Deadly Little Secret by Laurie Faria Stolarz

Title: Deadly Little Secret
Author: Laurie Faria Stolarz
Publisher: Hyperion
Hardcover, 252 pages
Release Date: December 23, 2008

Description (Taken from Amazon)
Some secrets shouldn't be kept...

Up until three months ago, everything in 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 the art studio downtown. But when Ben, the mysterious new guy, starts junior year at her high school, Camelia's life becomes anything but 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 the rumors, even when her friends try to convince her otherwise. 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.

Deadly Little Secret is a story about mystery, stalkers, and a bad boy that we know we shouldn’t want, but do anyway. Camelia Hammond is the average high school student who has a near death experience with the new bad boy. She is drawn to him by the way he touched her and she sees past the label that everyone else gives him. New bad boy Ben has some dark secrets and his arrival coincides with Camelia receiving some not-so-welcome packages. Camelia is determined to figure out who is sending her stalker notes, befriend the bad boy/new lab partner Ben, and do all her school stuff at the same time. It could be exhausting, but Laurie Faria Stolarz ties it all together so well, that it never seems convoluted.

I picked up this book as a spur of the moment thing and I’m really glad that I did. The novel is short, topping out at 252 pages and the only bad thing I have to complain about is that I wish it had been longer. Camelia is a strong female character and I really enjoyed her voice. She becomes attracted to Ben throughout the story, but she never throws caution to the wind to pursue him. She remains rational and never really loses herself in a boy. Ben is the mysterious bad boy that no one seems to understand. His past is very interesting and it’s easy to see why Camelia is so intrigued by him.

The stalker aspect of the story is incredibly creepy. I love how the stalker’s diary entries are part of the book. It certainly adds a degree of ‘sketchball’ to the guy. The diary entries also help to offset the romanticism. Using the creepy diary entries reminds the reader that it’s not all about Camelia and Ben, but that there’s a bigger picture as well. The way we see the bigger picture is so explosive and raw that I was unable to put the book down towards the end.

Deadly Little Secret is well-written, funny, witty, sexy, creepy, and so many other contradicting adjectives. It was an excellent (but short) read and I look forward to seeing where the series goes.  

*This review is my honest opinion and I received no monetary compensation from it

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