inwonderland49's review against another edition
4.0
Originally posted on In Wonderland (http://stephwonderland.blogspot.com/2012/10/deadly-little-secret-review.html)
I do have to say that the beginning of this novel reminded me a bit like Twilight. For example: Camelia encounters a near-death accident (involving a car) and our mysterious guy pushes her out of the way. They are science lab partners. And a few other similarities. However, it exceeded my expectations greatly. I liked it more than Twilight. Ben is not a vampire and when first reading, you're wondering where the paranormal stuff is. Don't worry, it's there. Ben has a gift and it's called psychometry. It's where he can see images or feelings and stuff like that when he touches people and things. Which comes in handy when Camelia starts being stalked and threatened.
There's a lot of art within this book as well. She works at an art studio and she loves to sculpt. Reading this book, made me want to try sculpting. (Beware for this book to burst some creativity into you).
Within the novel you get to read her stalker's journal entries and this is where the creep-tastic adventure comes from. While you're reading her stalker's journal, you are creeped out, get the spine-tingling shivers, and you constantly keep a look out. However, you keep wanting more. I did. I could not put this book down.
This novel is written well. Laurie Faria Stolarz knows how to tell a story and make it interesting. There is quirkiness, romance, and thrilling suspense. All-in-all, a great combination.
I do have to say that the beginning of this novel reminded me a bit like Twilight. For example: Camelia encounters a near-death accident (involving a car) and our mysterious guy pushes her out of the way. They are science lab partners. And a few other similarities. However, it exceeded my expectations greatly. I liked it more than Twilight. Ben is not a vampire and when first reading, you're wondering where the paranormal stuff is. Don't worry, it's there. Ben has a gift and it's called psychometry. It's where he can see images or feelings and stuff like that when he touches people and things. Which comes in handy when Camelia starts being stalked and threatened.
There's a lot of art within this book as well. She works at an art studio and she loves to sculpt. Reading this book, made me want to try sculpting. (Beware for this book to burst some creativity into you).
Within the novel you get to read her stalker's journal entries and this is where the creep-tastic adventure comes from. While you're reading her stalker's journal, you are creeped out, get the spine-tingling shivers, and you constantly keep a look out. However, you keep wanting more. I did. I could not put this book down.
This novel is written well. Laurie Faria Stolarz knows how to tell a story and make it interesting. There is quirkiness, romance, and thrilling suspense. All-in-all, a great combination.
kittypaws9's review against another edition
2.0
“Deadly Little Secret” stood out to me in Borders because of the cover. It was compelling and I liked the texture of it. (Yes, sometimes I judge books by their covers). I haven’t read her other popular series “Blue is for Nightmares,” which I hear is better than this one.
It was an OK read. Nothing super exciting. It took a little while for the book to pick up, but after the first 50 pages or so, I couldn’t put it down. Not because of the great writing (because there isn’t any), but just because it was interesting.
There are a lot of similarities between this book and “Twilight.” There aren’t any vampires, but some of the things that happen/plot points are the same. I didn’t mind the crossover, it was just a little distracting. For example, not every teen couple needs to start out as lab partners.
I am going to have to read the next one since it’s not really a standalone book. Yes, the major conflict is resolved and you find out who the stalker is, but you can tell that the author is just getting started.
I wouldn’t necessarily recommend this book, but if you have nothing better to do, there are a lot worse books out there.
It was an OK read. Nothing super exciting. It took a little while for the book to pick up, but after the first 50 pages or so, I couldn’t put it down. Not because of the great writing (because there isn’t any), but just because it was interesting.
There are a lot of similarities between this book and “Twilight.” There aren’t any vampires, but some of the things that happen/plot points are the same. I didn’t mind the crossover, it was just a little distracting. For example, not every teen couple needs to start out as lab partners.
I am going to have to read the next one since it’s not really a standalone book. Yes, the major conflict is resolved and you find out who the stalker is, but you can tell that the author is just getting started.
I wouldn’t necessarily recommend this book, but if you have nothing better to do, there are a lot worse books out there.
lexieb's review against another edition
2.0
I'm going to be upfront here: I read this book because I expected it to be bad.
