Blue is for Nightmares by Laurie Faria Stolarz

Let's jump right in shall we? So in this book, we are thrown into the life of Stacey I can't remember her last name. Anyway, she's been having these nightmares for the past couple weeks about her best friend Drea. Now, this drives Stacey crazy because the last time this happened a little girl ends up dead and, obviously, she doesn't want her best friend to end up the same. It also turns out that Drea has a creepy stalker that Stacey believes to be her future murderer. So that is where we enter and the book is basically consists of Stacey trying to protect Drea.

I'm telling you guys straight up, I wasn't a huge fan of this book. For a number of reasons that I will get to in a minute, but there are some things that I do feel the need to point out about this book. The first is that Stacey is a wiccan, meaning she studies wicca, a modern form of witchcraft. I feel the need to mention this because I know not everyone is comfortable reading about that topic and it does play a big role in this story. Personally, I didn't mind it but I'm not really interested in wicca so it was just kind of there for me. I also want to mention the fact that sex is openly addressed a couple of times. Nothing explicit or anything but characters do bring it up a handful of times and, again, I know not everyone likes reading about that topic. And, again, I wasn't too bothered by it.

So lets get into the characters. I thought Stacey was pretty cool but the thing is we don't get to see her before the whole nightmare ordeal begins so I feel like we don't really know her all that well. She wasn't well developed, in my opinion. In fact, I found Drea to be better developed than her, which isn't a good thing considering she's not the main character. Speaking of her, I REALLY don't like Drea. She was the most inconsiderate, selfish, boy crazy bitch. Sorry about the language but seriously! She made the dumbest decisions ever! For example, in the beginning of the book it was made clear to me that she was being stalked but she didn't take it seriously. She literally thought it was a cute boy and she considered him a love interest. She didn't question him or anything! It really annoyed me and I wanted to slap her. Same with Amber, Stacey's other friend, but not as much.

This book is definitely tough to say whether or not I recommend. I feel like tween readers, especially girls, would be all over this book and think it's the best thing ever written, but I feel like they would be most likely to pick up on Drea's traits and personality which it probably the worst thing they could do. There is also VERY mild references to sex, as mentioned before, and some parents might not be okay with having their twelve year old daughter read it. On the other hand, I feel like a slightly older audience, sixteen and up, would think the same thing; that the characters can be extremely annoying and stupid. However, the second half of the book was considerably better. The plot picked up and Drea wasn't as big of an air head. I really did enjoy the second half. All in all, I think it's a good way to introduce a young reader to YA so long as they can think clearly and see that these characters are not in any way role models. I also think that slightly older readers will enjoy the second half of this book a lot. It's a quick read and really helpful if you want something short and entertaining. 3 out of 5 stars.