A Girl Like Me by Ginger Scott

Blurb:
I’m not supposed to be here.

Death has come for me more than once, and each time it’s been a boy who’s stood between me and my final breath.

I called him Christopher when he saved me as a child. When he came into my life again, only months ago, I knew him as Wes. Just as he did the time before, he disappeared the moment he made sure I was out of harm’s way; as if I didn’t need any more saving.

This time, though, death left me with a reminder of how powerful it is. I know it meant to strip me of my spirit again, but it failed.

Even so, I know I need Wes to survive. Our souls are woven together somehow, our every breath in sync. I feel it, even though everyone says I shouldn’t.

The world thinks he’s missing.
His loved ones don’t want to believe he’s dead.
Only I know just how special he is.

I’m going to find him and bring him home, where he belongs. Together, we’ll face impossible—we’ll rewrite our ending.

And when the bad guys come calling, we will always win.

     

My Review:
4.5 stars — Technically I did receive an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest and unbiased review/opinion, but since I was so behind, I just read the copy that I preordered and showed up on my Kindle.  🙂

I ended up rereading book one before diving into this book, hence why I was behind on my ARC reading, but it was so nice to be fully immersed in this book universe again so I remembered absolutely everything.  I’m just that kind of girl.  I always worry that the sequel is not going to live up to the first book, especially when the first book blows you completely away.  I’m happy to say that for *me*, this book did NOT let me down!!  While I did find it to be a slightly slower read than the first book, I was still so ridiculously satisfied with all the answers I got and where the story ended up going.

For those readers that are curious about the paranormal aspect, I can definitively say that this is not a strictly contemporary read.  I’ll leave the rest for the book to dive into, but the hint of paranormal/sci-fi is definitely there.  I know that’s not everyone’s bag, but I actually really enjoyed how it felt very natural to the story, but also didn’t take OVER the story.  It’s hard to place this fully into a paranormal/sci-fi genre, b/c it still had a very contemporary feel despite that aspect.  It was, in some ways, a bit of a coming-of-age story, or a story about a character’s growth and struggles with some very real life problems.  So take from that what you will.  I can see folks who are strictly contemporary maybe not enjoying this, and I can see folks who are all-paranormal-all-the-time not enjoying it either.  But for those readers that like to cross into both, it was a delicious mix.  There is a part of me that maybe was still left with a whole schwak of questions as a result, but for some reason I was OK with that.  It fit the story.

Joss was entirely inspiring in this book.  You really get to see her shine, and I was raising my hands in solidarity for her choices for most of this book.  I honestly had no idea where this book was going to go after the ending of the last one.  And it honestly surprised me a LOT with the different twists and turns it took.  Certain plot aspects that I thought would be the main ones ended up being somewhat resolved and we were plunged into the next obstacle.  Other side plots I had never even considered were presented and really added to the story as a whole (Grace).  But I particularly loved what Ms. Scott did with Joss, and how Joss handled some of the revelations.  She reacted just as I expected her to, even if I didn’t realize it until after I read it.  It was like “yup, that’s Joss.”  The thing that I really love about this character is that she’s NOTHING LIKE ME.  Like, nothing.  I would have totally reacted in completely different ways, but because of the way she was written, I fully bought into every decision and action she made.  I empathized with her, and genuinely LIKED her.  That’s good writing yo.

And then there’s Wes.  Oh Wes.  You know what I loved about him in this book?  He wasn’t perfect.  He made bad choices, decisions that hurt the people he loved.  He was vulnerable, and afraid at times.  He was confused.  He had a lot going on in his own story.  But through it all I still loved him.  And I still rooted for him.

And I loved Wes and Joss together.  They make my heart so happy.  Their journey is just so fraught with obstacles that I really feel like Ms. Scott owes it to them (and us) to write them a little short story where everything is happy and awesome and we get to just revel in the fun that is them for like 50 pages.  I realize most people would find that boring, and thus it will never happen, but a girl can dream.  They’re so sassy and snarky with each other, but also so ridiculously sweet, and just REAL with each other too.

I LOVED the developments we got with Joss’s Dad.  I fully bought into his growth, and the growth of their relationship.  He still broke my heart, but I was all in.  And I loved that we got to learn more about Joss’s Mom, often through Grace, and that the answers weren’t all Hollywood/storybook clean and good, but that they felt real and believable and shed some light on other topics.  I loved Grace and what she added to the story (as I’ve already said).

