Deadly Little Lessons Book Recommendation!
Deadly Little Lessons by Laurie Faria Stolarz Series: Touch #5
on December 18, 2013
Genres: Paranormal, Young Adult
Pages: 336
Format: eBook
Amazon • Barnes & Noble • Goodreads
Camelia Hammond's trying junior year of high school is finally over...but her troubles aren't. After she discovers a painful truth about her family, she escapes to a summer arts program in Rhode Island. Determined to put family - and boyfriend - drama behind her, she throws herself into her artwork.
At the arts school, she gets caught up in the case of Sasha Beckerman, a local girl who is missing. Even though all signs suggest that the teen ran away, Camelia senses otherwise. Eager to help the girl, she launches her own investigation. She finds a blog by someone named Neal Moche, a psychometric who might have clues to Sasha's whereabouts. There is something familiar about Neal, and Camelia realizes how much she misses Ben, despite being committed to Adam.
But time is running out for Sasha, and Camelia will have to trust her powers if she's to save her. Will the lessons Camelia has learned in the past give her the strength to do so?
Sad to see this wonderful series end but as endings go this one was both entertaining and satisfying. The character arc throughout the series was both believable and relatable. I have loved the overall concept throughout the series but it gets more fleshed out in the final novel as all of the puzzle pieces come together. A 5 star finally to a 5 star series.
Throughout the series I have always had a fairly easy time relating to Camelia. I love her friends and how quirky they are. I had a group of friends growing up and we were always called the four musketeers, each with our own unusual interests. The friendship between the three best friends in this novel made me miss them and I love that Wes is always there for her and all three of them are reaching for their goals and dreams while still managing to stay friends. I know a lot of people focus on the love triangle but for me it really is all about Camelia’s journey and the other characters are simply the people she cares about.
I feel like a lot of YA novels today don’t have enough character growth but throughout this series we have gotten to watch Camelia grow as a person and learn to accept herself for who she is. She realized she is more than she ever thought she could be and finally learns to accept the things about herself that might be controversial to others or cause others to judge her but are still a part of who she is. In the end, I was really proud of Camelia. I was sad to see the series end but I was happy to see the way it ended. It really responded with me because it was the type of ending where you know her life and her story are just beginning.
A wonderful novel and an amazing series. I would highly recommend it!
Laurie Faria Stolarz (Massachusetts) has a great interest in young adult culture,
and admires young adults for their passion, energy, and creativity.
Blue is for Nightmares is the product of her desire to write a novel that would
have appealed to herself at that age, namely one that has a blending of
suspense, romance, and the art of keeping secrets.
Stolarz has an MFA in Creative Writing with a concentration in Young Adult Literature
and a graduate certificate in Screenwriting, both from Emerson College in Boston.
She currently teaches writing and is a member of the SCBWI as well as several
professional writing groups. She has also written and edited
numerous middle school and high schools texts.
