The Best Reader [Search results for Kelly Oram] 

Aspiring social scientists Avery Shaw and Grayson Kennedy were required to keep detailed journals of all their exploits during The Avery Shaw Experiment. Only the participants of the 2013 Utah State Science Fair were allowed access to these records, but we're in luck because the ever-sneaky, privacy-invading author Kelly Oram has managed to get her hands on those journals and has decided to share them with the world. Today's featured entry has been stolen from the pages of Grayson's diary. Enjoy!

“Most Definitely A Real Date” (Grayson)
I’m taking Avery out on our first date tonight. I don’t really count New Years Eve because the girl was beyond messed up that night and she only stuck around for about fifteen minutes. That was more like an emergency rescue than a date. Tonight will be a real one—no matter what Avery says.

When I called to ask what time Aves wanted me to pick her up for our date, she immediately brought up the fact that this was a school project. Not a date. Whatever. She claims to be stuck between bargaining and guilt, but clearly the girl is still dealing with some major denial. We’re totally going on a date tonight. I think I’ll bring her roses just to prove it.

At first I thought about taking her out on a group date with a bunch of my friends, but I decided against that for several reasons. One, they’re all going to go see a movie, and after I nearly jumped Aves yesterday I don’t think taking her to a dark theater where the armrests between the seats can be lifted up is the best idea.

More than my lack of self-control, though, I want to have Avery all to myself for the night. Avery is so shy. She tends to clam up or fade into the background when she’s around my friends, and I want the opposite from her tonight. I want her to open up to me.

It occurred to me while we were studying yesterday that I don’t really know Aves very well. Of course I know her, but we’ve never hung out much before. In fact, up until she’d asked me to help her with her Aiden-purging, I’d never even been in her bedroom before.

I have this idea in my head of who she is, but now that I think about it, that’s mostly based on what I know about my brother. I can’t really picture her separately from Aiden any better than she can. Well, I don’t particularly care much for my brother right now. I don’t want to associate Avery with him anymore.

There’s got to be more to Avery than just the fact that she’s Aiden’s best friend. I want to see that side of her. I want to learn what she likes and doesn’t like, not what Aiden likes and doesn’t like. I want to see how she handles things when she doesn’t have him there to lean on.

Tonight for our date, I am going to take Avery to do something she’s never done before. I want tonight to be one hundred percent The Avery and Grayson Show. Aiden is so not invited—literally or metaphorically. Call me selfish, but I’m taking Avery out. Not Aiden. I don’t want him to be there in any way, shape or form. I want Avery’s thoughts and feelings to be centered on me. Not stuck on that stupid, selfish punk and what he did to her. I want her to smile all night long damn it. And I want her to laugh. A lot. Girl has such an adorable laugh. She needs to use it more often. In fact, that gives me a great idea. I just figured out what we’re going to do tonight.

Be sure to catch all of the entries from the Avery Shaw Diaries!

June 3rd --"I See London, I See France" (Avery) — Colorimetry
June 4th --"Purging" (Grayson) — Reading Teen
June 5th --"Too Hot To Handle" (Avery) — I Am A Reader, Not A Writer
June 6th --"Self Control, Or Lack Thereof" (Grayson) — Book Passion For Life
June 7th --"Most Definitely A Real Date" (Grayson) — Confessions of a Bookaholic
June 8th --"Post Shower Avery And Grayson Things" (Avery) — A Life Bound By Books

Giveaway

Have a soft spot for Grayson? Good news, you have a chance to hear from him personally! Avery loved the diary Grayson made her so much that Grayson decided to make another one for one very lucky fan. Enter the giveaway below for a chance to win your very own personalized Secret Grayson Kennedy Love Diary, complete with a personal letter/journal entry from Grayson himself! The winner of the diary will also receive some Kelly Oram bookmarks and a signed Avery Shaw Experiment mini-poster. (roughly 8"x11") Five other lucky winners will also receive signed Avery Shaw Experiment mini-posters.

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The Avery Shaw Experiment by Kelly Oram
Published: Bluefields (May 4th, 2013)
Reading Level: Young Adult
ebook: 278 pages
Summary:
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.

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The Avery Shaw Experiment by Kelly Oram
Published: Bluefields (May 4th, 2013)
Reading Level: Young Adult
ebook: 278 pages
Rating: 5 of 5 stars
Summary:
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.

Review:

Avery has been friends with Aiden and Grayson forever. They all grew up together and recently Avery has felt her feelings for Aiden are more in the"love" category. Well, unfortunately, Aiden doesn't feel the same way. He breaks her heart by turning her down and, low and behold, Grayson (the older brother) is there to catch Avery.

From page 1 I loved Grayson. He's cute, funny, a jock, and hot. What's not to love about that? He's also a complete sweetheart. Even when he's being a bit flirtatious and getting on Avery's nerves, I couldn't help but swoon a little at his actions.

Poor Avery went through a lot in this story but I loved how Grayson really introduced her to a whole new world. While Avery was hoping to make her heartbreak into a scientific experiment, all Grayson wanted to do was make her feel better and realize she didn't need Aiden.

Aiden was a jerk. I had a hard time liking any part of him after what he did to Avery. I'm not sure I could have forgiven him. Boo, Aiden!

However, one of the first scenes with Grayson had me wishing I had a friend in high school just like him. He wasn't afraid to tell people off. There were times I just wanted to shake Avery and say"Get over it!!". But, at the same time, I realize what young love and heartbreak can be like and I understood why she wasn't able to let go of those feelings so easily.

If you are looking for a cute story with a fantastic male swoon-worthy character, pick this one up! I hope Kelly writes more of these stories because it was one of my favorite books from this year!

