Deadly Little Voices by Laurie Faria Stolarz
High school junior Camelia thought her powers of psychometry only gave her the ability to sense the future through touch. But now she’s started to hear voices. Mean voices. Berating her, telling her how ugly she is, and that she’d be better off dead. It’s a troubling development that has Camelia terrified for her mental stability, especially since her deranged aunt with a suicidal history has just moved into the family house. More torturing, ex-boyfriend Ben, who has similar psychometric abilities, has been spending more time with their classmate Alejandra.
With the line between right and wrong fraying, Camelia turns to pottery to get a grasp on her emotions. She begins sculpting a beautiful figure skater, only to receive frightening premonitions that someone’s in danger. But who is the victim? And how can Camelia help them when she is on the brink of losing her own sanity?
MY THOUGHTS:
I love the Touch series. Contemporary horrors/thrillers are just my thing.
BUT… being the fourth book in this series, I expected Deadly Little Voices to give me a little bit more satisfaction than it did. This isn’t to say that it’s unsatisfying, because it is. It’s just that I’ve come to expect a bit more action, rather than stalling, from this series. The plot is always chilling and exciting, keeping me hooked and guessing from page one. But the whole situation between Camelia and Ben and Adam just makes me want to rip my hair out. I can’t even begin to explain how frustrating yet lackluster it is. You can tell there’s tension – in fact, it’s all up in your face. And so you wait. And you wait. And you wait. And then the tension explodes! ….And then two seconds later it dissipates. I think this is supposed to be some sort of love triangle, but I’ve honestly got no clue now.
I could go on and on about that horrific ending.
Okay, I’m exaggerating. But it really worked me up. You’ll know what I mean when you get to it.
As far as other characters are concerned, I was so happy to see Aunt Alexia’s involvement grow! Kimmie and Wes open up a bit more as well. Yet, there’s still more to them that we’re not quite getting, and again, it’s just making me frustrated. When I’m four books into a series, I want information. Progression. Interest. The constant pulling from all sides of the involved parties is waning.
Something’s gotta give, and it’s not me.
Hopefully everything will come together in Deadly Little Lessons.
Deadly Little Voices by Laurie Faria Stolarz.
Deadly Little Games
Laurie Faria Stolarz
FROM THE COVER:
Camelia and Ben have discovered a powerful bond: They both possess the power of psychometry, the ability to sense things through touch. For Ben, the gift is a frightening liability. When he senses a strong threat or betrayal, he risks losing control and hurting people. Camelia’s gift is more mysterious. When she works with clay, her hands sculpt messages her mind doesn’t yet comprehend.
Before either teen has a chance to fully grasp these abilities, an unresolved family tragedy resurfaces in Camelia’s life, irrevocably changing everything she cares about…
This meme originates over at The Story Siren.
Deadly Little Games by Laurie Faria Stolarz.
Going Bovine by Libba Bray.
So happy to finally have Deadly Little Games! December 28th couldn’t come soon enough! Not sure I’m going to bump this to the top of my reading pile, though, even though I desperately want to.
Going Bovine seems like it’s going to be great, too. I finally picked it up, thanks to Nafiza and her awesome review.
Sequels are all over the YA book circuit, and the numbers are still growing. It’s difficult to find new, stand-alone novels. From Paranormal Romance to Contemporary fiction to Fantasy, sequels keep popping up.
I know the release dates definitely keep readers hanging on to specific series. There’s excitement in knowing you’ll get to read what’s going to happen next, even if the last installment left you hanging and frustrated.
But are they always necessary? Do authors plan them in advance, or do they just develop in time?
One sequel that’s being released December 28th that I know I can’t wait for is Deadly Little Games, by Laurie Faria Stolarz. I know others can’t wait, either. It’s been featured all over blogs in Waiting on Wednesday posts.
But, here’s a little something to ease the wait: a brief interview featuring Laurie Stolarz!
Each book presents its own challenges. I feel like in a sequel a writer knows his or her characters more which makes them easier to write. But, you also need to catch new readers up to the present action by summarizing what happened in the first book. And you never want that summary to feel repetitious or dull in any way. And, often when you’re three or four books into a series, you find yourself summarizing all that past action. Doing so in an interesting way can be quite a challenge.
Do you begin writing knowing that your idea is going to have sequels, or do the sequels develop later?
Yes, each book I write has the potential for a sequel. I know that from the start.
In Deadly Little Lies, you further explore Ben’s gift of psychometry. Is it difficult to explain the condition? Is there still more for readers to learn about Ben’s ability? It seems as though Ben still has more to learn about it.
Yes, there’s definitely still more to learn about Ben’s ability. Ben has more to learn about it, and Camelia is just beginning to understand her power as well.
What about Camelia’s aunt, Alexia? Why include her voice in the sequel, but not the first? How did you make that decision?
When I first started the series I wasn’t sure how much of a role Alexia would play, but as I got more into her story, I thought it was well worth exploring, especially because it’s part of Camelia’s growth. Alexia’s story grows bigger in Deadly Little Games and Deadly Little Voices (the scariest book in the series so far – due out next fall).
White Is for Magic
Laurie Faria Stolarz
FROM THE COVER:
“I’m watching you…”
One year later. It’s happening again. Seventeen-year-old Stacey Brown is having nightmares – creepy dreams haunted by the ghosts of people who have been brutally murdered.
It’s her senior year at boarding school, and what Stacey really should be focusing on are her classes and getting into college – not to mention the rocky path her love life has been taking lately.
But even if she could ignore the dreams, Stacey can’t ignore the strange letters that she’s been receiving. No return address, no signature – and the same cryptic messages she’s been hearing in her nightmares.
What’s worse is that she’s not the only one having weird dreams. Jacob, a transfer student, claims that he’s been having nightly premonitions of Stacey’s death for months, dreams so realistic that he transferred schools to find her and stop the killer. It doesn’t help that she’s starting to have feelings for him even though she already has a boyfriend. But can she trust Jacob? Or will both their darkest dreams come true?
At times her descriptions are eerily lovely, other times they’re lacking. The language itself isn’t what makes this story, it’s the plot. The characters are nice, but nothing about them necessarily “sticks out.” Stacey is pretty average – aside from having realistic nightmares. Jacob is sweet, cute and everything you’d want your boyfriend to be, but his characterization/personality pretty much stops there. Still, they’re not impersonal. I was able to connect to them both in different ways, but especially to Jacob.