Typically, when deciding my latest read, I go for the ones that I think I'll genuinely enjoy. The only exception is when I have just finished a really fantastic book, and I'm aware that any book I read after it won't be as enjoyable as it otherwise might have been; I don't want to do that to a book that I think I WILL be quite fond of, so I tend to steer towards books that I don't expect to be exceptional. My friends' opinions of this one ranged from "meh" to "ich," and I already had a copy, so I thought, Why not?
Well. I was looking for a middling to awful read, and I got one.
This book was far, far too short. At 252 pages, it's exceptionally small for a paranormal read. With a basis like this, you could do so much--delve deeper into the topic of psychometry, expand on the apparently troubling family issues, create real setting and mood and characters.
But this book does none of that. The paranormal aspect is an afterthought, a little quirk to help the story along. Random family drama is thrown in to explain why the fuck this girl isn't telling her parents about life-threatening danger, explained in a paragraph, and resolved in a few sentences. I had scarcely any feel for the setting. The stalking never instilled any real fear in me, even when read alone at night, and when the climax finally came, it was a few pages long, lacking any tension or thrill, and settled in such a ridiculously easy manner that I simply sat there and thought, that's all? That's it?
Worst of all, though, are the characters.
Where do I begin? With Kimmie, the idiotic, boy-obsessed "designer" who narrowly loses to Haven for the title of Worst Best Friend in Extence? With Wes, who seems to serve no purpose other than to make innuendos and be a scapegoat to explain away our MC's idiocy? With essentially all the parents mentioned in this story, who were so ridiculously unrealistic that I simply sat there and giggled every time one of their scenes appeared?
Or perhaps Ben and Camelia, our love interest and our heroine. I don't think, in all my days of YA PNR reading, I have ever found a couple less exciting or more devoid of any chemistry whatsoever. Their relationship is based off of secrets, extreme mistrust, stalking, and ~sensuous touches~. I find it hard to get behind a boy that the MC is somewhat terrified of for 90% of the book. I find it hard to get behind a relationship between two people who know scarcely a thing about one another and are so very deep and attached because they talked about dead girlfriends and creepy stalkers and made out.
Also, honestly, what was with the hand porn? These guys would just sort of . . . stroke one another, and it was supposed to be very touching and romantic and wait I wasn't supposed to be laughing hysterically?
Oops.
Finally, perhaps my biggest pet peeve of all: CAMELIA. IS. A. MORON. A moron! You get stalkerish pictures in the mail, someone mysterious calls you, threatens you, leaves you presents, and breaks into your house and shreds their present to bits. You are told from the psychometric dude that this stalker will KILL YOU.
So you call the police, right? Or you at LEAST tell your parents and let them sort it out. Right?
Wrong!
Camelia tells her friends. And that is it. No parents because, oh no, we wouldn't want to worry them! It's not like your life is in danger or anything! And no police, because a mysterious boy who you know nothing about and who may possibly be a killer says he doesn't trust them!
I just could not with that idiocy. I still don't understand how one manages to live their life with zero care for self preservation.
(Oh, right. The hot boys save them. Of course! Because clearly heroines aren't capable of rescuing themselves and need big, strong men to rescue them every time.)
After all my ranting, you probably expect a 1, but it didn't quite reach that level. The writing, aside from a few awkward descriptions, was quite decent, and Stolarz clearly has a decent sense of humor, though the large majority of these characters' quips are nothing you would ever catch leaving a teen's mouth.
So 2 stars for this one, and a hearty recommendation to stay far, far away from it.
Typically, when deciding my latest read, I go for the ones that I think I'll genuinely enjoy. The only exception is when I have just finished a really fantastic book, and I'm aware that any book I read after it won't be as enjoyable as it otherwise might have been; I don't want to do that to a book that I think I WILL be quite fond of, so I tend to steer towards books that I don't expect to be exceptional. My friends' opinions of this one ranged from "meh" to "ich," and I already had a copy, so I thought, Why not?
Well. I was looking for a middling to awful read, and I got one.
This book was far, far too short. At 252 pages, it's exceptionally small for a paranormal read. With a basis like this, you could do so much--delve deeper into the topic of psychometry, expand on the apparently troubling family issues, create real setting and mood and characters.