And as always, I LOVED our secondary characters.  Kyle, Taryn, TK and Levi were da bomb dot com.  Even Bria had a tiny moment.  I love when a book gives us not only fabulous main characters to love, but an amazing supporting cast.

So yeah.  There’s my novel of a review.  This book left me happy and satisfied.  The only reason it’s not a full 5 stars is because I felt like the pacing could have been tightened up in places.  But I was so satisfied with so many other aspects, that it really didn’t affect me as much as it might have in another novel.  And on a strange final sidenote, I do not have any interest in baseball as a sport whatsoever.  But this novel actually made me consider watching a game with my Mom…that’s a miracle folks, a miracle.

Remember Jamie Baker (Jamie Baker #3) by Kelly Oram

Blurb: Plagued by memory loss, Jamie Baker searches high and low for the answers to who she is, where she comes from, and why she’s able to do things other humans can’t. A not-so-simple task when she’s hiding from the people responsible for her amnesia—an evil scientific research company that wants to capture her at any cost.

When Jamie’s quest for the truth reveals a devastating betrayal from the one person she thought she could trust, she’s forced to team up with a secret military organization in order to ensure her safety and stop Visticorp’s horrific human experimenting once and for all.

3 Stars

::sigh::  I don’t know why but this last book just kinda went……blah for me.  I mean it was a lot faster with regards to the story line but the content was just…eh.

The supporting characters were amazing in this book, they provided me with some much needed contrast to Jamie’s personality.  The story line was great, all the loose ends were ties up with no loopholes that I could find.  But for some reason, I can’t stand Jamie herself anymore.

She is too trusting and naive. Stubborn and unwilling to compromise in any aspect which makes her seem super childish to me.  I get that she has amnesia and is having a hard time  dealing but that doesn’t excuse her behavior.  She treats everyone like they owe her something and when things go wrong she doesn’t want to accept blame and own her faults.

On the contrary side, she also cares WAY too much what others think and is constantly trying to people please.  But it’s like you nothing is good enough for her.  I don’t know why I can’t stand her, I really really want to like her but I . just. don’t.   Also, why is her hair and eye color different than what it describes in the book.  I don’t understand why that was changed.

Maybe I’m being nit-picky and looking for things I didn’t like.  I’m just glad I finished the series.

 

More Than Jamie Baker (Jamie Baker #2) by Kelly Oram

Blurb: 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.

3 stars    I’m just gonna go ahead and warn you now, this review may contain spoilers, cause I’m pretty pissed about Mike and Becky’s side story here.  

This book was sloooooow in the beginning. I didn’t and don’t like Teddy and I’m kinda irritated that this book wasn’t as good as I thought it would be. You see KO, when you keep writing great stuff, my expectations just keep going up, up, up. But this one may have missed the mark just a bit.  It was a good read, but it took too long to get to the meat of the story in my opinion.

The rape recover side story was going great. Until it wasn’t.  As a victim of sexual assault, I can totally understand Becky’s feelings of betrayal from Jamie.  It wasn’t Jamie’s place to forgive him nor was it her place to try and convince Becky he was sorry.  It isn’t about being sorry at this point, it’s about being a good support system for your friend.  And if Jamie was a victim like she ‘said’ she was, then she should  have known that.  You can’t force people to forgive others.  That’s not how it works. I may be a bit jaded because of my past but it is what it is.

Just cause he gets hurt doesn’t mean he deserves to be forgiven. In fact, some would call that Karma.  I don’t feel bad for him in the least.  He made his bed, he didn’t lie in it though.  Then he blamed his actions on alcohol. What about after you sobered up huh? Did he take responsibility then? Uh, no, he didn’t, then he sabotaged his own life because he’s an idiot.  And Ryan! ::shakes head:: Ryan is blissfully ignorant of the fact his best friend is a rapist!  Oh dear god, someone tell me this doesn’t reoccur in the next book. I might have to DNF it if that’s the case.

But back to the main story, well, Jamie allows some asshole Teddy to get in between her and her love interest, Ryan.  I called that plot from gate.  For someone as suspicious as Jamie was in her last book, I’m kinda shocked she didn’t realize it herself.  Maybe it was all the superhero stuff she had been doing, but I would think you would have been extra cautious if that were the case.  Okay, I may be rambling but this book took a long time for me to finish. I’m glad I finished it and am even reading the third one because one mediocre book doesn’t spoil the bunch IMO.

