Monday, February 20, 2012

Deadly Little Secret



Deadly Little Secret (Touch, #1)Deadly Little Secret by Laurie Faria Stolarz

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Two stars might be just a little too generous, but that's me, all heart.

At the beginning of the summer, Camelia almost got hit by a car, but a mysterious boy pushed her out of the way and then disappeared without a trace. Camellia spent three months wondering about the boy, wanting to thank him for saving her life. When the new school year started, he was suddenly there, but so were the rumors that he killed his girlfriend and was exonerated due to lack of evidence. What’s worse, when Camelia tried to thank him anyway, he pretended that he never saw her before.

Camelia feels weirdly attracted to this boy, Ben, despite rumors that are getting wilder by the minute and his obnoxious behavior towards her. At the same time, she starts getting weird phone calls and presents in the mail. It would appear that someone is stalking her, but is it Ben or someone else entirely?

I think you can tell, just by reading this short description, what kind of book Deadly Little Secret is. If you liked Twilight, The Mephisto Covenant, Hush Hush, Halo and similar books, chances are, you will enjoy this series too.*
Take Twilight, replace vampire with something else (wouldn’t you like to know?), replace biology with chemistry, remove the huge paranormal family, add a stalker or two and you’ll get Deadly Little Secret.

In addition to this being one of the most unoriginal books I’ve ever read, the romance was also vastly disappointing. If there’s one thing you can count on in these books, it’s an intense romantic connection between the protagonists, and yet here, I didn’t feel that there was anything really big and special between Camelia and Ben. She was attracted to him, but I never really understood why, nor did I understand why he reciprocated those feelings.

I was incredibly irritated by Camelia’s decision not to talk to her parents and/or the police, even when her stalker started entering her bedroom, leaving presents and making death threats. When he finally came for her, I kind of felt that she deserved it, and I’m pretty sure I wasn’t supposed to feel that way.

The one good thing I can say about Deadly Little Secret is that I finished it. I liked the second POV, that of Camelia’s stalker and felt that it was very convincing. I kept guessing his identity throughout the book, and even when I had a pretty good idea, I still wasn’t entirely sure. I added the second star just for that.

This is a book for teens and I believe it already has many fans (there are four installments so far), but I’m pretty sure my adult friends would be better off reading something else.



*In the interest of full disclosure: I’m actually a fan of Twilight, but I didn’t enjoy any of the other books I’ve mentioned.

16 comments:

  1. I read this a year or two ago, and while I enjoyed it more than you I understand where you are coming from. I've read the second and third and they have the same formula to them and aren't as good in my opinion.

    I, too, enjoyed the POV from the stalker. It was creepy.

    Great review!

    Megan @ Between the Lines

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  2. Ha ha, while I was reading the synopsis I was thinking: "hmm, sounds a bit like Twlight." Then I got to your review and it was like, yep, unoriginality alert.

    Great review!

    Renae @ Respiring Thoughts

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  3. *whispers* I like Hush Hush. More than it probably makes sense for me to like, but I do. ;) I'm not the biggest fan of Halo though (or more like, not at all) and Twilight is okay for me.

    So let's weigh it up. What are the chances of me liking this book? ;)

    Or maybe I will take your advice and not go near it with a ten foot pole. It's one less book for me to get round to!

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  4. Well, if you'd already started it once and it didn't work, then I'd say the chances are slim to none.

    Don't bother. I can make you a list of 100 better books you could read, I promise!

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  5. Awesome review, Maja! Let's just say that I'm not the biggest fan of Twilight. I actually enjoyed Hush Hush for some strange reasons (one of them is my addiction of tall, dark, brooding kind of guy LOL). I was thinking to read this book but maybe I'll put this back for sometimes later. Thanks for the honest review! :)

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  6. Twilight, Hush Hush, and Halo (haven't read The Mephisto Covenant) were all disappointments to me, and I wasn't all that impressed with Stolarz's Blue is for Nightmares series when I read it a few years ago, so I think I'm going to pass on this one for now.

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  7. Hehe *whispers to Sam* I like Hush, Hush too, it's not the greatest series but for some reason I read it *clears throat*

    Great review, Maja. It seems like there are so many books out there that share the same plot down and books where teens choose not to tell their parents/police about dangerous things (hello Pretty Little Liars) annoys the pants off me!

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  8. Awww, I'm really sorry this was a miss for you! Insta-love always ruins books for me too unless it's done right -- and nowadays, I'm getting really picky as to what "right" actually is. x) And although I have to admit that I was a fan of Twilight too, I kind of wish that books would stop going down the Twilight road! But I DO want to know what replaces the vampires -- I'm kind of intrigued!

    Still, despite the sense of deja vu that this book has, thank you so much for the awesome honest review, Maja! <3 Now if I ever decide to pick up this book, I'll prepare myself before I dive in! :)

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  9. What a shame, the cover is so pretty too. I'm laughing at Sam's comment above. I just got through commenting on your review on GR & said the same thing about Hush, Hush. Glad I'm not the only one. :)

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  10. Oh I didn't notice there were others up here that also liked Hush, Hush. Maja, you're in the minority today! :)

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  11. I haven't read Hush, Hush:-| Also, since I'm airing embarrassing YA reader things right now, I'll admit that I never finished the second two Twilight books, I've never read Fallen, and I gave up on the House of Night and Evermore series after about two books.

    *phew* Thanks for listening.

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  12. MAJA! Your footnote totally made me snort. Okay, I think I'm totally gonna skip this one. I know I'd have serious issues with Camelia not telling her parents that she has a stalker. That's just a plot device I can't stand because, as you said, it makes the character TSTL.

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  13. Flan, I started and couldn't finish House of Night (whatever the first book is) and Evermore. I have no idea why there are so many books. Sorry, didn't mean to yap so much on this thread! I'm very chatty today.

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  14. Wow, you guys had a party while I was sleeping (read: watching Breaking Dawn and laughing my butt off at how badly it was done).

    Truthfully, I gave up on Hush Hush after 50 pages or so.

    Missie, it was infuriating. I wanted to throttle her... or him... or both.

    Rachel, we love it when you're chatty, darling!

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  15. I loved your comment about when the stalker came she deserved it. Just shows how much you didn't like the character. This book before your review did not appeal to me and now even more so. I haven't tortured myself with Hush Hush or Halo, nope not going there and the Mephisto Covenant Sasha drove me nuts...so if this is similar I can understand your feelings on the stalker.

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  16. I, personally, can forgive young stupidity in paranormals (shhh, Twi-mom here and I've got Hush, Hush waiting for me) but in contemps, not so much. As an adult I see the difference. So I don't sweat the issue - I read and move on. And it's why I don't often read contemps.

    I don't even want to think about the whole debate with young readers reading Twilight, blah, blah, blah...

    Your review was awesome, met my needs and reaffirmed my view of steering clear of YA contemps. Now, time to leave reality and read a book.... :)

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