But this book does none of that. The paranormal aspect is an afterthought, a little quirk to help the story along. Random family drama is thrown in to explain why the fuck this girl isn't telling her parents about life-threatening danger, explained in a paragraph, and resolved in a few sentences. I had scarcely any feel for the setting. The stalking never instilled any real fear in me, even when read alone at night, and when the climax finally came, it was a few pages long, lacking any tension or thrill, and settled in such a ridiculously easy manner that I simply sat there and thought, that's all? That's it?
Worst of all, though, are the characters.
Where do I begin? With Kimmie, the idiotic, boy-obsessed "designer" who narrowly loses to Haven for the title of Worst Best Friend in Extence? With Wes, who seems to serve no purpose other than to make innuendos and be a scapegoat to explain away our MC's idiocy? With essentially all the parents mentioned in this story, who were so ridiculously unrealistic that I simply sat there and giggled every time one of their scenes appeared?
Or perhaps Ben and Camelia, our love interest and our heroine. I don't think, in all my days of YA PNR reading, I have ever found a couple less exciting or more devoid of any chemistry whatsoever. Their relationship is based off of secrets, extreme mistrust, stalking, and ~sensuous touches~. I find it hard to get behind a boy that the MC is somewhat terrified of for 90% of the book. I find it hard to get behind a relationship between two people who know scarcely a thing about one another and are so very deep and attached because they talked about dead girlfriends and creepy stalkers and made out.
Also, honestly, what was with the hand porn? These guys would just sort of . . . stroke one another, and it was supposed to be very touching and romantic and wait I wasn't supposed to be laughing hysterically?
Oops.
Finally, perhaps my biggest pet peeve of all: CAMELIA. IS. A. MORON. A moron! You get stalkerish pictures in the mail, someone mysterious calls you, threatens you, leaves you presents, and breaks into your house and shreds their present to bits. You are told from the psychometric dude that this stalker will KILL YOU.
So you call the police, right? Or you at LEAST tell your parents and let them sort it out. Right?
Wrong!
Camelia tells her friends. And that is it. No parents because, oh no, we wouldn't want to worry them! It's not like your life is in danger or anything! And no police, because a mysterious boy who you know nothing about and who may possibly be a killer says he doesn't trust them!
I just could not with that idiocy. I still don't understand how one manages to live their life with zero care for self preservation.
(Oh, right. The hot boys save them. Of course! Because clearly heroines aren't capable of rescuing themselves and need big, strong men to rescue them every time.)
After all my ranting, you probably expect a 1, but it didn't quite reach that level. The writing, aside from a few awkward descriptions, was quite decent, and Stolarz clearly has a decent sense of humor, though the large majority of these characters' quips are nothing you would ever catch leaving a teen's mouth.
So 2 stars for this one, and a hearty recommendation to stay far, far away from it.
rinne77's review against another edition
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
I enjoyed the book overall as it had a unique plot albeit very predictable and was a fluffy read between more serious works.. Reviews that say it was intriguing I really don’t understand. It tries to be intriguing, yes, and it tries to have a red herring but it doesn’t deliver when you know who the culprit is in the first few chapters.
It definitely has a twilight feel in the most toxic way. The main character is completely self centered and makes so many of the typical mistakes of young female protagonists.
I have the next book in the series but I am not inclined to read it.
It definitely has a twilight feel in the most toxic way. The main character is completely self centered and makes so many of the typical mistakes of young female protagonists.
I have the next book in the series but I am not inclined to read it.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Car accident, Death, Gaslighting, Grief, Stalking, Kidnapping, Suicide attempt, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship
toodoorcc's review against another edition
5.0
I have read this book multiple times and I will never get tired of it. The plot, writing, character development is amazing.
hyzie's review against another edition
2.0
This wasn't terrible, but it wasn't great, either.
Camille is annoying in a lot of ways, and she never really gets better. She is socially awkward in the most obnoxious way--she's extremely self-centered and it causes her to miss all sorts of things that are obviously going wrong in other people's lives. She's also not terribly bright and has that annoying YA "heroine" tendency to run straight towards the creepiest guy in the room at any given moment. If someone tells you they think he might be a murderer and you think he might be stalking you, seems like you should be running in the other direction, yeah? Is this just me?
Of course, because one time he managed to help her when she was in danger, Edward Ben somehow became the center of her universe at all times, and she trusted him even when he basically told her not to. Because that is not creepy at all.
