Being Jamie Baker by Kelly Oram | An Old Favorite

Being Jamie Baker by Kelly Oram

Jamie Baker #1

First Published: 2010

Kindle / Paperback

Young Adult, Fantasy
Rating:

Re-Readability:

An accident that should end in tragedy instead gives seventeen-year-old Jamie Baker a slew of uncontrollable superhuman abilities. To keep her secret safe Jamie socially exiles herself, earning the title of Rocklin High's resident ice queen. But during a supercharged encounter with star quarterback Ryan Miller she literally kisses anonymity goodbye. Now the annoyingly irresistible Ryan will stop at nothing to melt the heart of the ice queen and find out what makes her so special. Unfortunately, Ryan is not the only person on to her secret. Will Jamie learn to contain her unstable powers before being discovered by the media or turned into a government lab rat? More importantly, can she throw Ryan Miller off her trail before falling in love with him?

You're having a rough week. Life is taking its toll on you. All you want to do is sit and relax, laugh a little, feel warm inside again. Maybe immerse yourself in someone else's life for a short while. Someone else's relationship. God knows you need a good ship to board on this empty pier.

You pick up Being Jamie Baker. And it's everything you've wanted it to be.

I've read this YA fantasy romance three times so far, each time in one sitting. I have forced my cousins to read it and fall in love with it as well. I have recommended it to anyone and everyone who would listen, and some who won't. Because I seriously adore this book. I dare you to read it and tell me you weren't grinning so widely your jaw hurt throughout it. DARE YOU.

So, spoiler alert - you need to get this book. NOW. I'm saying this for your own good.

The best thing about this book is that it makes you desperately wish these characters were real people that you could meet in real life and have real conversations with. And really, isn't that one of the best things a book can do to you?

First, you've got the titular Jamie. Her snark and sarcasm are her main choice of weapon... if you don't consider all the superpowers. Oh, this girl. I love how human she felt to me. I loved how she made me laugh and smile. I loved how she sometimes made the wrong choices or did things I strongly disagreed with. I love how she grew throughout the book. I love HER, okay?

But I am in love with Ryan Miller and their relationship. Like, sometimes you want the book boyfriend all for yourself. And sometimes... sometimes you know you can never compare to their true love, would never fit him as well as she does, and that's okay. That's okay because you're a little bit in love with the both of them, and you love seeing the stars in their eyes when they look at each other and the way they move around and with each other as if they're the other's anchor and sun.

Still, let it be noted that Ryan Miller is at the top of my book boyfriend list, even years later. I fangirl over this guy, okay? it's this bad. Or this good. Depends on who you ask. He is the perfect blend of adorable sweetness, with a shot of cockiness and a dash of condescension. In the best possible ways, I assure you. This guy knows what--and who--he wants. He is not afraid to tell Jamie how she feels and he wills it to become reality just from the sheer, unwavering sureness he presents. And he never gives up. Never. You might as well admit defeat before he starts because this mountain is not budging!

And as you've probably guessed, I adored their romance. It's the kind of romance that makes you sigh, and you don't know if it's because it just fills you with satisfaction or because you want a relationship like that for yourself and goddammit why can't you have this one little thing??

Okay, got sidetracked. Anyways, Ryan and Jamie bring out the best in each other. And the chemistry between them is, shall we say, electrifying. Both figuratively and literally.

And yes, this book is not perfect. The reason Jamie got her superpowers is not quite satisfying. The villain is okay-ish and his plot is so-so. Neither of those things mattered a lick to me, since if you haven't figured yet, Ryan & Jamie gave me life and that's what I was here for, but I feel it's necessary to mention anyway.

So... this book was perfect. For me. 

