Deadly Little Secret by Laurie Faria Stolarz

OK, so school has started and that means you probably have stuff to read; you know, like independent reading books. So how about you put down the manga and the fan magazines, and (oh, please!) the fashion magazines, and read an actual chapter book?

Here’s a good one to start with: Deadly Little Secret by Laurie Faria Stolarz. Things are going pretty well for high school student Camelia - that is until she’s almost flattened by a speeding car. Lucky for her, a mysterious stranger pops out of nowhere and pushes her to safety. He also puts his hands all over her stomach but, well, at least he’s cute, so no harm done, right?

Oddly enough, our hero soon turns up at Camelia’s school. Only it turns out, he’s not much of a hero. In fact, Ben is suspected of having killed his last girlfriend. So what’s a girl to do? Why, fall in love with him of course. Which is when things really start to get weird. Suddenly, Camelia begins receiving mysterious - and menacing - phone calls at home. Creepy photos of Camelia start popping up in the mailbox.

Is it Ben? Maybe. Is it one of the many other slightly weird people who seem to populate her world? What about Spencer, her boss at the pottery store, the one who seems “interested” in Camelia? How about concerned, ex-boyfriend Matt? Is he concerned - or just angry he got dumped?

Well guess what? You’re going to have to read it to find out. In the meantime, I’ve added this very cool book trailer. Yes, book trailer. It’s not a movie, so forget about Netflix and get yourself to the library.

LAME FACTOR: Like most of the books I put on this blog, there’s no lameness here. Otherwise, why would I be writing about it? I give it a 0 out of 5.

YOUR PARENTS WILL FREAK FACTOR: There’s lots of touching here - purely for scientific purposes of course. Yeah right. There’s also quite of bit of making out and references to sex. If your parents think you don’t know about those things, they probably need to spend more time with you. Anyway, I don’t think it’s over the top, but it’s their call.

BRAIN POWER: You will need one - a brain that is. This isn’t a 19th century, Russian novel. You’ll be fine.