Deadly Little Secret

This was a really unexpected book for me. I was wary of the premise (a girl is inexplicably drawn to the mysterious new boy in school-- where have we heard that one before?) but decided to read it anyway, being seduced by the gorgeous cover (which by the way, I feel has little to do with the book).

I say unexpected because this turned out to be somewhat of a horror/suspense novel-- rather than focusing on romance, the main character receives suspicious messages and phone calls, and every few chapters we get a journal entry from the perspective of her stalker. In terms of suspense, creepiness and intrigue, the author definitely delivered. I kept changing my guess as to who the stalker was right up until the end.

Unfortunately, everything show more else in the book fell a bit flat. Camelia was only interesting as a main character due to the mysterious things that kept happening to her, her two best friends Kimmie and Wes annoyed me with their "witty" banter every time they showed up, and her romance with Ben was lukewarm at best. I really don't understand why they fell for each other or what they see in each other. The characters and relationships were never really explored in more depth, which made this book feel more like a cheap B-movie/made-for-tv thriller with very little substance. show less

I really enjoyed this books and it was a pretty quick book to read. The main character, Camelia, is a likable and very inquisitive girl. When she is saved from being hit by a car by a strange, cute guy (Ben) that shows up later at her high school and goes out of his way to avoid her, she wants to know what is going on. The side characters and Camelia's best friends, Kimmie and Wes, were pretty funny. Kimmie always has something witty to say about everything, I enjoyed her character.

With Ben and Camelia's relationship, at first I reminded me of Twilight how the guy avoids the girl, the girl is always trying to figure out why he is doing this, and come to find out, girl affects guy in a way he is not totally comfortable with. This didn't show more necessarily take away from the story for me, but it was similar and I thought I should point it out. I did find this book eerie in many ways with Camelia's stalker sneaking into her house and leaving things for her to find. Pretty creepy, I couldnt put the book down until I found out who was doing all this crazy stalker stuff, there were quite a few suspects!

Deadly Little Secrets in the first in the series, followed by Deadly Little Lies which was released November 2009. With the cliffhanger ending of Deadly Little Secrets, I am glad I had Deadly Little Lies to pick up and start reading! According to the author's website, the 3rd in the series Deadly Little Game will be released Fall 2010. show less

The other day I was browsing through books on Kobo looking for some interesting reads and came across Laurie Faria Stolarz’s Deadly Little Secret. This is the first novel in what looks to be a five book series called “Touch” and I decided to give it a try. It turns out I’ll be wanting to check out the next book in the series to see what happens next.

In Deadly Little Secret we meet Camelia, a 16-year-old, who is leading a pretty normal life until she is rescued from being killed by an out-of-control car in the school parking lot by the new boy in school (cue the Twilight references). Ben shoves her out of the way, then touches her stomach before he suddenly leaves the scene. Camelia can’t forget his touch and tries to learn show more more about him, only to discover rumors are flying all around school. It seems Ben was suspected of murdering his girlfriend at his old school, but was acquitted. He has been dubbed by the students at his new school as “Ben the Butcher.”

Camelia is not deterred by the rumors and finds herself drawn to him anyway. She sees him around school trying to stay out of the paths of other students and frequently coming late to class with no repercussions (it is suspected that the principal is allowing the tardiness to avoid hallway confrontations with other students). When he becomes her chemistry lab partner (Twilight again), she finds he is very reluctant to touch anything at all, let alone her. Ben eventually admits he was the one to rescue her from the car (he's been denying it), but is very reluctant to pursue a relationship. After several meetings and a date that sends Ben running after Camelia kisses him, he informs her that he believes she is in great danger and could end up dead. It seems Ben has a gift for “psychometry,” where if he touches a person or object he can receive visions of the past or future, and when he touches Camelia he is not seeing a happy ending. All too soon, it appears that someone is stalking Camelia and that any day could be her last. Could she be Ben’s next victim?

I found myself liking both Camelia and Ben. Camelia is your typical teenager whose uneventful life is about to be upended on many fronts. The danger she is in is all too real, and the slow build-up of tension adds to the dread as her stalker gets closer and closer to an explosion of violence. I thought Stolarz did a nice job on this, although I am a little concerned that if something like this were happening in real life to one of her readers Camelia’s reluctance to bring the matter to the attention of her parents or the police may send the wrong message. Unfortunately stalkers are all too real, and if someone is threatened in such a manner they should let someone know immediately. I know some readers will probably figure out who the stalker is relatively quickly, but I was unsure who was at fault until he actually acted on his obsession. I think I was putting too much thought into it and ended up missing a clue or two, but it was nice not knowing the actual answer until the end.

Ben’s determination to help Camelia even though he was afraid of what might happen was great. I felt bad for him as he was harassed by the other kids at school and blamed for things he didn’t do. He was an all-to-convenient scapegoat and he handled it with great dignity. I really like that in a character. I liked that he did eventually tell Camelia what happened with his last girlfriend and his involvement in her death. I could actually picture it in my head as he described it and it seemed believable. While his gift actually caused tragedy in his last relationship, it turns out to be a benefit in his relationship with Camelia. The author did take a little too long to get to the explanation for Ben’s erratic behavior, but at least the explanation was logical.