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Today is the second day of"Indie Reviews", a feature where I give short mini-reviews of all the Indie/N ew Adult titles I've read lately. I'll have 3 days of books that received a 4 star rating from me.

Because of Low by Abbi Glines
Add to Goodreads

This is book 2 in the series but I haven't read the first one. I really enjoyed this story. Low was a wonderful character and I really felt bad for her. I loved her best friend Cage (hot!) and Cage's roommate Marcus. It was nice that these books all contain the same group of characters. I didn't feel lost even though I hadn't read the first story. I hope to read more from this series soon.
There were times when I was frustrated by some lack of communication going on, but overall it was a really enjoyable read.

This series was picked up for publication, I believe, so it has a new cover now.

Charade by Nyrae Dawn Add to Goodreads
This was an interesting story because the main character, Cheyenne, pays the guy, Colt, to be her boyfriend for a while. Cheyenne wants to get back at her ex and Colt just wants to be able to take care of the bills since his mother is sick. I enjoyed Colt the most in this story. No, he wasn't perfect, but he tried to do everything for his mother. He just didn't plan on falling for Cheyenne. Nothing really surprised me with this book but nevertheless, I enjoyed getting to know the characters and seeing where the journey took them.

Clash by Nicole Williams Add to Goodreads
This is another title that has a new cover because it was picked up for publication. This is book 2 but I skipped book 1. I tried a sample of the first title but it just didn't grab me. I ended up trying this one out and loving it. Jude and Lucy were a great, typically, teen couple. A few parts were frustrating because of miscommunication between the two but I still enjoyed following their romance. They are dealing with a long-distance relationship now and there is a bit of adjustment going on. I do hope to read the third book in the series soon.

The Perfect Game by J. Sterling Add to Goodreads
Loved, loved, loved the first part of this book. Cassie and Jack were amazing and had such a cute story. Both characters were likable and I enjoyed the sports angle the story had. This book really had a good college vibe. Then, near the end, Jack makes a hugely, stupid decision and it was just … odd. I didn't believe he would do something like that without much thought. Some parts after that were kind of predictable but it just really took a wrong turn for me. Prepare to be angry at these characters if you read this. Overall, I'm glad I read it and truly enjoyed the first half of the book beyond belief! Book 2, The Game Changer, comes out soon and I do plan to read it.

Down to You by M. Leighton Add to Goodreads
This is another title that has been picked up. Notice a trend here? Olivia was a nice character. She is far from perfect but I enjoyed her. Then we meet Cash and Nash. Cash is the bad boy, Nash is the good guy. She knows which one she should want to be with but that isn't the case. I will say that this book throws you quite a curveball. I didn't expect that twist. On the other hand, there were still a few things that just didn't make sense to me. Like, how do you end up in bed with a guy and you're not sure which twin it is? Hmm. Up to Me is the next book in this series. I'm honestly not sure if I will read it. I don't have a strong pull to do so (unlike some other series I read) so who knows. Either way, this one is a fun story with a crazy twist and I know a ton of people who really loved it.

V is for Virgin by Kelly Oram Add to Goodreads
This is such a funny story. Val"V" is a virgin who has dis aster strike as the entire school (and beyon d) start s giving her a hard time for her choice to wait till marriage. Instead of hiding away, she starts a campaign to supp ort her cause and she's pretty surprised by how many people end up helping her with it. Then, we throw in a rocker bad boy, Kyle, who is hellbent to destroy her plan and it all creates a wonderful ly, fan tastic read. The interactions be tween V and Kyle were amazing. I loved how spunky V was and how she never backed down f rom Ky le. It was a little rushed at the end, I wanted more! But regardless, I'd definitely reco mmend this one. Great story with terrific characters.

Bad Rep by A. Meredith Walters Add to Goodreads
Another great New Adult read. It may be based on the traditional set up we've seen 100 times — girl meets bad boy, falls for him, issues ar ise, blah blah. but it was well written and enjoyable. This story does involve some *gasp* cheating… which is kind of a turn off for me but it didn't ruin Jordan's ch aracter. He wa s a bit more"nice" than I expected from the cover and summary th ough. I didn't really get the bad boy vibe as much as we see in other stories. Maysie was what I'd vie w as the traditional college co-ed, trying to survive school, make money, and have some fun. This may not be one that sticks out to me a s a f avorite but I'm still glad I took the time to read it.

Rock the Heart by Michelle A. Valentine Add to Goodreads Who doesn't love rockers?? This is one of my all-time favorite rocker books. Lane broke up with Noel 4 years ago and, through her job, they end up reunit ing. Eventually, she has to go on the road with him and she learns that even though Noel has changed, he still wants only her. I loved this co uple. The whole"rock star" vibe is very much in this story as well. I am a sucker for books where we get to go on tour with the characters. HOT. T here were times where I was frustrated with the characters but all-in-all, I'd definitely continue with this s eries and see what happens to Noel's band m ates.

Foolish Games by Leah Spiegel Add to G oodreads This was a cute story about some friends following around a bad (yes, more ba nd guys) but it takes a huge twist. Joie is pulled into a plot to help the bands reputation and it ends up risking her life. Hawkins, the love interest, was wond erful. Joie and Haw k ins have a lot of chemistry together but they also were never afraid to speak their minds. T his book also involves a stalker and I loved the whole mystery of it. I thought it was very well-written even though there were times where I just wanted them to tell the frea kin' cop s! I do plan to read the next books in this series and I love that they are based on the same characters. I really want to see wh ere they end up.

ALL OF THESE BOOKS RECEIVED A RATING OF