The ending of the main story was pretty fantastic though and if I ignore the rape side story, which I did for the most part, my 3* rating is accurate.

Being Jamie Baker by Kelly Oram

Blurb: 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?

 

3.5 stars

THIS BOOK IS FREE!

So I don’t know if I actually liked this book or its just that annoying friend that I tolerate. There were some really great aspects of this story I enjoyed.  Like Ryan and how he was portrayed.  Egocentric, charming, good looking, all american high school athlete.  I really liked him and his almost stalker-ish obsession with Jamie Baker. I know that sounds terrible but Jamie’s ability to literally kill him if she got to worked up made his obsession pretty harmless to me.

Although I find it hard to believe a random kiss cold be so good as to make him give up almost everything he worked towards in high school. Or that an entire story could revolve around the hiding of super powers that really didn’t play that large a role in the plot overall.  I mean, yeah, shes got them but she rarely used them and spent the majority trying to suppress them.

I gotta say I was on the fence with liking Jamie throughout the whole book.  It was only when her icy persona thawed and she started to accept the fact that she had feelings for Ryan that I really got into the book. I think that’s the romantic in me though.

I did love the big bad though!  He was so unassuming and perfectly placed I had no idea who it was.  And the other irritating folks in Jamie’s life were also really well done.  Mike was a huge jerk with a capital A.  And I think his and Becky’s side story was a huge fail for me.  It came off to me as just some shock value that wasn’t really taken seriously. As a victim of sexual assault I found it poorly portrayed and not very relevant to the main plot. That was the biggest issue I had with the story though.  If I could look past that the story itself is worth a read, and since I love Kelly Oram’s other works I was willing to overlook it and keep going in this series.

So yeah, I think I liked this story.  Depending on your personal views you may as well.  Worth a shot since it’s free.

Remember Jamie Baker by Kelly Oram

Blurb:
Remember Jamie Baker is the explosive and long awaited conclusion to the Jamie Baker trilogy. With all the action of the best superhero science fiction and epic romance as only bestselling teen romance author Kelly Oram can write, this book will have you laughing, swooning, and wanting to save the world!

Plagued by memory loss, Jamie Baker searches high and low for the answers to who she is, where she comes from, and why she’s able to do things other humans can’t. A not-so-simple task when she’s hiding from the people responsible for her amnesia—an evil scientific research company that wants to capture her at any cost.

When Jamie’s quest for the truth reveals a devastating betrayal from the one person she thought she could trust, she’s forced to team up with a secret military organization in order to ensure her safety and stop Visticorp’s horrific human experimenting once and for all.

    

My Review:
4.5 stars — SO WORTH THE WAIT!!!  OK, so technically I didn’t wait as long as some fans, b/c I put off reading book 2 when I first got it because I knew the conclusion didn’t have a release day yet (or heck, was even written).  But even if I had been waiting those few years, it would have been worth it.  I LOVED Being Jamie Baker (4.5 star rounded up to 5), and then was majorly conflicted and a bit let down by More Than Jamie Baker (3.5 star rounded down to 3), so I was uncertain how the series would end.  BUT OMG.  Well, as you can see, I loved it.  Like seriously, everything I loved about this series was just there and present, and all the things that detracted from it for me were mitigated and reasonable.

I felt like in book 2 there was so much Teddy and, well, I hated him, so that really worried me coming into this book.  Especially b/c Jamie was so oblivious to him.  But none of my worries were founded in this book.  Teddy was still there, but in a much more behind the scenes capacity that made me so relieved.  And Jamie still felt compassion towards him, which given who Jamie is – it makes sense.  But she wasn’t blinded to all his faults.  THANK THE BABY JESUS.  So while he still causes all kinds of grief, it all worked much better in the book for me.  Seriously, you cannot know how relieved I am.

The memory loss thing was intriguing.  I didn’t expect it to take over so much of the plot, but I guess that’s because I didn’t really think about what all it would mean for Jamie.  But it was well done.  Occasionally I had moments where my interest waned, but that could be because I’ve had too much life stuff going on at the time I was reading this, and so I couldn’t just read and devour like I normally would.

