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Laurie Faria Stolarz books
Jan. 17th, 2010 10:28 amI spent most of last week reading various Larie Faria Stolarz books. I'd somehow checked out Deadly Little Lies, book number two in her Touch series, before managing to snag Deadly Little Secret. Eventually DLS appeared and I started with it.
And like the BiFN (Blue is for Nightmares) series, it almost, almost, almost worked. It was so close to being what I should like, what I should love. Magic and things that go bump in the night and fun, fearless sidekicks who are from another planet (but not literally, though that's always nice as well) and a heavy supernatural slant. Dude, I should love these things like I do cotton candy. Right?
And yet there was always something... off. I think the BiFN series is great. I recommend it to anyone I think might be interested. But I also know that for as much as I like the books, there was always something missing. Unlike the Daughters of the Moon series where I could tell you exactly what was wrong (DotM reads like an outline for a book with precious little actually fleshed out. It's annoying to have such a nifty idea given such a bare bones treatment and know that it's intentional. It's a style choice that irks me.), I just knew that it wasn't quite right. I expected strawberry and got watermelon instead. Watermelon is nice, but not what I was craving.
Like I said, Deadly Little Secret set me up for one thing and gave me something else instead. Mostly I spent the whole damn book screaming, "Call the goddamned police or tell your parents, you idiot!" and no amount of "but her mom is preoccupied!" could really convince me that a semi-intelligent person would not tell their parents they were being stalked when they have proof. And I read and love SVH, so clearly there is an issue. They never call the cops. :p
Still, I had DLL to read and nothing else, so... I did. And it was so damn good. Sure, I knew one of the twists before the twist even managed to, well, twist, but the other one surprised me and it shouldn't have, and I really hope it comes back in a good sort of way. I still don't buy not telling your parents something that big (no. I really, really don't, and I spent a good chunk of my teen/pre-teen years avoiding talking to the parentals) but vague attempts were made and it was explained more easily. It also doesn't hurt that I liked the peek into the past with Camelia's aunt a lot. [/understatement]
Overall, it worked better. Plus, now I don't feel as crazy for not loving the others quite as much as I thought I should. Though I don't get the "Camelia's a funny name" thing. Either I'm mispronouncing it, missing something entirely, or I'm too southern fried without realizing it.
To finish my LFS kick, I found Black is For Beginnings and died of the cuteness in the artwork. Eee! I love this whole, "Got a good book/series? Give the author a graphic novel/manga!" movement. Truly, I do. Now, if only I remembered at least one of the books referenced heavily in BifB. I wonder if I missed a book or merely blocked it from memory. It happens. I'll have to check the others out again and re-read.
This could be fun.
And like the BiFN (Blue is for Nightmares) series, it almost, almost, almost worked. It was so close to being what I should like, what I should love. Magic and things that go bump in the night and fun, fearless sidekicks who are from another planet (but not literally, though that's always nice as well) and a heavy supernatural slant. Dude, I should love these things like I do cotton candy. Right?
And yet there was always something... off. I think the BiFN series is great. I recommend it to anyone I think might be interested. But I also know that for as much as I like the books, there was always something missing. Unlike the Daughters of the Moon series where I could tell you exactly what was wrong (DotM reads like an outline for a book with precious little actually fleshed out. It's annoying to have such a nifty idea given such a bare bones treatment and know that it's intentional. It's a style choice that irks me.), I just knew that it wasn't quite right. I expected strawberry and got watermelon instead. Watermelon is nice, but not what I was craving.
Like I said, Deadly Little Secret set me up for one thing and gave me something else instead. Mostly I spent the whole damn book screaming, "Call the goddamned police or tell your parents, you idiot!" and no amount of "but her mom is preoccupied!" could really convince me that a semi-intelligent person would not tell their parents they were being stalked when they have proof. And I read and love SVH, so clearly there is an issue. They never call the cops. :p
Still, I had DLL to read and nothing else, so... I did. And it was so damn good. Sure, I knew one of the twists before the twist even managed to, well, twist, but the other one surprised me and it shouldn't have, and I really hope it comes back in a good sort of way. I still don't buy not telling your parents something that big (no. I really, really don't, and I spent a good chunk of my teen/pre-teen years avoiding talking to the parentals) but vague attempts were made and it was explained more easily. It also doesn't hurt that I liked the peek into the past with Camelia's aunt a lot. [/understatement]
Overall, it worked better. Plus, now I don't feel as crazy for not loving the others quite as much as I thought I should. Though I don't get the "Camelia's a funny name" thing. Either I'm mispronouncing it, missing something entirely, or I'm too southern fried without realizing it.
To finish my LFS kick, I found Black is For Beginnings and died of the cuteness in the artwork. Eee! I love this whole, "Got a good book/series? Give the author a graphic novel/manga!" movement. Truly, I do. Now, if only I remembered at least one of the books referenced heavily in BifB. I wonder if I missed a book or merely blocked it from memory. It happens. I'll have to check the others out again and re-read.
This could be fun.