Reviews for The Start Up Series (1-3) by Sadie Hayes

The Start Up (The Start Up #1)
By Sadie Hayes
Published by Backlit Fiction
Source: Ebook from Author
90 pages

"When a college freshman's breakthrough software program catapults her into the limelight, she and her twin brother must navigate a treacherous world of money, power, and envy: Silicon Valley.

In a world of tweets, apps, and mobile games, The Start-Up is a fast-paced and exciting serial story with a new episode released each month."-Goodreads

I will be doing a mini review for each of the three books I read. Since they are so short I thought it was fitting.

What is this about? you may ask. You know how T.V. episodes work right? Like Gossip Girl and Pretty Little Liars. This is like those shows put in a book (or so I've heard). A short, heart stopping, jaw dropping, grabbing for the edge of your desk action packed book(s)!

This first one sucked me in. I found that I liked Amelia and Adam from the very beginning. Amelia has got serious talent and Adam is the most awesome brother, I liked both their quirks. Although at this point I don't know too much personally about the twins, I have to say that they have a lot ahead of them! As the reader we are introduced to other characters, to the situation... and to the complicated world that is Silicon Valley. We get to see different characters lives and troubles and how they are connected to Adam's and Amelia's own lives. I normally don't like lots of POV's but this was done in a way I enjoyed.

The plot was fast moving and keeps your interest with all the deciets, lies, and backstabbing. Ok, not that serious.. yet. But Silicon Valley is definitely a place where the twins have to learn to be more careful. I can't wait to see what the second one will be because this ended in a major twist!

Excerpt:

The last thing Adam and Amelia Dory expected was to become the richest family in the world. Having come from nothing, the eighteenyear-old twins were happy just to have a chance to escape the legacy of foster homes and small town drift. Now here they were, attending Stanford University on academic scholarships, with bright, happy futures ahead of them.

It was the kind of thing you heard at graduation ceremonies, all heartfelt and misty-eyed while a marching band played “Pomp and Circumstance.” What you didn’t hear, though, were all the details that came with it: the envy, betrayal, theft, broken laws, backstabbing, misdirection, and seduction.

This was Silicon Valley, a place where unbelievable fortunes were made—money that put Wall Street and Hollywood to shame—and for every twenty-two year old billionaire parking his Porsche on the front lawn of his mansion, hundreds of people schemed how to take it away from him. Starting out back then, Adam and Amelia knew none of this. If you were to ask them, years later, if they still would have gone through with it, you might have gotten a surprising answer. That is, if you could find them...

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The Anti-Social Network (The Start Up #2)
By Sadie Hayes
Published by Backlit Fiction
Source: Ebook from Author
66 pages

"The Dory twins grew up with nothing. Now on the verge of having everything, their fledgling company—built on Amelia’s intellect and Adam’s ambition—threatens to be torn apart by new, powerful enemies and old, malicious ones.

The Anti-Social Network is the second episode in The Start-Up series, a fast-paced and exciting serial story. "-Goodreads

I still have my jaw on the floor. This book had a punch, the ending left me speech-less! A perfect second 'episode' to this series!

By the end of this second installment, we know a lot more about Adam and Amelia. We've learned about their past and I can't help but be drawn in now. I mean I'm seriously addicted. Their story is just beginning but it has a lot to tell! The technology sounds plausable for the most part but I'm not sure why 'Doreye' (their invention) is so big... but I'll go with it. The way everyone's different accounts are balanced really impresses me! Again this is through multiple POVs.

The writing is so simple yet the author really sounds like she knows what she's saying. Only a person who's been around the type of area that is Silicon Valley or even studied it would know all these little things. I can't help but mention again the truly fast pace and all the scheming. Once you start, you cannot stop and then when it stops you don't want it to end . I do give a warning though, some content in here is more for older audiences, I don't recommend it to younger readers.

But talk about a cliffhanger! Oh. My. Gosh. No way. No. I almost screamed at the twist, it just was crazy. So I'm warning you to be prepared, its like when you watch a T.V. episode and they say 'to be continued'...

Mini Excerpt:

“You can trust me, Amelia.” T.J. flashed a smile so charismatic it made her think he should have been a politician. He was so carefully put together that he must have practiced his facial expressions in the mirror—“this is the face that communicates sympathy; this is the face that communicates happiness.” Amelia wondered if anything about him was genuine, or if it was all part of a larger calculation.

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Beautiful Code (The Start Up #3)
By Sadie Hayes
Published by Backlit Fiction
Source: Ebook from Author
66 pages

"As their industry profiles rise, Adam and Amelia Dory fly to Hawaii to keynote TechCrunch’s Maui Waves of Disruption conference. Patty Hawkins also finds herself in Hawaii as the maid of honor in her sister Shandi’s wedding to Chad… but Chad and Patty can’t seem to get past the secret night they spent together. Both Patty and the twins quickly discover that the energy, lust and enemies of Silicon Valley follow you—no matter how far you go."

One would say I'm addicted. I would say to that person, "Your right". Because truth betold, who could not be seriously hanging off of every word?

I really enjoyed the setting: Hawaii. We don't get to see too much of it through descriptions but I liked the change of scenery. In this book things are just like before, everyone is so intermingled in the story its like a fly that's caught in a web! No matter how much struggling these characters can't get out of the tough situations their in. I have now deemed my favourite character, Adam. I feel so bad for him because everyone views him as nothing and underestimates him! There are too many characters to be explaining but all in all they have major roles and never assume you know a character.

To sum up these books (and most likely the ones to come), they are drama. Lots of it. And I like it! This author knows how to yank you along, engage you ferciously with the story, then drop you off a cliff with all the twists so that you come crawling back for more! I know I'll be crawling when the fourth is released!

I would recommend these books to older audiences that love drama and that have an interest in the crazy world of the rich and business oriented, where you have to be careful of everyone and everything... because you don't know who is on your side!

Mini Excerpt:

But it wasn’t Patty, or Shandi, or the ushers. It was…T. J. Bristol. Chad hadn’t known T. J. that long, but in all their encounters he’d never seen him at all un-composed. Yet here was T. J., his clothes a mess, his hair disheveled, with a distraught look on his face. From his spot at the altar, he saw T. J.’s chest rising and falling in deep breaths, like he’d just finshed a sprint. T. J. ran midway down the aisle and stopped, looking up at Chad with eyes full of concern and opened his mouth to speak.