Releasing on August 5th 2010 by Viking Juvenile 

Hardcover, 208 pages

Review Copy

Book Synopsis

How do you know when you’ve crossed the line between curiosity and obsession?

Carly never meant to become a stalker. She just wanted to find out who Brian started dating after he dumped her. But a little harmless online research turns into a quick glance, and that turns into an afternoon of watching. Soon Carly is putting all of her energy into following Brian’s new girlfriend—all of  the sadness she feels about her mom’s recent breakup, all of the anger she feels over being pushed aside by her dad while he prepares for his new wife’s new baby. When Carly’s stalking is discovered in the worst possible way by the worst possible person, she is forced to acknowledge her problem and the underlying issues that led to it......(Goodreads)

Review

Carly is a good kid.....she has a good home life, she gets good grades and has a great set of friends....at least we find that out mid-way through the book after we see her disturbing behavior in the opening pages. After being dumped by a boy she cant move past, Carly begins stalking his new girlfriend Taylor. An innocent check on the Internet leads to creepy following, logging Taylor's ever move, taking notes on her family...it just gets out of control and once so deep, Carly finds it impossible to stop. Granted Carly was majorly hurting and I felt for her (a little) due to her mothers breakup and the fact that she was dealing with emotions completely out of control. Unfortunately though I never connected to Carly and by no means could I justify, understand or feel sorry for her decisions. Ultimately a court and judge don't feel sorry for her either and Carly pays for her behavior in the end. I thought the author did a nice job showing the before, during and after and also highlighted how emotional stress can lead to bad choices, but I also liked that she didn't give her character an easy way out.

The biggest issue for me while reading this book was seeing what lead up to the stalking. Carly had some tremendous insecurities and when she began a sexual relationship with Brian she latched onto him like a leech latches to your leg and basically sucked the relationship dry. Rule number one girls- if you have serious insecurity and jealousy problems your probably not ready to date. Number two rule- if your even just a little insecure don't date a guy in a rock band!! Carly's extreme jealousy drove Brain away, no way was a young, popular guy in a band ready to settle down and nowhere in his life did he have the energy or even the desire to make it work with an overbearing jealous girlfriend. This is such a common scenario in relationships, especially with young teenagers who have a sexual relationship and form bonds and attachments they cant understand. Then when one breaks up or leaves that person, major depression and loss sets in. Sometimes the pain of a breakup feels like death, you go through a lot of the same grief and no matter how society paints sex, in a relationship there is nothing casual about it.

Rating

Stalker Girl deals with mature themes including teen sex, stalking, language, depression, anger and legal ramifications. Suitable for mature teens 16 and up. While I wouldn't recommend this to most adults, some teens will enjoy and may even feel sorry for Carly.

3/5- YA, Stalking, Disturbing behavior
Copy provided by Around the World Tours