Review: Deadly Little Games (Touch Series#3) by Laurie Faria Stolarz

Title: Deadly Little Games (Touch#3)

Author: Laurie Faria Stolarz

Genre: Young Adult, Mystery, Paranormal

Publisher: Hyperion

Synopsis/Summary: High school juniors Camelia and Ben have discovered a powerful bond: They both possess the power of psychometry, the ability to see the future through touch. For Ben, the gift is a frightening liability. When he senses a strong threat or betrayal, he risks losing control. Camelia's gift is more mysterious. When she works with clay, her hands sculpt messages her mind doesn't yet comprehend.

Before either one has a chance to fully grasp their abilities, a new danger surfaces, but this time, Camelia is not the target. Adam, a familiar face from Ben's past, is drawn into a puzzle he can't solve...and his life is on the line. As the clues pile up, Camelia must decide whether to help him and risk losing Ben or do nothing and suffer the consequences. But in these games, who can be trusted?

Find the book on: Goodreads / Amazon / Barnes & Noble

      Okay, so this time the book is another stalker story with Adam as the stalkee. This series is basically all stalker stories, and since this time there was no major flash-back moments, I don't have anything to complain about. The story is still in the same format, but the stalker notes have improved, adding in more variations, not just "You're dead" and repeat and repeat. While these notes don't seem tailored to especially one subject, like the A notes from PLL (I can't help but think of it whenever the word "stalker" comes up), they are better.

     I also like the crossword puzzles clues a lot. However, I couldn't really get all of the answers right away...Does this means I am stupid? Anyway, LOVE it. It's a refreshing way to send threats and it's cryptic too. It helps add to the spook factor of the story (though there is actually not much spook in the book).

    However, there is one thing that dragged the book: the romance, again. I seriously hate Camelia and Ben's relationship, I can't stress that enough. And this time they went through more drama and it basically ended with another break between them. I feel that this couple can't ever settle down, it has been THREE books already, and they still haven't worked out all the trust issues!? I think that's a major sign that their relationship is not healthy (no, not that meaning), and I still think they should break up. Well , anyway, I am pretty sure they'd break up and then get together again, that's the basic cycle of their relationship. *sigh*

     Since Adam is a big deal in this book, we got to know some of his friends. There's Piper, Tray, Melissa and Janet. However, most of his friends didn't have much dialogue, so I don't really know much about them except some of their hobbies. Well, the book is short, so you can only have so many sentences about new characters, I understand.

 

      I think characters is actually a very big problem for this series. Since each book is very short (less than 300 pages), we never really got to hear the inner struggles of any characters. I have never really connected with Camelia and this time I think she irritated me even more. She was persistent on helping Adam, and that caused her to say things, not exactly harsh, but more bossy. And I HATED it. As little as I know about Camelia, I still know that she was not someone who would be bossy, she's nicknamed Chameleon for a reason, and I am sure it's not just because of her name. So what she did was a little out of character.

     There's really no characters that I can connect to and that's a major problem in this series, Adam has definitely grown on me with his wit, and he talks a lot, like me, so I actually like him, can't connect to him though. Why wouldn't he call the police when received stalker notes? *another sigh*

Conclusion:

     Deadly Little Games is a fast-paced book, a good follow-up on the first two of the series. It was definitely better than the previous two, as the plot is not so similar to other famous YA books, also the plot twist, as usual, is a surprising one, it's a good trait to carry on. However, this book doesn't really strike me as a must read, it's good for passing time so if you have time for a quick read, you can consider it, but I am sure there are other better fast-paced books. All in all, I would give this a three star as it's very average.

Rating: three stars!

So, have you guys seen any good stalker books lately? I would love to know ;)

Review: Dealy Little Lie (Touch Series#2) by Laurie Faria Stolarz

Title: Deadly Little Lies (Touch Series #2)

Author: Laurie Faria Stolarz

Genre: Young Adult, Paranormal

Publisher: Publisher: Hyperion

Summary/Synopsis: Last fall, sixteen-year-old Camelia fell for Ben, a new boy at school who had a very mysterious gift – psychometry, 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 strange brushes with premonition. Camelia wonders if Ben's abilities have somehow been transferred to her.