Ryan Miller was everything we love about Ryan Miller and more.  If you thought you were in love with him before, prepare to fall in love even more.  He is such a funny character, b/c he is so sweet and positive and thoughtful, but he’s also this arrogant and kind of cocky guy…but somehow it’s endearing.

The chemistry was through the roof.  OMG.  Superkisses.  I forgot how much I love superkisses.

The side characters were AMAZING!!!  I LOVED all of them, from the Major, to the new Aces, to Abiodun, but especially Tyson!!!  They added so much and I just adored the scenes where they were all bantering back and forth.  What a great military family.

And the ending was perfection.  From the edge of your seat climax, to the more epilogue-esque conclusion.  I wasn’t quite sure how it was going to go, and though I would have been satisfied with any number of ways, Ms. Oram wrote it perfectly and beyond my expectations as usual.  Seriously.  I want to read it again, and probably will when I have time to soak it all in with no distractions.

SuperNova by Liz Long

Blurb:
The streets of Arcania are overrun with crime, deteriorating as a madman named Fortune makes himself at home. He shows no mercy, striking down anyone in his path – including Nova Benson’s little sister. Devastated, Nova vows to seek justice for her family, but aside from her freak strength and impenetrable skin, how is she supposed to stop a monster like Fortune?

Cole Warner wants to help people. Entrusted to keep his family’s secret, he’s also frustrated at having to hide his gift. He knows he could do more to help in the fight against Fortune. If he could convince his sister Penelope to join him, they might even have a chance at beating him. When Cole meets Nova, he realizes his whole world is about to change. And he’s going to welcome it with open arms.

Falling for each other wasn’t part of the plan.

Then again, neither was becoming a superhero.

    

My Review:
3 stars — I received a free copy through NetGalley in exchange for an honest and unbiased review/opinion.

Honestly, I could even go lower to 2.5 stars with this book, but I’m trying to shake off the negativity.  This book just wasn’t a match for me, and practically right from the start.  I can honestly say that I didn’t feel any emotion at Starling’s death (the little sister from the blurb, not a spoiler).  And right there that’s not a great sign.  I mean, if I’m not tapping into an author’s writing enough to feel emotion from a murder of a loved one, then it’s probably not a good match.  But I hate DNFing ARCs without giving it a fair shake, so I kept going.  And quite frankly it didn’t pick up for me until around the time Cole appeared in the story and we got his POV.  And not because he was necessarily book boyfriend material for me personally, but I thought he was a sweet and genuine person, and there was a bit more intriguing stuff coming into play with more gifted individuals.

So, basically, Nova was a dud for me.  On the surface we’re told she’s going through a lot, and sometimes I definitely felt her despair, but just not as I’d hoped I would I guess.  I didn’t really appreciate her habit of talking to herself, but that’s a Lenore taste thing, not necessarily a bad thing in general.  And on a side note, her friendship with Amber confused me.  I know she supposedly wasn’t as close to her but still liked her and whatnot, but she could be a bit superior in her own head with so much of the high school stuff.

My biggest problem with this story is that it constantly had me furrowing my brow in confusion and disbelief.  I do NOT understand the choices that the characters made.  I was constantly thinking “Seriously?  No one’s going to call the police, you’re just going to leave?”  “Seriously?  They have a major encounter with the bad guy, and they just easily run away and then it’s like a date and they don’t even really look at the news or anything to find out what happened?”  Sorry, I’m trying to be somewhat vague so as not to give spoilers, but the sequence of events in the plot just baffled me.

And the PARENTS!!!  Yet another story where they exist on the peripheral and just do not come into play basically ever.  Her father is a freaking lawyer, and she never updates him on her activities, or asks him how things are going on his end?  Cole and Pen’s father seems to be in the know on all things gifted, but we NEVER meet him?  I mean, I sort of get it, but it was too frustrating to me.

And crap, I’ve started getting ranty, so I’m going to stop.  Because that’s so unfair.  Basically this one just didn’t have enough good stuff sucking me in to want to continue with the series.  It was definitely not a match to my reading personality.  I will say that I’m glad I continued on and didn’t DNF b/c we did get some good stuff (particularly in Cole’s POV), and I enjoyed the sweet romance, even if it was a bit slow for my taste.  I just wish that someone was there to answer all my questions.  😛

More Than Jamie Baker by Kelly Oram

Synopsis:
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.

