Book Review: Blue is for Nightmares by Laurie faria Stolarz

Title: Blue is for Nightmares
Author: Laurie faria Stolarz
Publication Date: November 2003
Genre: Teen Fiction
Age: not specified
Pages: 283
Series: 1st in a series
Publisher's website: Llewellyn Worldwide
Author's website: www.lauriestolarz.com
Book Acquisition: received a paperback copy via BookMooch

"I know Your Secret..."
Stacey's junior year at boarding school isn't easy. She's not the most popular girl at school, or the smartest, or the prettiest. She's got a crush on her best friend's boyfriend, and an even darker secret that threatens to ruin her friendships for good.
And now she's having nightmares again. Not just any nightmares - these dreams are too real to ignore, like she did three years ago. The last time she ignored them, a little girl died. This time they're about Drea, her best friend who's become the target of one seriously psycho stalker.
It started with weird e-mails and freaky phone calls. Now someone's leaving Drea white lilies - the same death lilies that have been showing up in Stacey's dreams. Everybody thinks it's just a twisted game...until another girl at school is brutally murdered.
There are no witnesses. Worst of all, no one has a perfect alibi. With everyone as a potential suspect, Stacey turns to the one secret weapon she can trust - the folk magic taught to her by her grandmother. Will Stacey's magic be strong enough to expose the true killer, or will the killer make her darkest nightmares come true?

(from back cover of pb)

This book was pretty cool. Stacey is a pretty likable character. The folk magic she practices seemed very true to life.
A few things about this book I didn't really like though. One was Stacey's friends - they all seemed very shallow, very fake, and not very friendly. He best friend Drea treats her with disrespect and has absolutely no compassion for what she is going through. I'm not sure her character was meant to come off this way though.
The other thing I didn't like so much was the predictability of the book. I had pretty much figured out the bad guy from an early start. It was however, exciting to see Stacey put the pieces together in the end.
I have the next 3 books in the series and I am looking forward to reading them. Stacey is a character pretty unlike any character I have come across in a while and I'm interested in seeing where she goes and what she discovers about herslef and her abilities.

Series Info:
Blue is for Nightmares (2003)
White is for Magic (2004)
Silver is for Secrets (2005)
Red is for Remembrance (2005)
Black is for Beginnings (2009)

Other books by the author:
The Touch Series: Deadly Little Secret (2008) and Deadly Little Lies (2009)
Project 17 (2009) -- I read this one and loved it! Check out my review here.