I received this novel from NetGalley.This novel was nothing like I had expected and for that I am greatful! This novel follows the tale of a young Basketball star who finds himself age-ing a year everyday, ultimately, having a birthday each day. Rowe has created a wonderful environment for this novel and has created characters that grow with the tale iself, the progression of Cameron's family is the most impressive.Although it is a bit hard to get into at first, it takes off in the middle, this being said, it does feel a little 'childish' not in the sense of the tale, or the characters, but in the sense of the writing itself, yes I believe this novel is definitely in the YA genre, but that doesn't mean it needs to be written using language for 14 year olds.All in all this was a fun little novel to read and is worth reading for the character progressions if nothing else! This is... this is bad. Like, really bad. Except, not actually bad? It's not like some self published books that are full of spelling errors and typos. It's actually very well formatted. It's just... bad.It reads like a book written for teenagers, about teenagers, by a) a teenager or b) a teenager's dad, pretending to be identifiable to teenagers.Every relationship in this book is about as deep as the Kindle I read it on. Cameron, the main character, lacks all possible self awareness. Even his big personal revelations don't stick - 3 pages after realizing tha the's a self centered jerkwad, he's back to acting like an oblivious self centered jerkwad. He falls in love with the secondary female mostly just because she's there. He obsesses over his ex girlfriend because... reasons? He picks fights with everyone who doesn't understand him because... angry?Then there's Aason, the inexplicable gay kid. It's not inexplicable why he's gay, it's inexplicable why he's there at all. Except as a foil for Cameron to be homophobic about. Because all gay teenagers really love teasing and throwing themselves at the school superstar, y'know. And stalking them in the shower. Totally. All the time. Yup.There's the maybe developmentally disabled sister (she's 13, but she's written like she's 7), the projecting narcissist plastic surgeon dad (oh, your son has a debilitating degenerative physical condition? I know! Kidnap him before dawn, bring him to your office, and try to plastic surgery-ize him back to normal! That'll definitely treat the cause, not the symptoms! That's absolutely how licensed physicians know how to treat problems!), and the neglected, trope-y mom. There's also a weird accidental incest scene?Don't forget the school librarian, who hates the main character (because he's a 17 year old asshole), but otherwise seems like a perfectly well respected staff member, but once Cameron starts aging, somehow decides that it's totally ok for her to throw herself at him. Right. Women just can't control themselves in the face of attractive men, y'know. Even when those men are 17 year olds in 62 year olds bodies. PS, the librarian is 58, but again, she's written like the author has no concept of age - you'd think she's 88. Hell, you'd think that Cam went from 17 to 102, based on the amount of whining he does the second he turns not-18.In sum: I hate-read this book so you don't have to. I'm not sure why. I'm stubborn.
What do You think about Happy Birthday To Me (2011)?
One of my favorite books! I loved it and it's one of the best books I've read this year.
—Bagoote
Interesting premise, but unfortunately not well executed.
—Mikayla
this book sounds enjoyable. Can't wait to read.
—Bennet869