One character turned out to be big negative for me and that was Camelia’s best friend, Kimmie. I think she was meant to be a bit of comic relief and add some quirkiness to the story, but instead she came off as very contrived and fake. If I was stuck with someone like Kimmie in real life I would probably end up killing her myself – she is THAT annoying! I hope to see a little less of her in the next book, but I don’t hold out much hope.

So other than Kimmie and the belief that Camelia should have taken her fears to her parents or the police (especially after the stalker hits too close to home), I enjoyed this book. There are a couple of scenes that invoke thoughts of Twilight, but the overall paranormal aspects of this book are minor (although I suspect Camelia may have a slight gift of her own). The book is actually a combination of mystery/thriller and romance, which was fine. I liked it enough that I’m going to check out the next book, Deadly Little Lies, soon. show less

Camelia Hammond is almost run over when another girl at her school loses control of her car. Fortunately, she is pushed out of the way by a mysterious stranger. He disappears before she has a chance to thank him. However, thee months later, he shows up as the new kid at her school and the place is abuzz with the rumour that he murdered his last girlfriend.

Camelia finds this hard to believe - he did save her - and she is still determined to thank him. But when she finally gets a chance to do so, he insists he has no idea what she is talking about.

Then strange and frightening things start happening to her. She receives pictures of herself through the mail as well as strange phone calls. It becomes pretty clear pretty fast that she has a show more stalker. Then he breaks into her room, first to leave her a gift, then to leave a threatening message. She has no idea who she can trust - her friends are acting weird, her parents are distracted by a family tragedy and she can't get their attention, and she knows that, if she goes to the police, they will focus solely on Ben, the new kid, and he may be the only one who can protect her - that is, of course, if he is not the stalker

Deadly Little Secrets, as a YA paranormal mystery, is light on the paranormal but heavy on the suspense. There are plenty of suspects to keep the reader guessing and the chapters are interspersed with entries from the stalker's journal which really amps up the 'creep' factor.

This book is a real page turner full of interesting characters, a pretty decent mystery, a touch of romance and just the right amount of creepiness to keep you on the edge of your seat. Although, this is the first book in a series, it can be read as a standalone but, with a story this good, thank goodness it's not. show less

I found this book on the sale shelf at my local bookstore, I bought it because i liked the cover and it was only 3.99. I'm so glad i did! Best thing about this book is the dialogue, It's fast paced and witty. This book has a really great cast of characters, all with strong personalities that stand out on their own. The mystery aspect of the book was really cool, the story is from Camelia's POV but every few chapters there would be a diary entry from the stalkers's POV. It was super creepy to get inside the stalkers head. As always in the books i read of course there is a hottie to moon over, Ben Carter in this case. I feel really bad for Ben he has to endure a lot of crap about his past even I kept second guessing his actual intentions. show more This book was fun to read it kept me on my toes and i can't wait to get started on the sequel. Laurie Faria Stolarz has a new fangirl in me, i really enjoy her writing. show less

This book will send me to the Bookaholic group because it's so addicting. I could not put it down! I needed to find out the answers, I need to figure out the mystery. I needed to figure out who was stalking Camelia! And when it was time for bed and I was still not finished it, it crept into my dreams. I seriously could not figure it out and when I thought I did, my conclusions were trampled on by other facts. The author did an amazing job at hiding who the antagonist was (with having like 5 or 6 guys who could be it) and the things the stalker will really disturb you. One of the the most interesting aspects about the book, is that there are a few chapters from the stalker's POV. They're kind of like journal entries, and his mind is show more really twisted when you read them. At first they seem normal, and then they just sort of creep you out. This book is fast pasted (I was able to read it in 2 days) and will certainly leaving you wanting more. The ending was sort of sad, and made me feel that way. It also will make you keep thinking about it afterwords, it just won't let you go. Also this is one of those books that doesn't have supernatural sort of beings in it, but one of the characters has a special ability that is really realistic and I can imagine someone having. I couldn't really think of anything that I disliked about this book. Something I thought could of been developed was the romance between Ben & Camelia. It was a bit rushed and had a unrealistic feeling to it.
This book is great!! What you think you know, you don't!!! I'm so excited to read, Deadly Little Lies (the sequel). show less

Wow. I really enjoyed Deadly Little Secret. It was unbelievably intense and awesome. I wanted to read something scary-ish for Halloween, and I certainly got my wish!

Camelia, the protagonist, drove me absolutely nuts with her decision-making skills, or lack there of. She was an idiot and she should have done certain things way before she did and wanted to slap her. But I fully get it – her not doing what she should have done made the story what it was, and it awesome. Ben is totally creepy but sexy, hahaha.

I really enjoyed the story line. I found the whole story very realistic (except for, you know, the bit that isn’t but you’ll have to read it to understand, I guess). I’ve had some experience with stalking before, although not show more to the same extent as Camelia, and I found it all very similar and it was kind of hard for me to read at some points because of that. I really liked how the author portrayed Camelia’s friends. I thought their reactions to the situation were very normal and I liked that they weren’t over the top or under-done, if that makes sense.

The ending came a little too quickly and nicely for me, but it was still satisfying but cliffhangery at the same time. I will definitely be picking up the second book (Deadly Little Lies) whenever my store gets a copy, grr! I’d buy the ebook, but I love these covers. The paperbacks feel really cool – next time you’re at the store, definitely pick one up and feel it (and then buy it)! :) show less