Stalker Girl by Rosemary Graham

This ARC was generously provided by Around the World Tours. Stalker Girl is set to be released August 5, 2010 by Viking Juvenile.

Carly is really a very sweet girl; she was just a little confused.

The representation of romantic relationships in Carly's life has always been a little off. Her parents married when they caught wind that her mother was pregnant and divorced not long thereafter and now her almost stepfather (since her mom never married him) is soon to be an ex- as well. This throws Carly's whole world into turmoil as she has to move out of the only real home she's ever known and go work at a summer camp since her mom doesn't trust to leave her at home with her soon-to-be ex.

While working in the kitchen trying to feed hundreds of hungry campers everyday, Carly meets the enigmatic Brian. The songwriter and bass guitar player for an up-and-coming band, Brian can't seem to stay away from Carly either. They spend as much time together as work and band practice allows and soon find themselves at the end of the summer. The guys, whose band (at the suggestion of Carly) is now called Ernestine is Everywhere after their beloved grandmother, are really taking off and so Carly and Brian will still be able to see each other in the city.

Soon though, Carly finds out how having Brian so close could give her even more troubles. As the band rose in popularity and started to really steam along, Carly couldn't help but notice all the female attention paid to Brian. In the end, her jealousy was just too much for him to handle and he dumped her. Unfortunately, with everything else in her life going wrong, Carly can't seem to let him go; and when a new girl walks into his life, Carly has to understand what she lost to. How far is too far though? Where is the line between innocent curiosity and malicious stalking drawn?

Needless to say, I was entranced by Stalker Girl. It was simply mesmerizing. It's done in 3 parts, which I think helped a lot with the stream of consciousness. In the first part, we catch up with Carly stalking the new girlfriend. In the second part, we are thrown back in time to witness how Carly came to meet Brian and how their relationship developed. For the third part, we are brought back to the present to face the consequences of Carly's actions. This set up really changed the way I viewed the situation. For the first part I thought she was bonkers, but in the second part I really felt I understood her actions and feelings. I found myself thinking, "Well that's not too bad. I might have done the same thing." The third part makes you face the reality and severity of the situation.

Carly tended to really whine a lot, but I think that was part of character. She was kind of stuck between wanting to be treated like a grown up, but wanting to act like a child. Insecurity, both in herself and her situation, played a major role. Brian was just an average guy. I can't say that I liked or disliked him, he was just kind of there. The storyline was not quite what I expected and I definitely didn't see the end coming. I was pleasantly surprised out how it all turned out. Hopefully we'll see more from Rosemary Graham in the future.