Sinclair Smith

Eighteen-year-old Delia has kept a diary since she was a kid. Her English teacher Mr. Parrish suggested she write in her diary like she would write a novel---in case she wanted to be a writer some day.

Delia's best friend Jewel threw her a surprise birthday party recently and afterwards they had a sleepover with some friends. At the sleepover Delia's friends woke her from a nightmare she was having (in the dream she was reading someone else's diary, written in her own handwriting, and then show more she was dead and floating in water).

One day at school Delia finds a diary in her locker with a card that says "Maybe this will help you remember". At first she is scared, thinking about the diary in her dream, but then she thinks it's just a prank pulled by her boyfriend Brock. But it isn't and there is writing in the diary. Delia starts reading the diary, but she feels scared and naughty, after all, you were never never supposed to read someone else's diary.

There are initials on the diary, LL. Delia has always liked the name Laura, so she names the author of the diary Laura. She also notices she is becoming more and more like "Laura", the girl in the diary. She gets a new haircut, starts acting differently, eats different foods, and she now has bad traits (cuts class, steals, lies, cheats, etc...).

One day, after cutting class, she instinctively runs to a place in town she's never seen or been to before. There is a deserted house with a sign that says "yard sale". An old man comes up to her and tells her only one person came to the yard sale and that person was Delia and she bought a diary. The old woman who lived in the house moved away years ago, after her granddaughter was killed. The old man tells her the granddaughter was killed by one of her friends. And the granddaughter looked just like Delia...

This was an enjoyable and captivating story that dealt with past lives, reincarnation, revenge, etc... It kept me turning the pages to see what was going to happen next. Pretty good and absorbing young-adult thriller. show less

Katie Shaw makes a wish upon a star one night for her life to be different. She wants to be exciting, and she wants a boyfriend who's with her all of the time. (Katie is a quiet and not very popular girl who looks drab, wears dull clothes...) Katie has a crush on a boy at school called Jason, but he barely notices her.

Over the next few days Katie has a feeling that something extraordinary is going to happen to her... something big. That night she dreams of a handsome guy who rides a show more motorcycle and he says he really knows her. His name is Heath. He says he can change her life.

As time goes by Katie starts becoming more popular at school, Jason is noticing her, and she buys a new fashionable wardrobe. Katie also keeps seeing Heath in her dreams. But sometimes he isn't so nice and charming, sometimes he's quite nasty and mean. Katie is starting to get worried and scared to go to sleep and she wants to get rid of Heath. But at night when she sleeps he appears in her dreams. And the more she dreams of Heath the stronger he is getting. Katie is starting to see Heath outside of her dreams to, but how can this be?

This was a pretty good young-adult thriller from the 1990's. I found the storyline interesting. I was curious to see what was going to happen next. Heath reminded me a little of a Freddy Krueger type of character, not in looks, but the way he shows up in Katie's dreams.

A short enjoyable read. show less

God, trashy teen horror is so satisfying. I mostly love this book for the nostalgia - it is SO trashy though that it'd probably be a satisfying read had I not loved it when I as younger.

The 'morals' of the book are amazing (in a wrong wrong wrong way) and it's all got subtle tones of lesbianism. hot!

This was fairly average and predictable, even for a teen novel. The characters were shallow and textbook, the plot done to death, the twists weren't the least bit surprising and the thrills were entirely absent. Definitely not on my recommended reading list.