what happens to Cameron, a ...more 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 all 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 no one, not even the best doctors, can diagnose his condition. When he finds love with 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...

First Sentence:

The nightmare was real.

Happy Birthday to Me was a good read, but it had some points which drove me crazy while reading, which I have covered further down in my review, but regardless of a few...character flaws I found this to be a quite enjoyable read.

One of the things I liked best about Happy Birthday to Me was the pacing. The writing was quick and snappy and the story just rolled on from pretty much page one. The fact that the story had a quick pace definitely made it hard to put down because with each finished chapter I was left wondering what would happen to Cameron.

As for the actual plot, how and why Cameron is rapidly aging, I found it to be intriguing and fascinating as to how it came to be.
I think the author, Mr. Rowe, did an excellent job with the unraveling of the mystery to Cameron's condition, even though I was able to guess pretty early on what happened to Cameron.

I think the creepiest thing about this book would have to have been Cameron's dad and his obsession with looking perfect. It completely gave me the creeps...especially with what he did to Cameron after he started rapidly aging. I want say anymore about it, so you'll just have to read it for yourself to see what I'm talking about.

Cameron, gosh, I could not stand him in the book for the longest time (don't worry, he's not so bad by time the book ends). He came across as a humongous, callous jerk through out the first bit of the book (when he was still normal). His lack of moral fiber and decency made him a hard character to tolerate, so I admit I was glad when he was no longer the "golden boy" and started to fall from grace. Luckily, the trials in which he found himself seem to been the swift kick he need towards being a better person.

The thing that sticks out most in my mind about Happy Birthday to Me (or what I liked best in this book), was that by the time I finished reading it Cameron had grown so much as a character. He went from one I could barely stand to being a fairly decent human being.

What I didn't like about Happy Birthday to Me, in short, was all the swearing and how (for the majority of the book) Cameron was always trying to pressure his girlfriend into sleeping with him. These two things very nearly made me want to put the book down and call it quits, but in the end I'm glad I didn't.

Final Verdict: All in all, Happy Birthday to Me is unique read filled with plenty of plot twists. I am definitely looking forward to seeing where the story goes and what will befall the characters in the next book.

Happy Birthday to Me earns 4 out of 5 pineapples.



Dear FTC: This book was received for an honest review. all thoughts expressed are those of the reviewie (me) and were NOT influenced in any way by outside forces.