Owen Matthews Author Page

The Story: I got How to Win at High School, and then The Fixes, from Edelweiss, and yeah, they were such great reads! Can't wait to read more of his books!

Website

Stand Alone's: How to Win at High School and his site, my review, The Fixes and my review.

Week 51 Review: How to Win at High School

From Goodreads:
Using Scarface as his guide to life, Adam Higgs is going from zero to high school hero.

Adam Higgs is a loser, and he's not okay with it. 

But starting as a junior in a new high school seems like exactly the right time to change things. He brainstorms with his best friend, Brian: What will it take for him to take over Nixon Collegiate? 

Adam searches for the A-listers' weak spot and strikes gold when he gets queen bee Sara Bryant to pay him for doing her physics homework. One part nerd, two parts badass, Adam ditches his legit job and turns to full-time cheating. His clients? All the Nixon Collegiate gods and goddesses.

But soon his homework business becomes a booze business, which becomes a fake ID business. Adam's popularity soars as he unlocks high school achievements left and right, from his first kiss to his first rebound hookup. But something else is haunting him—a dark memory from his past, driving him to keep climbing. What is it? And will he go too far?

How to Win at High School's honest portrayal of high school hierarchy is paired with an adrenaline-charged narrative and an over-the-top story line, creating a book that will appeal to guys, girls, and reluctant readers of every stripe. Adam's rocket ride to the top of the social order and subsequent flameout is both emotionally resonant and laugh-out-loud funny.

My Review:
Yeah, this was a really fantastic book! But you know that things aren't going to end well. And by things, I mean his business and popularity. But you know, in the gaining of that, he lost something, that he didn't really regain until everything he was working for came falling down!

So I think that this is Owen Matthews' writing style, since he did it here and in his second book, where there's short chapters to tell the story. Which means a lot of pages. But yeah, it works, and I really enjoy it!

This was a really great look at high school. Those kids, the popular ones, the gods and goddesses, yeah. And the desire to not be a loser, to be one of the popular kids. And you wanted to root for Adam, but knowing that what he was doing was wrong, and it was hurting him!

You could almost call this a warning book, like a guide of what not to do. But it's more than that, which is the almost. Because there's his family, and the warnings, and the beating up. And yeah, it's not a book with the happily ever endings, but one with a solid reasoning and going into life from a better place.

This book was weird and awesome, and I really enjoyed reading it!

Author: Owen Matthews
Read: December 10th, 2016
Source: Edelweiss
Reason Why: Because it sounded really great! And it's a DAC Book and SAC 2016 Book!
Publisher: Harper Teen
Published: March 3rd 2015

5/5 Hearts

4/5 Books

3.5/5 Stars

Week 36 Review: The Fixes

From Goodreads:
Eric Connelly is crumbling under the weight of his dad's expectations. He can't seem to live up to the "Connelly Man" standards—but when he meets the mysterious, free-spirited Jordan Grant, his dad's rules seem so much less important than they used to.

Jordan and Eric—now "E"—join up with two of the most popular girls in school to combat their rich-kid boredom by cruising their beachside hometown of Capilano. But as Jordan seduces E further into this depraved life, the group starts to kill time in more nefarious ways.

It's Jordan who escalates the pack's dares from mostly harmless jaunts like joyrides in boosted cars and Bling Ring–style luxury shoplifting sprees into more violent activities. Eric is intoxicated . . . swept up in the pack's activities, even as Paige and Haley start to have reservations about what they've been doing. When Jordan starts talking big—can E help him build a bomb, he wonders?—E must decide if he’s too far down the rabbit hole to back out now. 

My Review:
This book was a little bit different. Almost every page was a new character, and there were some of those notes, where the place the note goes is marked, and the actual note is at the back of the book. And yeah, then there was the narration!

Loved the narration, it was so awesome, and I loved the voice, of things happening, and then this random voice interjecting comments, that explained things further, made fun of what was going to happen, foreshadowed or just flat out told what was going to happen. It was really awesome!

We know what was going to happen-we were told, in the synopsis, in the book. But we didn't know how things got to that point, and yeah, I really enjoyed going on that journey! It was a downward slide, but it sure as heck was enjoyable!

E basically ruins his life, makes the wrong decision again and again. While Paige and Haley were a part of things from the beginning, they started to back out. And yeah, that was smarter, given what happened in the end, which was, well, explosive!

Loved reading this book, it was so fantastic, and now I'll have to read Owen Matthews' How to Win at High School now, because this book was just so wonderful and well written!

Author: Owen Matthews
Read: August 28th, 2016
Source: Edelweiss
Reason Why: Sounded really good, and it's a SAC 2016 Book!
Publisher: Harper Teen
Published: August 30th 2016

5/5 Hearts

5/5 Books

5/5 Stars