Blue is for Nightmares by Laurie Faria Stolarz - Book Review #5

Blue is for Nightmares

by Laurie Faria Stolarz

"I Know Your Secret . . ."

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 Stacy'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, Stacy turns to the one secret weapon she can trust-the folk magic taught to her by her grandmother. Will Stacy's magic be strong enough to expose the true killer, or will the killer make her darkest nightmares come true?


While I didn’t find this book to be horrible, I would really love to see some meat on those bones. It just didn’t live up to its potential. Blue is for Nightmares is one of those books that if properly written – could be great.

I think that plot was interesting, but rushed up. Also, constant repetitions were very annoying: first, Stacy is having a nightmare and we are told everything that she is dreaming about; second, she is retelling this nightmare to her friends and she goes through every detail of her dream again; and finally, she is thinking about her nightmare, remembering everything that happened in the dream. But the most dreadful thing is – it is all happening one after another, without anything in between.

Most of the characters were two-dimensional and undeveloped. I didn’t like Drea. She was obnoxious and self-involved, and I couldn’t see why Stacy is friends with her. Only characters that at least had some personality are Amber and P.J. The way they talked to each other and their sarcasm amused me a lot.

I also liked how dialogs were written. Blue is for Nightmares is one of not many YA books here you can actually hear teens speaking, not only know that it was a teenager who said something, because you’ve been told so.

I enjoyed how witch part and spells were represented in the book - no dark rooms, no cauldrons, no pointy hats or brooms. Every spell ingredient comes from your grocery store or garden.

I would probably never pick up the second book, if I didn’t buy all four at once. However, since I had them already, I decided to get over with this series as quickly as possible and started to read the second book – White is for Magic…