There are no vampires, but this book was very clearly written riding on the Twilight wave, and sometimes the similarities are a bit too much. Unfortunately, vampires, even awkward sparkly vampires who play baseball, are just plain more interesting than what we have here in terms of paranormal stuff. Camille is awfully similar to Bella, but somehow I found the latter less annoying. Possibly because she was the first?
I did enjoy the thriller aspect and I thought the handling of the second viewpoint was done pretty well. I enjoyed trying to figure out what was going on, although I did manage to figure it out well before things were revealed. Camille is a trusting little soul and does not pay attention to things that should be obvious sometimes.
I won't pick up the rest of the series, but I'm not against maybe trying something else by the author, hopefully something that feels a little less derivative.
amarylissw's review against another edition
1.0
Is it bad that I can honestly say there was nothing I enjoyed about this book?
Let's start with the characters:
Our protagonist, Camelia, has no depth whatsoever and spends most of the time obsessing over a touch that makes her feel jittery and acting like a child in the face of danger. What is it with these protagonists?
Ben is nothing special. Super hot, of course, but also entirely bland. There was no chemistry between him and Camelia, and no reason for their attraction. (He has such a great touch, so I should totally fall in love with him. --Camelia)
The rest of the characters have similar development, which makes the story even more annoying.
And the plot. Oh, the poor, poor plot. Predictable, unoriginal, repetitive. I could guess who the culprit was pretty quickly, and the climax was . . . rather anticlimactic. Also, the book seems like such a waste, because part of it is Camelia and he friends talking about useless stuff, another part obsessing over Ben's touch, and a third trying to make the plot suspenseful. Note: Trying.
As for the rest of the story, we have very little on setting, the writing is mediocre, and this book really left me with nothing but disgust. (That may seem harsh, I know, but this book just irked me.)
Let's start with the characters:
Our protagonist, Camelia, has no depth whatsoever and spends most of the time obsessing over a touch that makes her feel jittery and acting like a child in the face of danger. What is it with these protagonists?
Ben is nothing special. Super hot, of course, but also entirely bland. There was no chemistry between him and Camelia, and no reason for their attraction. (He has such a great touch, so I should totally fall in love with him. --Camelia)
The rest of the characters have similar development, which makes the story even more annoying.
And the plot. Oh, the poor, poor plot. Predictable, unoriginal, repetitive. I could guess who the culprit was pretty quickly, and the climax was . . . rather anticlimactic. Also, the book seems like such a waste, because part of it is Camelia and he friends talking about useless stuff, another part obsessing over Ben's touch, and a third trying to make the plot suspenseful. Note: Trying.
As for the rest of the story, we have very little on setting, the writing is mediocre, and this book really left me with nothing but disgust. (That may seem harsh, I know, but this book just irked me.)
lumos_libros's review against another edition
3.0
This is definitely a suspense novel and it totally delivers on that front. I actually don't gravitate toward this genre (but I am more and more as of late.) For the most part I'm pretty bad at reading them cause I just can't take it! I'll flip to the end and see the outcome like a naughty reader, but I forced myself not to do it this time. I'm glad I did because it would have ruined the story.
Camelia is a normal girl for the most part, but an event happens that changes everything. A guy named Ben saves her from a car crashing into her and since then she hasn't stopped thinking about him. She finally sees him again at school a couple of months later, but when she wants to thank him for saving her life he denies everything. Confusion ensues and Camelia starts to get nasty letters and that's not even the worst of it. So who does Camelia trust? Ben, or all the other people telling her not to?
I have never read [b:Twilight|41865|Twilight (Twilight, #1)|Stephenie Meyer|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1361039443s/41865.jpg|3212258], but from what I've heard about it, it does have that kind of quality to it. I can't say what exactly because that might give something away. I'm not sure how Twilight fans feel about this. I can tell you this: it might seem unoriginal, but lots of authors use this to create a scenario that oozes tension. What I did see as a complete rip-off is the whole pottery scene. I mean did anyone else think of the scene in the movie Ghost? I know it isn't exactly the same but boy it most certainly had that "emotion" to it. I got kind of annoyed that so many guys were crushing on her. I mean really? But I get why because if we didn't have that many choices of who the stalker could be it wouldn't have the suspense we are presented.
