Should’ve left this one in the nostalgia bank

Stacey Brown, a 16-year-old Junior at Hillcrest Boarding School, is a hereditary folk magic practitioner through her grandmother. Stacey wants to have a normal high school experience, but all that is hindered when she starts having terrifying nightmares about the death of her best friend and roommate, Drea. It is not the first time she's had these prophetic nightmares. 3 years ago, a girl she used to babysit, Maura, was murdered. Stacey had ignored her nightmares about the young girl's death and then Maura was killed, now she is having those strange dreams again. This was a decent book that got me back into reading when I was younger. I found the depiction of Wicca to be a bit misinformed, but I don’t remember it being clearly explained whether Stacey is a true witch or just a practitioner of magic. I liked the psychic dream sequences and the mysterious atmosphere of this book. I recommend it for younger readers who like mysteries with a supernatural touch.

This book was extreemly interestng. I enjoyed the insight on Wicca, it's something that sparks intrest in me. Also my sister is a Wicca. Anyway, I feel this book was put together well, I truthfully had no guess as to whom the stalker may be. I was extremely pleased to find out who it was.

So I read this when I was young, in middle school I believe, and I really liked it then. I was curious to see if one of my childhood favorites held up to my adult standards so I gave it another read. The verdict? It didn’t. The plot was okay, but the ending wasn’t surprising, in fact I was waiting for a twist the whole time, but it never came. The characters are all awful, very shallow, I know they are in high school but that doesn’t mean they have to be terrible to each other. Also the writing. Why were there so many weird descriptions when it came to Chad, lots of “scrumptious” and talk of bottling his scent and washing herself with it. And then this treat towards the end “five alarm hot wasabi sexalicious kiss”. I’m sorry, what? Did this really not bother me as a 13 year old? Because I know I didn’t think like that about my crushes and it screams awkward to me now. There was also the gem of a line from Chad to Stacey on why he likes her “You’re not like other girls”. Which of course is eye-roll worthy, especially considering he liked other girls enough to date Drea on and off for a couple years… Anyway all and all, I didn’t like this very much, and I will probably stop here in the series instead of continuing to reread even though I know I read at least the first two when I was a kid.

that was cool. really scary at some point.

The only realist thing about this book is the magic and the teenage drama/slang. There are barely any character descriptions, so it made it hard to understand how the main character’s jealously/comparisons with her roommate. I forgot multiple times that they’re 16 year olds and not college students. It did get better near end though. I’m hoping the next book will be like the ending of this book.