    

My Review:
3.5 stars — Oooooo, majorly conflicted!!!  (also, spoilers for book one if you haven’t read it)

OK, so part of my problem is that I kind of got a bit spoiled on parts of this book, just from being in Ms. Oram’s fan club on Facebook and seeing parts of discussions go by no matter how much I tried to avoid them like the plague.  I can honestly say I don’t know how my thoughts on different parts would have played out if I’d been able to read this book organically without seeing any discussion about it.  So if you haven’t read this book yet, TRY WITH EVERYTHING IN YOU to do a better job of avoiding reading anything about it, b/c apparently people don’t realize what is a spoiler (even just small things).  So there’s a part of me that’s disappointed in that, though there’s a tiny other part of me that thinks I may have noticed things happening and figured things out early on even without the spoiler.  And yes, I get that I’m being extremely vague, but I’m trying to avoid what was done to me, you know??  (perhaps I’ll add a spoiler section to my Goodreads review so I can discuss it)

OK, so I loved having Ryan and Jamie back.  I was super surprised that this book was a bit after the end of BJB.  For some reason I guess I just expected it to pick right up where the first book left off, not be a year later(ish).  But it was nice to see Ryan and Jamie fully entrenched in their relationship and enjoying each other.  I loved their banter and sweet moments, but occasionally I felt like something was missing between the two of them…but I can’t pinpoint it, so maybe it was just that I love them so much I always want more.

I am still conflicted about the Mike/Becky subplot.  There are parts of me that enjoyed the uniqueness of how it was dealt (what story actually bothers to pay any attention to the rapist?), but it’s just inherently uncomfortable then and I’m honestly not sure how forgiving a person I am personally.  I was also still kind of blown away that Jamie kept it from Ryan, no matter how she rationalized it.

And while I enjoyed Jamie’s conflict over the accident situation, I sometimes felt like it was drawn out longer than I was expecting…or maybe not drawn out so much as revisited too often.

I loved seeing her become Chelsea’s Angel, though I was disappointed that her disguise wasn’t very disguising.  But her heroics were so very Jamie-like, she really embraced that role.

Having seen teasers for the 3rd book, and having left reading this book so late, I wasn’t at all surprised or taken aback by the epilogue to this book…so I guess it didn’t bother me as much as it seems to have with other people.  I could totally see it happening in that way.

My basic problem with this book all centers around one element.  And unfortunately it’s a major element.  So I’m unsure how I’m going to enjoy the next book since that element still exists.  It’s having me waffling between rounding down or up on this one, and I honestly didn’t expect that since I loved BJB so much.  So like I said, very conflicted.  It had a lot of great elements, but that one could just overshadow all the good ones.  😦

Being Jamie Baker by Kelly Oram

Synopsis:
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?

    

My Review:
ORIGINAL REVIEW: 4.5 stars — Oh Ryan. If I had book boy crushes, you would definitely be on the list. I love how I start the review with the boy. There is so much more to this book than just the romance, but it was seriously adorable. I really enjoyed that this wasn’t an alternate world where paranormal things are real, but our world with an accident-altered girl in it. I loved Jamie’s parents. Not all YA really show a lot of parents, and it was so nice to see them in this one and reacting in believable ways most of the time. There were so many different little ….themes isn’t the right word…topics that this book touched on besides being an enjoyable action romance. I loved the resolution with Becky and that tie in.  I will admit the nemesis caught me a little off guard, but in the end I could buy it. I loved that Jamie wasn’t always that….uh….stable in her reactions. With all she’s dealt with, it was just such a realistic way of dealing with things. Anyways, I don’t even know what I’m saying anymore. And of course the Ryan POV’s just absolutely made my day. I really love that guy.

ON REREAD: 4.5 stars — Yup, I still loved it!!  Brett kept teasing me b/c I had so many moments where I had the biggest fricking grin all over my face.  The interactions between Ryan and Jamie were just so adorable sometimes.  I LOVED how positive he could be most of the time.  And Jamie was quite realistic.  Lots of teenage angst, but so believable in her circumstances.  I still wasn’t sure about the Becky/Mike resolution, but in the end I guess things can be handled in a multitude of different ways depending on the people and the situation.  Can’t wait to finally move on to book 2 now, and then soon book 3 will be here!!!