The concept is original though. I wish I could say what it is but again that might spoil it for future readers. I'm hooked enough to read the next book [b:Deadly Little Lies|6223474|Deadly Little Lies (Touch, #2)|Laurie Faria Stolarz|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1348371261s/6223474.jpg|6404174]. The book grabs your attention from the onset but I felt it lacked originality with certain scenes and felt I didn't get to know the characters well. That might be because it is a series and we will get to delve deeper into the characters with the books to come. One of those series to be on the lookout for.
Camelia is a normal girl for the most part, but an event happens that changes everything. A guy named Ben saves her from a car crashing into her and since then she hasn't stopped thinking about him. She finally sees him again at school a couple of months later, but when she wants to thank him for saving her life he denies everything. Confusion ensues and Camelia starts to get nasty letters and that's not even the worst of it. So who does Camelia trust? Ben, or all the other people telling her not to?
I have never read [b:Twilight|41865|Twilight (Twilight, #1)|Stephenie Meyer|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1361039443s/41865.jpg|3212258], but from what I've heard about it, it does have that kind of quality to it. I can't say what exactly because that might give something away. I'm not sure how Twilight fans feel about this. I can tell you this: it might seem unoriginal, but lots of authors use this to create a scenario that oozes tension. What I did see as a complete rip-off is the whole pottery scene. I mean did anyone else think of the scene in the movie Ghost? I know it isn't exactly the same but boy it most certainly had that "emotion" to it. I got kind of annoyed that so many guys were crushing on her. I mean really? But I get why because if we didn't have that many choices of who the stalker could be it wouldn't have the suspense we are presented.
The concept is original though. I wish I could say what it is but again that might spoil it for future readers. I'm hooked enough to read the next book [b:Deadly Little Lies|6223474|Deadly Little Lies (Touch, #2)|Laurie Faria Stolarz|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1348371261s/6223474.jpg|6404174]. The book grabs your attention from the onset but I felt it lacked originality with certain scenes and felt I didn't get to know the characters well. That might be because it is a series and we will get to delve deeper into the characters with the books to come. One of those series to be on the lookout for.
geofroggatt's review against another edition
2.0
Laurie Faria Stolarz helped get me into reading with her Blue is for Nightmares book series, and a friend of mine had recommended her Touch book series back in elementary school. Set in the fictional town of Freetown, the story revolves around sixteen-year-old Camelia Hammond, an ordinary girl beginning her junior year of high school. When Ben Carter, the new boy in town, saves Camelia from being hit by a car, Camelia is terrified to learn Ben is rumored to have a murderous past. As Camelia attempts to get closer to Ben and learn more about him, she receives a series of ominous gifts, threatening phone-calls, and terrifying text-messages from a mysterious stalker. Along with her close friends, Kimmie and Wes, Camelia must determine if Ben is the one terrorizing her, or if it is someone else. Upon starting this book, I immediately recognized some typical young adult paranormal romance tropes from the early 2000s. The mysterious boy with a dark past, the paranormal high school romance, the insta-love trope. This book is definitely a product of its time. The scene where Ben saves Camelia was almost exactly like a scene from Twilight. The stalker plot definitely elevated this basic paranormal romance into something more compelling. Laurie Faria Stolarz has done stalker storylines in her previous books, but I didn’t feel like it was pasted on here. I liked reading from the stalker’s perspective, but it was more creepily juvenile than it was scary. This book had an interesting premise, but an incredibly basic execution. This book feels like it was written for a younger audience than typical young adult books, and that’s okay, but I don’t think that it translates well to older readers or readers looking for more out of their young adult books. I didn’t guess the identity of the stalker correctly, but I still feel like the mystery of the stalker was written poorly. The motive wasn’t strong enough beyond “crazy obsession” and I felt like the character was just a caricature of a crazed stalker. This definitely wasn’t a favorite for me but I do understand that this book would most likely be more appealing to younger readers getting into reading. Despite not being a fan, I’ll most likely continue reading the rest of the series as I love the paranormal aspect to this book.
jerrica's review against another edition
3.0
Cookie-cutter characters, annoying dialogue, Twilight-y feel. But the suspense was quality, good tension.