Review: Deadly Little Sercret (Touch Series#1) by Laurie Faria Stolarz

Title: Deadly Little Secret (Touch Series #1)

Author: Laurie Faria Stolarz

Genre: Young Adult, Paranormal

Publisher: Publisher: Hyperion

Synopsis/Summary:Until three months ago, everything about 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 an art studio downtown. But when Ben, the mysterious new guy, starts junior year at her high school, Camelia's life becomes far from 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 he's trouble, even when her friends try to convince her otherwise. Instead 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. -Taken from Goodreads

Plot:

     I was going to read three books of the series before reviewing it, but since the plot is actually not that continuous with Book 2 (same characters, whole new story), I decided to review it separately.

    This is a fast-paced book, with only 252 pages, Laurie told a paranormal romance story. But beware, the paranormal aspect is actually quite minor, while it's somehow crucial to the plot, it's not what drives the plot to go forward. I was actually sad that there were so little paranormal, the idea was good, (I can't tell what the idea is, 'cause it would be a spoiler), but Laurie should use it more, making it a focus of the plot would be good.

    In between some chapters, there were some diary entries, these entries were actually written by the one who sent the gifts and notes to Camila. Whenever I read those entries, I would be "wow, psycho", yup, that's how crazy this person is, and the revelation of his identity is actually quite a plot twist, which I enjoyed.

    One thing I didn't like about the plot is the ending (yes, it's always the ending). While the ending of this book was not all bad, it answered all major plot questions in the story and the revelations of them were rushed, explaining them in a few sentences and then we have already moved on. The ending was a closure itself,  and I wondered how Laurie would go on with the second book. (Which means I will be reading it, yay.)

World-building:

    The story was set in a seaside town, I don't know the name, probably because that wasn't mentioned, or I just didn't remember. The settings were normal, there was a high school, restaurants, a shop for our protagonist to work at, etc. As for the paranormal aspect, it wasn't explained much, it didn't explain why someone would have the power, was it from his/her parents? Or was it acquired? We don't know, only that it was there, and it was somehow important to the plot.

Characters:

    I couldn't connect with the characters in this book. Nope, not even Camila.

    Camila was a normal high-school student, her life was organized, planned and somewhat perfect. Then she was almost killed, and saved by a handsome guy. And now she couldn't stop thinking about him. First of all, I was actually annoyed that Camila was so fixated on Ben (the one who saved her life), he was acting all cool and wouldn't even talk to her in the beginning, if I were Camila, I would take the hint and leave. But NO, she had to keep chasing him and ignoring her friends' advice to stay away from him. While Ben was not actually a bad guy, I didn't like him, nope, not one bit. So them as a couple? Please, I would rather do homework then read about them. I know that everyone had flaws, but some of the choices Camila made were so stupid that I wanted to smack her in the head and tell her to think again with her tiny bird brain. So, when things started happening to Camila, I didn't actually care, making the story all the less enjoyable. I told myself I should care, but really, I don't.

    As for Ben, well, he was the typical YA bad boy type. Mopey, doesn't talk much, but actually have a soft and caring side once you get to know him. Please, I don't care what happened to him in the past, I just know that the way he suddenly take interest in Camila was confusing. What made you change your mind? You were too cool to talk to her one day, and the next you were practically grabbing her (well, sort of)? I am sorry, but no amount of crappy past could make me understand and accept the sudden mood change.

    There was some good characters in this book though. Like Kimmie, Camila's best friend. She was supportive and loyal to Camila, even though she was acting all selfish and only cared about Ben. I liked her, but there was actually not much development on her, making her a loyal best-friend cardboard cutout. Same goes to the other characters, which was actually saddening because I like some of the characters a lot, but I couldn't connect with them either.

Conclusion:

    I would give this book 3 stars. It was an okay book, not too shocking, not too crappy either. The characters need more development. There were actually a lot of dialogue in this book, and apparently some of them were even attempting to be funny, I don't know if it was because of my sense of humor (or lack thereof), but I don't find it funny. I think it was annoying and was taking time from the plot. Overall, the first book of the Touch series failed to impress but I will keep reading and see if there are anything interesting.

Rating: 3 stars!