Stolarz Series

Since I pretty much read these four books in a week, it seemed to make sense to talk about them as a whole rather than individually. (Plus I'm WAAAAYYY behind on book reviews; heh).

Title: Blue is for Nightmares series
Author: Laurie faria Stolarz
Pub Date: 2004 - 2005
Pages: 1181 (total)
Genre: Young Adult; Paranormal
Rating: Try It

Blue is for Nightmares by Laurie faria Stolarz begins the series. Stacey is a witch, but not in the Bewitched kinda way where she wiggles her nose, blinks her eyes, and ABRACADABRA something in the environment changes. Nope. Stacey is a for realz witch, one who studies Wicca and has been generationally trained by her Grandma. She does spells via rituals, herbal uses, and meditation. Her natural gift are the visions she sees in her dreams. But because they're dreams, she doesn't obtain a clear picture of what's going on. Somethings are symbolic, ya know?

In the first book, Stacey begins having nightmares about her bestie, Drea. Oh yeah, and these nightmares cause her to wet the bed. Of course her other buddies don't really know what to believe especially because her little rituals can sometimes be over the top. Still, Stacey knows that she must protect Drea (even when there's drama going on because Drea's ex, Chad, is crushin' on her).

White is for Magic continues the saga of Stacey and her buddies: Drea, Chad, and flirty Amber. Stacey is again having nightmares but this one involves a dark and serious transfer student named Jacob.

Silver is for Secrets sends Stacey and crew to a beach house for the summer after graduation. This one was my favorite, although there were elements of the story that frustrated me. For example, Stacey and Jacob are two peas in a pod, yet they have all of these outlandish secrets between them. I just don't get that ploy in novels: communication people, is it really so hard?

Red is for Remembrance completes the Stacey saga. This began as my least favorite but grew on me. Stacey is now a freshman in college and rooms with Amber. The president of the prestigious school enlists Stacey help with his middle schooler daughter who is having nightmares about a boy's death. Part of Stacey knows she should help, but the other part of her feels incapable of it because she has her own issues to deal with.

Thoughts: So, I wanted to get the reviews out of the way, right? But truthfully, it is mad difficult trying to write about a series without giving away certain key plots. How do people do it, man! Therefore, rather than commenting on the plot, I thought I'd share some comments on the characters!

Stacey - I seriously dig that the main character is Wiccan and not the fruity kind of hollywood witch that is generally found in paranormal teen fic. I mean, don't get me wrong, I still love me some Betwitched magic, it's just nice to see it presented in such a religious way. Come on people, there really are witches out in our world. ;-) Plus, because (I think) Stacey is about 16 or so when the series opens, she's a pretty decent role model for my middle school students who want to read spookier books.

Drea - Ooookkkaaay. Seriously. Drea drove me good and nutty. I thought that she was a little spoiled, and her personality was a wee bit put off for me. I guess it started to make more sense when I reminded myself that Drea is suppose to be sixteen (or seventeen?) and really, how mature was I during that time. But still. She didn't really seem like the world's best bestie to Stacey.

Chad - What's to say about dear ole' Chad? In my head I pictured him to be this sweet football star. Kinda like the backdrop of a movie. Might be nice eye candy, but no personality.

Amber - She was one of my favorites, if a bit over the sexual top. Still, her one liners were great. 'Course she did kinda remind me of the teenage version of Blanche from the Golden Girls. It didn't bother me so much that we could assume Amber was having sex. It did bother me a bit because it came across as casual and I think that's dangerous territory and authors need to be responsible in teen fic. If someone is going to be a bit promiscuous, can we throw in a condom comment here or there?

PJ - I definitely wanted more PJ. He was the comic relief. Picture Screech from Saved by the Bell, only handsome and not dorky. He'd drop lines like, "Whatever you'd like, my little penguin." Just sorta out there.

Jacob - the tall, dark, mysterious, and gorgeous love of Stacey's life. *yawn* I guess I wasn't really in the romance aspect of the series.

I do think that I will check out the fifth book. Especially since it's in graphic novel format. That should be interesting.