Review: Jamie Baker #2, More Than Jamie Baker by Kelly Oram

Blurb from Goodreads

Jamie Baker, the only girl in the world with superpowers, has now accepted who she is and learned to control her power. Not to mention she has the best boyfriend on the planet. Life is finally looking good. But the day she witnesses an accident and decides not to save the guy out of fear of being exposed, she realizes that simply being Jamie Baker isn’t enough.
After seeing Jamie so wrecked with guilt, the ever-helpful Ryan Miller decides it’s time to make all of his fantasies about turning his girlfriend into an honest-to-goodness superhero become a reality.

Of course, coming up with a decent Super Name and fending off all of Ryan’s attempts to get her into spandex aren’t the only problems Jamie faces. The more her alter ego starts to make headlines, the harder it becomes for Jamie to hide her extracurricular activities from her best friend, the government, radical scientists, and the mysterious new guy who is determined to steal her from her boyfriend.

ebook, 342 pages

Published October 15th 2013 by Bluefields

edition language: English

series: Jamie Baker

genre: Sci-fi, Romance, Young Adult

My Thoughts

More Than Jamie Baker is indeed more than its prequel, Being Jamie Baker. This book has more stories and actions. Our superhero, Jamie Baker isn’t in the little pond anymore. She has to face dangerous ocean with more evil villains, much more dangerous complete with sophisticated gadgets to bring her down.

Although it’s been a while since I read her story, it wasn’t hard for me to connect with her again. It was like my mind instantly remembered her and I didn’t have to skim book 1 just to refresh my memory and understand her story in the first place, the thing I sometimes need to do with a series. She’s still witty, sarcastic, independent, temperamental and funny. She’s still the Jamie Baker I knew from book 1. And so does Ryan and other characters. I loved that they are still who they are. A year didn’t turn them to characters I didn’t know.

And I never got bored reading Jamie and Ryan relationship, though I got less of it than its prequel. They don’t do everything together. There are pages that describe they do what they have to do separately. I like knowing that they have life outside their relationship and have someone else in their life. Hence Becky and Jamie relationship feel more real to me. I can understand why Jamie so protective of Becky, despite the fact that they only be friend for a year. And reading Jamie and Ryan relationship is still as good as when I first read them. I just love their dialogues. They are so funny and perfect together.

However, I also kinda wish that Jamie is more careful with her superpower and aware of the consequences of her action now. What she does in first half of book was quite unbelievable and frustrating me. I do understand her feeling but I just think she’s not careful enough to keep her superpower secret. She doesn’t lay low enough, though she keeps herself in disguise.

And talk about what most of reviewers talk, the ending. As much as it has an interesting and surprising epilogue, I think I can say that it didn’t surprise me much. I was practically waiting for it to come. And knowing that Jamie fall to the trap easily makes me sort of blame it to herself. But don’t worry Jamie, I’ll still read the sequel because the epilogue makes me even more want to know your story.

Result: 3 out of 5 stars

Review: The Avery Shaw Experiment by Kelly Oram

Blurb from Goodreads

When Avery Shaw’s heart is shattered by her life-long best friend, she chooses to deal with it the only way she knows how—scientifically.

The state science fair is coming up and Avery decides to use her broken heart as the topic of her experiment. She’s going to find the cure. By forcing herself to experience the seven stages of grief through a series of social tests, she believes she will be able to get over Aiden Kennedy and make herself ready to love again. But she can’t do this experiment alone, and her partner (ex partner!) is the one who broke her heart.

Avery finds the solution to her troubles in the form of Aiden’s older brother Grayson. The gorgeous womanizer is about to be kicked off the school basketball team for failing physics. He’s in need of a good tutor and some serious extra credit. But when Avery recruits the lovable Grayson to be her “objective outside observer,” she gets a whole lot more than she bargained for, because Grayson has a theory of his own: Avery doesn’t need to grieve. She needs to live. And if there’s one thing Grayson Kennedy is good at, it’s living life to the fullest.

ebook, 278 pages

Published May 4th 2013 by Bluefields

edition language: English

genre: Contemporary, Romance, Young Adult

My Thoughts

Due to reading challenge I joined, I have to read books that one of my friends loves. The Avery Shaw Experiment is one of 4 stars book from my friend, Novel. Therefore I decided to do my own experiment to this book.

Hypothesis:
1. My friend, Sarah who has similar taste with me, loves this book so much. She even said that this is one of her favorite YA chick-lits of all time. Apparently she is one of 1225 readers who praise this book.
2. This is a YA contemporary romance story. I feel the more I read it, the clearer I see its formula. In some cases, it becomes predictable to me.

Predict: I may or may not enjoy this book.

Experiment:
– prologue: I’m quite surprised with the main character’s hypothesis of the cure from the broken heart and kind of disbelieve it will success, yet it intrigued me.

– chapter 1-14: Avery Shaw is 16 year old science geek who just have heart broken from her life-time best friend, Aiden Kennedy. They are partner in science club and have to prepare an experiment for 2013 Utah State Science Fair. Because of the unexpected heart-broken she has and Aiden’s bailed from science club, she doesn’t have a partner anymore. On the other hand, Aiden’s big brother, a jock-popular-senior student, Grayson, is in the edge of taken off the basketball team and needs extra credit to avoid it. In order to cure her broken heart, Avery believes she has to experiencing the seven stages of grief. And she chose it as her experiment for Utah State Science Fair. Since she is the subject for her own experiment, she needs a partner who can make unbiased opinion and also a decision maker for her project. Grayson is a perfect solution and then their experiment begins.

I never thought that seven stages of grief can be a perfect subject for science project. I know that this is a fiction story, I’m aware of that but Avery’s experiment is somehow makes sense to me. She and Grayson provide it with hypothesis, prediction and in the end result. I love reading their experiment.

The alternating POV is a plus for me to love this book even more. While reading Avery’s POV quite make me blue, you know because of her broken heart, Grayson’s POV is hilarious. His cocky-confident nature is hard to resist. They are a perfect partner. I think they’re one of the best couple I’ve read. They and their friends made me giggling and laughing like crazy.

I also love how Kelly Oram builds the story. I can see the changes in Avery, as Grayson intended to do. She begins her story as a shy with panic anxiety teenage girl, slowly but sure Grayson makes her become a confident girl. Their relationship also build in no rush, Grayson let Avery experience the stages but always right beside her to cheer her up. It makes their relationship more natural.

As a popular vs unpopular type book, I love that there isn’t any evil popular stereotype character who bully a helpless nerd/geek character. The different classes in this book quite refreshing to me because they don’t act like common stereotype I read in similar book. Here, popular student can also intimidated by geek student while geek student can speak their opinion freely and stand for themselves.

– epilogue: Avery & Grayson’s story is definitely one of the cutest YA contemporary book I’ve read. I don’t want their story end.

Result: This book has same formula like many of YA contemporary romance, but somehow Kelly Oram can mix the elements perfectly. I enjoy and love reading it. I even want more. I wish she can make its sequel because I want more Avery and Grayson, more Aiden and even more Libby, Avery’s best friend.

Result: 4 of 5 stars