BLUE IS FOR NIGHTMARES by Laurie Faria Stolarz

I've made some decisions about my internet usage. I will be maintaining my blog, so feel free to contact me through this or email. While I'll be turning off IM and limiting my forum/google reading/facebook time, I can't cut out my daily doses of snarking off on this blog. (g) It's my outlet to rant about this or that, and I simply can't give it up. At any rate, I owe six book reviews, so that will keep me busy for a while. :)

On we go...

Brief Synopsis: Stacey Brown isn't your typical high school student. She's a practicing witch and an occasional psychic. She's started having nightmares that involve something bad happening to her best friend, Drea. They're similar to the ones she had three years ago about the little girl she babysat. She ignored them then and the little girl died. When elements of her current dreams start coming true, she fears Drea's life might also be in danger. Only, how can she confide in her friends when they'll think she's crazy?

Blah, another sucky synopsis. (VBG)

Okay, I've read two books in this series now. They're entertaining, quick reads. They're told in present tense, if that's something you steer away from, but I find them pretty easy to get into (style-wise).

What I really like about these books is that they have everything--the crush on your best friend's boyfriend (ex in this case, but still), the whole escapism thing with them being in boarding school (giving them greater freedom over their activities), the weird friends with crazy hair-dos and language, etc. I mentioned that she's a practicing witch, but I want to make it clear this isn't freaky, scary magic she practices. I admittedly know next to nothing about the religion, but it seems that if anything, she practices white magic -- a lot of her spells focus on trying to find peace and clarity in her dreams, etc. A lot of herbal rubbing and candle burning...nothing satanic or scary, which I think is often the misconception labeled on such things.

In fact, nothing in this book is that scary...it's all kept at a PG level. However, there's always a good level of tension that keeps you turning the pages.

The interesting thing about her dreams is that she has bodily responses to them, and that's the way her mind tries to give her clues about the dream's meaning/outcome, etc. In this book, she always ends up wetting the bed. With the ick factor aside, I think this added a wonderful element to the book. I mean, imagine how horrific it would be to hide such a thing from your roommates... how embarrassed you'd be if the boy you liked showed up in the morning before you've had a chance to change... yeah, ICK, but great tension. (g)

A lot of clues are dropped along the way, and the ending didn't come as a _great_ surprise. Nevertheless, I really enjoyed the ride. I think teenagers would love these books.

Buy or Rent? Oh, I'd buy. :)