Ben returns to school, but he remains aloof, and Camelia can't get close enough to share her secret with him. Camelia makes the painful decision to let him go and move on. Adam, the hot new guy at Knead, seems good for her in ways Ben wasn't. But when Camelia and Adam start dating, a surprising love triangle results. A chilling sequence of events uncovers 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. -Taken from Goodreads

Review: 

Plot: 

     So the plot of Deadly Little Lies...It's...Ugh, I should just go ahead and say it, unoriginal.

     The plot of this book is basically a lame version of the Pretty Little Liars books. You can see the resemblance: Stalker, sending threatening notes, written by red pen... Except that this stalker is much more lame then any of the "A"s, he/she hardly ever leaves a note, and when he/she did, it was usually the same message: "you're dead", "you're next",etc. Being a stalker is a full time job! You don't see A taking breaks whenever there is romance in the Liars' life, and A gives thought to her notes, what's the point of repeating "you're dead" over and over again to his/her victim!? Camelia won't actually drop dead because of it.

     Then, there's the romance. Normally this would be the place where I say I adore which and which couple, but I can't. Because all the couples (actually there's only about two different couples in this book) are not appealing to me. This book introduced Adam and he quickly took an interest in Camelia, whereas Camelia, spent the whole book trying to forget about Ben. I've said it in the last review, I don't like Camelia&Ben, or Camelia and Ben for that matter, so I don't really care whether she got over him or are they on-again-off-again or not. As for Adam, I think he's okay, better than Ben actually, he's not mopey all the time, acting like the world owns him something, and he's actually funny, wheres our poor male protagonist is humorless and mopey, he can't even made up his mind about Camelia, but that rant would better save for when I talk about the characters.

    The atmosphere of the book should be grim and scary, but I don't really see it. I mean, there are times when Camelia was alone in her house and it got creepy, but overall the book doesn't emit scary, it emits lame-stalker-story.

    There are three good things about this book though, one: it has a better ending. With 30 pages more than Deadly Little Secret, the ending of Dead Little Lies isn't rushed. It desperately screams "sequel" though. Well, I guess that's a step-up. Two, it's fast-paced, at least I don't have to read any more lame attempts at trying to be an intimidating stalker. Three, it has a pleasant plot twist when the identity of the inept stalker was revealed.

World-building:

    So, apparently, the town mentioned in the book (I think it's called Freetown? That's the name of the high school too), is a prank-laden one. And rumors travel fast in this town too, basic small town setting, I have nothing to say.

    There are new developments on the paranormal powers though. So psychometry might actually be hereditary. Since Camelia's aunt has the power, Camelia seems to have it too. Not much about Ben's situation though, but his family probably was psychometric too.

Characters:

    I have rants readied for this part, so let's start with Camelia.

    Camelia was stalked, again. And this she didn't tell her parents, again. So, basically what happened with Camelia in book one actually just happened again in book two, and she actually dealt with the situation the same way she dealt with it on book one, tries to swallow it all herself and making lame or zero attempt to actually try to identify the stalker. She did tell the counselor though, not much help was presented because of the act, but at least she learnt something from last time's experience. I also found out that Camelia is a super boring person. No, not about her sculpting, it's actually a good hobby, at least to me, it's about her music choice. It's only a sentence but I can't help but noticed, Camelia actually listened to the sound of rain hitting brooks on her phone. What does this tell us about her? That she was so last generation she can't even choose some pop songs. I know, I'm making kind of a big deal, but I can't help but be incredulous about this.

    Okay, let's talk about Ben. I still hate the guy, even more so this time. Throughout the book he said he wanted space from Camelia, and when she gave him space, he wouldn't let her go. I know, he was doing this for Camelia's sake, well, then act like you really don't care, not like a lovesick puppy! I found him annoying, he has his own set of rules and expect people to stick with another set of rules, and the way he kept appearing to Camelia was actually beyond annoying. You either be with her or not, make a choice, dude! As much as I dislike Camelia, I don't think she should end up with Ben, there is plenty of good-looking guys, there is no need to be fixated at him.

Conclusion:

    I'll give this book 2.5 stars, that's the most I can give, I actually want to give 2 only, but at least the book has better scary scenes this time, the stalker's not that scary though and the characters are still annoying to me, not much development on any characters too. The writing's actually good, it flows fast and is not heavily burdened with details, I can see Laurie is experienced in her writing, needs to come up with better plots though. I bought book three, I really want to drop the series, if it was just gonna make lame-o versions of famous YA series, the first book was Twilight and second one was Pretty Little Liars, let's see if there will be rip-off of The Hunger Games too!

Rating: two stars!

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!