Review: Serial Hottie by Kelly Oram & Interview w/Kelly!

Serial Hottie by Kelly Oram
374 pages, Kindle Edition
Finished on 29/6/2012
Genres: Young Adult, Realistic Fiction, Coming of Age, Action, Romance
Synopsis via Goodreads:

Ellie’s sweet sixteen is a summer of firsts. First car. First kiss. First boyfriend. First serial-killing stalker?

Hockey-obsessed tomboy Eleanor Westley has never been the object of a guy’s affection before. So when the hottest boy she’s ever seen moves in across the street and starts treating her like she’s the center of his universe, naturally she’s going to be a little skeptical. But everything starts to make sense when girls who look just like Ellie start dying all around the city. Obviously the new guy is the killer, and of course he only likes her because he wants to slice her into tiny pieces. Right?

The more Ellie gets to know Seth the more she’s convinced he’s a psychopathic killer. The problem is he’s the sweetest psychopathic killer she’s ever met. Not to mention he’s brutally hot. No matter how hard she tries, she can’t help but fall for him. Will Ellie find true love, or will her summer of firsts turn out to be a summer of lasts?

Motivation to Read It: Kelly contacted me asking if I would like to read it, and being that I'd heard how good Being Jamie Baker was, I was all for it!

Review: This novel was ahmazing! As soon as possible, I'm going to get a copy of Being Jamie Baker to indulge in.

Ellie was a really great character; she's a complete tomboy to the core -- the absolute opposite of her older sister Angela. She was known for punching people and being a seriously good hockey player. Seth has just moved in across the street, and for him it's love at first sight when he sees Ellie. His timing for moving in, however, is not exactly making everything between them honky-dory. Especially when you add in the creepy things he says sometimes. Yeah, kinda scary.

The plot was really great! It sucked me in from the beginning and just wouldn't let go of me. I wasn't really able to predict anything with this book, which I really liked. It's one of those where you think the characters will do one thing, and they do the complete opposite. I have to say, when they revealed who the killer was, I had a hunch that it was going to be that person, but even still, it wasn't just a "I'm totally sure" hunch. The novel keeps you guessing until the end.

The romance that Oram mixed in with everything was really good, too. You had the annoying guy that needs to stop being a player, the guy that was a good friend and somehow ended up trying to get her a girlfriend. In the middle of her sister trying to play matchmaker, Ellie is constantly drawn to Seth. Even while she's worrying that he's going to kill her as soon as he can, she can't help but be fascinated by him at the same time.

The characters were really just spectacular. They all had really defined personalities, and none of them were cliche to me in the least. I think my favorite charrie might'be been Seth, but Ellie wouldn't be too far behind. Seth was just so determined to prove to Ellie that she shouldn't be scared of him, and he was always trying to make her trust him and protect her. That's what I loved the most: him wanting to keep her safe so bad. He totally deserves an award for that.

Overall, get this book. It's amazing, and I'm really glad I had the chance to read it! I'll definitely be on the lookout for Oram's next novel, V is for Virgin.

Shelf-Worthy

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Help me give a big warm Butterfly welcome to Kelly Oram!!!

Q: What gave you the idea for Serial Hottie?
A: Honestly I can’t remember what first made me think “serial killer.” It was more the tone of the book that I set out to write. I wanted to do something a little offbeat and funny. I was also in love with the idea of that “one crazy summer.”


I’d read so many YA novels that had all the same scenes—new town, new high school, mean girls, cafeterias, lockers, lab partners… (I’d even just written one of those in Being Jamie Baker.) I wanted something totally different, with not a single scene that took place at school. That meant summer break. Summer breaks when I was in high school meant running around the neighborhood unsupervised, playing street hockey, and spying on hot boys with my best friend The next thing I knew New Hot Boy lived across the street and had a definite mystery too him. (Ellie totally gets her overly active imagination from me.) The plot then grew from there.

Q: What's your favorite part about being an author?
A: Being able to tell stories! I always have so many ideas floating around in my brain. I love being able to make all those crazy ideas and daydreams come to life. Even when I thought no one would ever read my stories but me, I still wrote them. I will always write them. I need the creative outlet.

Q: What do you like to do when you're not writing?
A: I am a reading addict! I probably read one-two books a week on average. I’m a sucker for YA. (Sci-fi, fantasy, contemporary, you name it.) The more romance the better! Aside from that my life is pretty much consumed with my children. I have four of them and I love the little monsters to pieces!

Q: What are some of your favorite authors of all-time?
A: Meg Cabot for sure tops my list, with Jennifer L. Armentrout coming in a close second. Meg & Jennifer = Love! I’m also a huge fan of Kelley Armstrong, Scott Westerfield, Simone Elkeles, Sarah Dessen, John Green, and now Josephine Angelini.

((I must interrupt my own interview to try to tell you how happy this makes me that I've found another John Green fan. *swoons* I love his work. SO much. You cannot believe. I can't even explain. Okay, back to the questions.))

Q: What would you say is the best book you've read so far this year?
A: I absolutely fell in love with Josephine Angelini’s Starcrossed and Dreamless this year. These books are so wonderful I could gush all day. They’re a modern spin on the Helen of Troy mythology. Awesome characters, great writing, super fun story, exciting, and home of my newest YA crush. *Cheers for Team Orion!*

Q: What advice would you give people who are aspiring to be an author?
A: READ! Anything and everything you can get your hands on. Reading other’s work is honestly the best tool you have in improving your own writing. Also, that very first manuscript is the hardest one to finish. If you’re having trouble completing it, forget your delete key exists. Disable it if you have to. Just get the book finished first and then go back and worry about rewriting.

Q: Just for the fun of knowing, do you prefer your chicken grilled or fried?
A: Grilled on the BBQ. Dark meat. Mmm, now I’m hungry.

Q: Can you tell us a little bit about your upcoming work, V is for Virgin? When can we expect to see it on the shelves?
A: V Is For Virgin is about a girl who gets dumped for her decision to stay virgin until she’s married. After a bit of a public breakdown, she gets tired of the ridicule and decides to start a school-wide campaign to rally support for her cause. The controversy catches the entire nation’s attention when a famous rock star learns about Valerie and decides to take her abstinence as a personal challenge. Good times.

Hopefully this book sparks a little bit of thought from those who read it. It’s about knowing who you are, making choices for yourself, and standing up to peer pressure. (In a fun, sexy, getting-chased-by-hot-rockstars kind of way…)

I think it’s a little more risqué than my first two books, (with the subject matter being sex, that was sort of inevitable) but it’s still relatively clean. Hopefully people really enjoy it because I had a lot of fun with it, and am very proud of it.

I should have a cover to share soon. I saw the mock-up recently and totally love it, and I’m working on getting a short teaser posted on my blog in a few days.

Q: How can we keep up with you and your books?
A: Well, I try to keep my blog updated. The website is www.kellyoram.com. You can also find me on Facebook and Twitter. And I am hopelessly addicted to Goodreads, so you can always find out what I’m up to on there. (I love friends!)


Thanks, Kelly, for stopping by! It's been fun getting to know you a little :D