Deadly Little Lies by Laurie Faria Stolarz

Summary:

Last fall, sixteen-year-old Camelia fell for Ben, the mysterious new boy at school who turned out to have a very mysterious gift--pyschometry, the ability to sense the future through touch. But just as Camelia and Ben's romance began to heat up, he abruptly left town. Brokenhearted, Camelia has spent the last few months studying everything she can about psychometry, and experiencing her own strange brushes with premonition. Camelia wonders if Ben's abilities have somehow rubbed off on her. Can the power of psychometry be transferred?

Even once Ben returns to school, Camelia can't get close enough to share her secret with him. Despite the romantic tension between them, Ben remains aloof, avoiding contact. Then when an unexpected kiss leads to a frightening argument, Camelia makes the painful decision to let Ben go and move on. Adam, the hot new guy at work, seems good for her in ways Ben wasn't. Adam is easygoing, and seems to really care about her.

But when Camelia and Adam start dating, a surprising love triangle results. A chilling sequence of events upturns secrets from Ben's past--and Adam's. Someone is lying, and it's up to Camelia to figure out who-before it's too late.
 
Review:
 
Since, Deadly Little Secret was only mediocre, in my opinion, I was a bit hesitant to start Deadly Little Lies. Luckily, Deadly Little Lies batted out any future worries I have with this series simply because it was just plain out fantastic and showed major growth in character and plot development! 

Camelia got a lot more likable in this one because of character growth, as mentioned above. Since, for one, she wasn't making extremely stupid decisions in not telling anyone what was happening like she did before, making  me actually start to care about what happened to her. And for two, I liked how she gave Ben at ultimatum in this book because it proved strength on her part and made Ben step it up. Plus, I loved the whole focus on her pottery and how it may be related to psychometry. I'm really excited to see where this will go in Deadly Little Games( the next in the series). Further more, I loved the secondary characters a ton in this one. Because their constant dialogue brought many laughable scenes into the mix and brought the scary undertone to the story to a point where the level between funny and serious was great!

The plot in this was also fantastic because I loved the development in it, once again, and it constantly provided you with a twist and turn you never saw coming. I mean seriously half of the stuff that happened in this book was way differnt then what I thought would occur.

In all, Laurie Faria Stolarz proves the Touch series to be a must read in this follow-up, making it a great add to your holiday wishlist.
 
Grade: A

Deadly Little Lies is now out!

Source: Publisher for review. Thanks Hallie!

Bleed by Laurie Faria Stolarz

Summary:

Over the course of a single day, the lives of ten teenagers will intersect in powerful and unexpected ways.

Among them are Nicole, whose decision to betray her best friend will shock everyone, most of all herself; Kelly, who meets the convicted felon she’s been writing to for years; and Maria, whose definition of a true friend is someone who will cut her. Derik discovers his usual good looks and charm won’t help him get the girl he really wants, while Joy, a fifteen year old waitress, hoping for true intimacy, narrowly escapes a very dark fate.

Seamlessly woven together, this collection of interconnected short stories paints an authentic portrait of today’s teen experience that is at once funny, moving, and often very haunting. (from Amazon)

Review:

When I finally obtained a copy of this last week, I was so excited. Since, I loved the concept of weaving together ten teenagers lives. Though, with Bleed I was extremely disappointed.

The characters and plot were interesting enough, but it just seemed like it was lacking. Lacking development, lacking a fast paced plot, lacking well just about everything. The characters were dull and one dimensional. Plus, you never really came to understand some of the crazy stuff they did love. For example the one girl, Kelly, goes and meets a convicted murder, a guy who KILLED his girlfriend. I know that people can go crazy when they are in love. But come on, that's not crazy, that's stupid!

Then, the plot was just boring. Since, most of the situations that the teens got themselves into were typical to began with and then they were carried out typically. Though, with saying that, I did find myself completely involved in the story for Nicole and Sean's parts.

The only other part that I somewhat liked about this book was the idea of it all. Since, most people never realize how their actions and attitude can affect people that they don't even know that well.

Over all, Laurie defiantly let me down with this story. Though, I still love her other books. So, I defiantly will be picking up her new releases when they come out, especially Deadly Little Lies. :)

Grade: D+

Bleed is now out in paperback.

Deadly Little Secret: A Touch Novel by Laurie Faria Stolarz

Summary:

Some secrets shouldn't be kept...

Up until three months ago, everything in sixteen-year-old Camelia's life had been fairly ordinary: decent grades; an okay relationship with her parents; and a pretty cool part-time job at the art studio downtown. But when Ben, the mysterious new guy, starts junior year at her high school, Camelia's life becomes anything but ordinary.

Rumored to be somehow responsible for his ex-girlfriend's accidental death, Ben is immediately ostracized by everyone on campus. Except for Camelia. She's reluctant to believe the rumors, even when her friends try to convince her otherwise. She's inexplicably drawn to Ben...and to his touch. But soon, Camelia is receiving eerie phone calls and strange packages with threatening notes. Ben insists she is in danger, and that he can help--but can he be trusted? She knows he's hiding something... but he's not the only one with a secret.

From the best-selling author of Blue is for Nightmares comes a story of paranormal romance that's sure to be a thrilling and chilling teen favorite. (from Amazon)

Review:

Deadly Little Secrets was a suspenseful, scary, and funny book that I enjoyed a ton. The whole premise of this book was interesting and well developed, I thought. I liked how Laurie Faurie Stolarz based this on how a stalker was following Camelia around and on the ridicule and hate Ben got on his psychometric ability( the ability to tell different things by touch). I had never heard of psychometric before. So, it was interesting to see what it was all about and how it affected Ben's every day life. Also, the whole stalker part of the story was, as said above, scary and always kept me on the edge of my seat wondering who it was.

In Deadly Little Secrets, Laurie also adds the stalker's diary to the story. I thought that without this, you wouldn't really get to see how twisted and sick this guy was and it added to how great this book was.

Even though I enjoyed this book, I had quite a few problems with it.

For one, throughout the story Camelia never went to her parents to tell them how a creepy guy was not only following her around, but leaving her presents from stores, putting creepy pictures of her in her mailbox, and kept harassing her over the phone. I mean come on, maybe if she ACTUALLY told her parents, what happened in the end would not have. Though, I guess you would probably loose some of the suspense and mystery to the book. Adding to this, her friends actually knew she was in trouble, but did they stick by her and help her? No, they gave her an ultimatum saying that if she would not stop obsessing about Ben and the stalker dude and didn't ask them about their own stupid problems, I must say, that there was not any point in hanging out with them. What kind of friends are those? Come on! If this had happened to me, I know my friends would have helped and convinced me to tell my parents.

Second of all, I felt that Camelia was not as developed of a character as she could have been. Sometimes, it seemed like she had no feelings or thoughts to what was happening, instead she just told the facts. Though, she was still fun to read about.

Lastly, the ending of this was the kind were you want to throw the book across the room because of how cliff hangerish it is. Though, I guess it was Laurie's way of making you want to buy/read the sequel, Deadly Little Lies.

I know that I have three paragraphs on how annoying this book was at times, but it is still a ok book that I suggest to all. Also, I can't wait to read the sequel, Deadly Little Lies, because I want to know what happens next.

Grade: C+/B-

This book is now out in hardcover, you can find out more about it here.