Author: Laurie Faria Stolarz
Rating: 2 1/2 stars
Summary: Until three months ago, everything about 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 an art studio downtown. But when Ben, the mysterious new guy, starts junior year at her high school, Camelia's life becomes far from 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 he's trouble, even when her friends try to convince her otherwise. Instead 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.
Review: What is it with books in which the main character goes after the boy everyone warns her to stay away from? If someone told me that a guy had a violent streak and probably killed his girlfriend, I'd keep my distance, no matter how hot he is. And of course, Ben likes/loves Camelia but refuses to talk to her because he doesn't want to hurt her. Cue eye roll. Camelia's creepy boss, Spencer, starts hitting on her, and they mention it once, but then ignore it. You can't just turn a character creepy and then pretend like it never happened; either tell us how she told her parents and Spencer got what he deserved, or keep him normal. Oh, and the little journal entries? I totally thought those were from Ben, but then they got really anger and scary, so I was all "Well it's not Ben, so who could it possibly be?" (SPOILER ALERT) It was Matt, Camelia's clingy ex-boyfriend. Who would have thought? Not me, that's for certain. That surprising twist ending was what earned this book an extra half star.
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