The False Prince by Jennifer A. Nielsen | Re-Read Review

The False Prince by Jennifer A. Nielsen

The Ascendance Trilogy #1
Date Read: Dec 15 to 19, 2017

First Published: 2012

Paperback

Young Adult, Fantasy
Rating:

Re-Readability:

In this first book in a remarkable trilogy, an orphan is forced into a twisted game with deadly stakes.
Choose to lie...or choose to die.
In a discontent kingdom, civil war is brewing. To unify the divided people, Conner, a nobleman of the court, devises a cunning plan to find an impersonator of the king's long-lost son and install him as a puppet prince. Four orphans are recruited to compete for the role, including a defiant boy named Sage. Sage knows that Conner's motives are more than questionable, yet his life balances on a sword's point -- he must be chosen to play the prince or he will certainly be killed. But Sage's rivals have their own agendas as well.
As Sage moves from a rundown orphanage to Conner's sumptuous palace, layer upon layer of treachery and deceit unfold, until finally, a truth is revealed that, in the end, may very well prove more dangerous than all of the lies taken together.
An extraordinary adventure filled with danger and action, lies and deadly truths that will have readers clinging to the edge of their seats.

Confession time: I start a shit ton of series but finish only a fraction of them. And it's only because they're bad about a third of the time. The rest is... well, because I'm stupid, okay?

Take The False Prince for example. I truly and honestly loved this book when I first read it in 2014. I finished it being wowed, and excited, and super interested in reading the rest of the series. SUPER INTERESTED, okay? 

But then came the waiting period until the second book made it into my doorstep, and somehow, by the time I got it, I had forgotten that I loved the first one. Just... forgotten. So I put it on the shelf and barely even looked at it from that day on.

Finally, fate intervened. The third and final book was available on Kindle for, like, 3 dollars, and I succumbed and bought it. Now, I had no reason not to finish the series, and better yet, I was thinking of it again. Now, I couldn't just start with the second book, could I? Naturally, I had to re-read the first book first. And then it would be time for... THE BINGE!

Now, originally, I had given this book a 5 star rating. As I re-read this novel I had to concede that it was no longer a five star for me. It's still a wonderful story that I highly recommend, which is why I gave it a very respectable 4 star, but there were some things that just fell short considering I knew what was coming.

My experience with The False Prince, both times, started out slow. This book doesn't immediately make me unable to put it down. It took a while, say eighty to a hundred pages, for me to suddenly be grabbed by the need to read it. But then, when it came, it didn't let go until I finished reading, so I guess all in all it's a definite win for the book.

The strongest part of this novel is, hands down, Sage himself. As far as main characters go, he is a long way from perfect, and that's actually why I loved him so much. He is a brave, clever, headstrong boy. Who is also reckless, sharp-tongued and stubborn, with far too much ego at times. But he has a good heart, and his actions are always derived from that place. In fact, he almost never does anything for his own sake, but he always makes it appear like that's what he's all about, which just... it just made him extra lovable in my eyes.

Next to Sage is a cast of interesting characters; first, we have Tobias and Roden, the other two orphans fighting for the title of prince. These two fought for my affection and hatred throughout the whole book, and I honestly didn't know who I would end up loving and who I would end up disliking until the final chapters.

Then we have Imogen, a servant girl in Connor's house who catches Sage's attention. She is a fierce lady whom I loved, although her storyline made less sense to me the second time around. I remember feeling a bit baffled by the apparent affection between these two the first time around as well, but I definitely felt it stronger with this re-read. I just don't quite understand Sage's attachment and gratitude to her, seeing as she had very little to do with the actual plot.

It kind of felt the way it does when you listen to someone's conversation, then something distracts you and you return to listening at the end. You feel like you've missed something in the reasoning and progress of the story, even if you get the general gist of things. I am curious to see how their relationship develops--if at all--throughout this series.

Then we've got Mott, Connor's loyal right-hand man, and one of my favorite characters. Mott and Sage start off on the wrong foot but boy does he prove himself to be a good man at the end there. He's kind of, like, the father figure Sage has always needed but never had, you know? And, speaking of the devil, Connor himself was quite interesting as well. I never liked the guy, but I never quite hated him, either, if that makes sense?

Now, going into this novel the second time, I obviously knew what was coming. And even though I pretty much called it on my first read as well, I had much more time to look for the clues... and not all of them add up. Sometimes, Nielsen puts in paragraphs that make no sense in light of what's to come, and that feels like a real flat attempt at misdirection that could've been solved if only things had been phrased a little differently. I still feel things were very well done, but not as tidy as I originally thought they were.