Deadly Little Secret by Laurie Faria Stolarz

This is the first book in the Touch series by Stolarz. It's a book published way back in 2008, and I really wish I had picked it up when I was in high school. I remember seeing it but I wasn't out of my phase of "every book I read needs to have vampires in it, some way some how or else I am not reading it." Thankfully I am no longer like that *cough*sort-of*cough*. Stolarz has a number of other books out besides this one and I might pick another up eventually. Sorry that this review got up a little late.

Three months ago Camelia's life had been pretty normal for a sixteen year old. It was all changed when a mysterious boy named Ben started going to her school. The rumor is that Ben killed his ex-girlfriend, even though it was ruled an accident. Everyone casts judgment upon Ben, as this is high school. Camelia, however, does not, in fact she's drawn to him and his touch. Bone chilling phone calls and packages left with even more chilling notes ensue not too long afterwards. Ben says that Camelia is in danger, he wants to help but Camelia doesn't know if she can trust him. He has a lot hiding, but he's not the only one.

It's been a while since I have read a book with a psychometric in it. I forget how much I like books that give humans supernatural powers. For a first book I would say that it was great. I wonder how the next four books are going to go, seeing as the "main" problem for this book was solved. I guess the characters will provide more problems, and I would like to find out more about a few of them. I did like the characters, Camelia is trying to make it through high school like most of the other kids. Wes was the much needed comic relief, though I did suspect him for the bad guy every once in a while. With Kimmie I don't know if I like her or not. I find that she is that complete and utter randomness that Camelia needs to shake up her life, but Kimmie outright annoyed me half of the time. Ben is your typical "bad boy with a bad reputation that has a soft side" character. I liked him though, he has a lot more to be seen. Deadly Little Secret was a quick and pretty easy read, but it wasn't so easy that things where spelled out. At least not for me. The ending was a little of a cliffhanger but not that much, I can live with the ending so long as I get the second book eventually.

There was a lot of internal conflict with Camelia, she would be set going one way and then one thing would throw her the complete opposite way. I understand why Camelia was thinking the way she was and the going back and forth, because I am the same exact way. But after a few times I get tired of it and figure out which way I am going or if I am remaining neutral. Yes, Camelia couldn't remain neutral when her life is on the line, but I would have had whiplash from all the back and forth she did. The ending was a little predictable, although its understandable for Ben's reasoning. It makes certain parts of the next book predictable, which I am not looking forward to but I will not let it kill the book for me. Not until I have read and formed my own opinion of it.

Overall I would say that Deadly Little Secrets was a great read. I would most definitely reread this book over a few times. I do hope the other books stand up to this one and do better as well. The formatting of my book made it a pretty quick read as I said, so I do recommend this for anyone wanting a quick read. If you want a longer read, save this book for later. I also recommend this to everyone, though I can see where "adults" may not like this as much as young adults. I wouldn't mind owning this book by Stolarz, and I wouldn't mind picking up another book by her to read.

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Page Count: 252 pages (paperback)

Price: $9.99

Next Book: The Farm by Emily McKay

Thanks for reading!
~Jade

Shutter by Courtney Alameda

As far as it looks this is Alameda's first book. Is there a second book coming? I don't know, but I do know that there is a book called Pitch Dark in progress. It doesn't not appear to go along the lines of Shutter.

A tetrachromat is someone who sees the auras of the undead in a prismatic spectrum. Micheline Helsing just so happens to be able to do this. One of the last decedents of the Van Helsing family, she has trained from square one to be able to eradicate both corporeal and spiritual monsters. Corporeal get taken out by a bullet, while the spiritual by lens. Armed with an SLR camera and aided by her crew; Oliver, Jude, and Ryder they take down all they can. What should have been a "normal" hunt went wrong, and Micheline and the boys get cursed. One that is like a infection, it spreads through their bodies. Micheline has seven days to exorcise the monster or else she and her friends die. To add one more thing to her plate she's seen as a renegade to her also huge monster hunting father. She's ready to take on this crazy week.

Right away I noticed the Fatal Frame, Dracula, and Van Helsing subject of this book. I was really drawn in with the Fatal Frame feel, I played a little of Crimson Butterfly and I really enjoyed it. Plus it's really creepy to have to "hurt" the entity with a camera. My heart broke learning Micheline's back story, you can't say that that girl hasn't felt broken before. Shutter also started with a lot of action and ended the same way. It held my attention completely and I didn't find myself thinking about anything else in general. I probably should have seen a lot of the book coming, there were hints along the way but I just did not grasp them. The ending was very moving, almost to tears but not quite for me. There is potential for a second book, as a "killer" is on the loose and still unknown. How that will go is up to Alameda. I loved the descriptiveness that Alameda provided, I could really picture the way all the gory-bits looked like. What I loved most where the specialness of Micheline's tetrachromatic eyes, and the monsters in the Obscura. This is one of those books that if I were to try and get everything in, it would be a while.

I didn't have a problem with Shutter. The action was all the way through and I loved every minute of it. I wanted to read to the end. *SPOILER-ALERT* I was genuinely sad once the monster was revealed, I did have a feeling that it was going to be someone close to Micheline. I was just hoping that it wasn't going to be her.*SPOILER-ENDED*

This is another book I recommend for everyone, not just teens. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and I think everyone could find something to like in it. I do hope there is a second book, I would really like to know who the other bad people are. I enjoyed Alameda's writing and I can see myself reading Shutter again, along with wanting to pick up another book by her. I would love to have this book in my collection.

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Page Count: 372 pages (hardcover)

Price: $17.99

Next Book: Deadly Little Secret by Laurie Faria Stolarz

Thanks for reading!
~Jade

Black Ice by Becca Fitzpatrick

This is Fitzpatrick's fifth book, her other four belong to the Hush, Hush saga. I have read the first three books but not the final yet. I may reread the books before I read the last book seeing as it has been a while since I last read them. I don't know if this book will be a stand-alone, but with the way it ended I wouldn't be surprised. Fitzpatrick does have another book coming out late this year called Dangerous Lies and from what I can tell it doesn't have anything to do with this one.

Ready to test her skills and training Britt is getting ready to backpack the Teton Range. What she isn't ready for is her ex-boyfriend to tag along. She still thinks about him, and hasn't seen him for a while. Though before she allows herself to think about her feelings for Calvin, a blizzard forces her to find refuge in a remote cabin. It's two very handsome occupants though, are fugitives and they take her hostage. She barters for her life and agrees to help get them off of the mountain. Britt knows she needs to stay alive long enough for Calvin to come find her. She finds out about a few murders that happened on the mountain and realizes that this may make her the next one. Everyone's hiding something, Mason, one of the captors, is hiding something big. And what's with his kindness?

From the moment I began Black Ice I couldn't stop reading. The beginning started off with a bang and I didn't know what to think. There's action pretty much from the time the book starts to the end. Fitzpatrick really captured my attention and held it the whole time. I didn't have a problem with wanting to read anything else, I just wanted to read Black Ice the whole time. Also when it ended, I really was tempted to start all over and read it again. Fitzpatrick definitely gets brownie points from me for having Britt correct Korbie on the fact that Frankenstein is not the monster but in fact the Doctor. I thought I had it all figured out part of the way through the book, but I was dead wrong. I didn't actually figure anything out until just before it was announced or made clear. There were smaller details that I did figure out but every small detail I did put together I wanted to know more. This didn't end with a cliffhanger but ended in a way that I was happy with. As far as I feel anything that could have been taken as a loose end was tied up.

Really I have not a problem with Black Ice, the action was nonstop throughout the book. I didn't predict anything really until the last second, and when the book finished I was genuinely upset that it didn't go on. I really would love a second book with Britt and Jude but I doubt that would happen. Pretty much everything was said in this book, the most I can see happening is Jude getting his own backstory book but again, I doubt that will happen. I was concerned with the beginning, because lots of things can happen in that situation and I am glad that a number of them didn't happen.

I recommend this book to everyone. Not just teens, everyone. I can see myself rereading this book a number of times and I think I will reread it. I want to own this book and I really look forward to anything else that Fitzpatrick publishes. As I said before she does have a saga out called Hush, Hush so if you read this and want more there is four more books. I would however, like to say something. Ladies and gentlemen, please if you are going out to a bar or a club or wherever it may be. Please be safe, do not accept that drink from a complete stranger that is "total hot", sometimes they might not be a stranger. If you accept the drink and within a few sips you taste anything salty, put the drink down. Date-rape drug has a salty taste to it. Don't leave your drink unattended either. There is nothing wrong with wanting to have fun, just be safe about it.

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Page Count: 392 pages (hardcover)

Price: $19.99

Next Book: Shutter by Courtney Alameda

Thank you for reading!
~Jade

Cauchemar by Alexandra Grigorescu

Cauchemar is Grigorescu's first book! I happily won* this ARC through a Goodreads first reads giveaway. Obviously I have no way of knowing if this book is going to be apart of anything.

Losing her protector and adopted mother, 20-year-old Hannah find herself alone on the edge of a Louisiana swamp. Her only solace is with Callum, a boat captain and part-time musician. Hannah's biological mother, who is rumored to commune with the dead and known outcast, comes back into her life. So Hannah must confront what she's been kept from, deadly spirits haunt the swamp, secrets from her past, and a special gift that she posses.

Cauchemar was surprisingly a really good read. I found that I kept turning the pages trying to get to the end and see how things played out. Hannah was very young and went through a lot, to be left alone from an "accident". Losing someone you love especially a mother figure is very hard on anyone, and Hannah handled it very well. I did like the supernatural aspect of Cauchemar, it was very captivating and I wanted to keep reading to see how it affected the living because it was. I'm usually not that into an older-ish guy getting with a girl who is as young as Hannah but Callum was for the most part very grown. He cared very much about Hannah in a short amount of time. I loved Grigorescu's descriptions, I could easily form a picture in my head of what was happening. I do like the plot, where things have a way of repeating itself whether you know it or not, though with this plot things where a bit predictable. I did enjoy the last couple of chapters as everything came to a boil and finally had to be dealt with.

I did find that a few things were predictable as I read, it made me a little disappointed in how much I was able to predict in this book. I also didn't think this book was exactly "scary" but there where spots that had me cringing. I was confused a few times, and had to reread a few passages over just to figure out what was really going on. Certain parts confused me as to how they played into the present, but once it was made clear my confusion went away pretty much completely.

For Grigorescu's first novel I say that she did marvelous. I really can't wait for her to write more in the future. I do indeed recommend this book to everyone, though I will say with those younger readers there are a few spots of intimacy, that parents should be aware of. They are not bad, but they are there. Even with the predictability I did find that I wanted to read to the end. I can see myself rereading Cauchemar a couple of times before I put it away for a little while.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Page Count: 316 pages (paperback)

Price: $16.95

Next book: Black Ice by Becca Fitzpatrick

Thank you for reading!
~Jade

*Note: I am in no way being coerced into making a review. Leaving a review is happily welcome but not required thus if I don't like a book I will say so. This review is based upon my true feelings and thoughts about the book. I promise you I wouldn't let anything sway my opinion about a book.