Black Is for Beginnings

by Laurie Faria Stolarz

Book Overview

It's happening again... The BLUE IS FOR NIGHTMARES series that put a spell on more than half a million readers continues - in graphic novel format Prophetic dreams. Near-brushes with death. Killers pursuing her and her friends. Stacey Brown knows that being a hereditary witch isn't all it's cracked up to be. Stacey's nightmares are back. And all she wants to do is go to Colorado and work things out with Jacob, who hasn't been able to remember her...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0738714380
• ISBN13: 9780738714387
• Release Date: September 2009
• Publisher: Flux
• Length: 168 Pages
• Weight: 0.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 5.3" x 7.9"
• Age Range: 12 to 18 years
• Grade Range: Grade 7 to Postsecondary

Customer Reviews

Very well done

Black is for Beginnings is an interesting graphic novel about a girl who can do magic named Stacey. With magic powers come arcane problems, you know dreadful stuff like malevolent premonitions. Stacey and her boyfriend Jacob, another magic-user, are able to see the future ... through their nightmares. Yup, they can only see bad things in the future, shocking portents like when a stalker will nearly kill one of Stacey's best friends or when the girl that she baby sits will be killed by a drunk driver. In the prequel to this episode, Jacob got amnesia after falling off a cruise ship while trying to save Stacey's life. After that incident he moved back to his home town in Massachusetts to try to recover his memories. As the story unfolds he is recuperating while his ex-girlfriend Kira spends all of her free time helping him get his memories back. When Stacey comes to visit Kira sticks on them like a magnet slathered with superglue. Not only does Kira's behavior piss Stacey off, the fact that Jacob remembers Kira and not her makes her even angrier. Stacey and Jacob try their best to cope with their problems and rekindle their romance. While they still love each other, Jacob's move to Massachusetts complicates the relationship. Kira's advances only make matters worse. By the time that Jacob finally remembers everything about Stacey it's too late, she no longer trusts him. The magic in this book is probably not the type enchantments you'd expect in novels of this ilk. For example, the heroes make potions out of household objects. They light special candles to help people sleep, stop bad secrets, create positive energy, provide strength, insight affection, help friendship, or give clarity. Other powers include healing crystals, flowers that symbolize death, love, purity, affection, or luck, and many more. There is no battle magic like fireballs, lightening, or earth spikes. Laurie Stolarz developed this bestselling series which began with Blue is for Nightmares. Script art director Barbara Kesel is a long-time writer for Dark Horse Comics, DC Comics, and other publications whose editorial credits include Hellboy, Star Wars, and Aliens. This is artist Janina Görrissen's first published project in the United States, but she has works published in Spain and France. Together their collaboration is quick read. While the pacing is a touch uneven in spots, it is written and illustrated more than well enough to keep reader's attention. Altogether it is an intriguing work of lovers, magic, dreams, and new beginnings, interesting and creatively done.

A winning formula!

College student Stacey Brown has been having nightmares about Maura, the little girl she used to babysit, even though it's been about six years since the child was murdered. In Stacey's dreams, she can almost smell Maura's strawberry candy-scented breath and hear the giggle of her laughter. Although the dreams are more nostalgic than disturbing, they still leave Stacey feeling guilty and haunted. After all, years ago, Stacey had had premonitions of something terrible happening to Maura but had kept her fears to herself. Had she shared her concerns with someone, perhaps Maura would have lived. But the anonymous note that Stacey wrote to the police was never mailed. Or was it? Stacey turns to the nature-based religion known as Wicca to help her understand her disturbing dreams. She casts a pouch spell for sweet dreams and a moon-bathed bracelet spell for awareness in her attempt to learn what her dreams really mean and why they are occurring all these years after Maura's death. Stacey's friends also try to help--Drea suggests journaling as a way to unravel the mystery of her troubling dreams, and Amber recommends talking the situation over with someone close. Unfortunately, neither the spells nor the journaling have been helping, and, unlike Amber, it isn't as if Stacey has a doting boyfriend like PJ to listen to her. Jacob LeBlanc, the one guy Stacey had truly cared for, is now far away and has no memory of her. Jacob's own nightmares had drawn him across the long miles from Colorado to Stacey's side at Hillcrest Boarding School in Massachusetts. At Hillcrest, Jacob had struggled to understand his premonitions about Stacey while convincing her to trust him. Slowly, with the aid of a henna spell, Stacey and Jacob had started to surrender to their mutual attraction and to recognize a soulmate in each other. But destiny had intervened, causing Jacob to nearly lose his own life in the attempt to save Stacey's. While he had survived, Jacob was left with large holes in his memory...especially his memories of Stacey. Now Jacob is back home in Colorado with his ex-girlfriend and childhood playmate, Kira. She helps him remember stories from a simpler time in his life, such as the gummy worm sandwiches they ate together or the time he split his pants doing the electric slide. Slowly but surely, Kira weaves her way back into Jacob's life during a time when he is especially vulnerable. But now that Stacey has decided to come to Colorado to pay Jacob a surprise visit, will she find herself being the one unpleasantly surprised, or will the two young lovers finally heal the rift between them? This black-and-white graphic novel was conceived as a companion piece to the Blue Is for Nightmares series of paranormal young-adult mysteries. Thus, it reiterates the plot from the other books in the series in a condensed format. It is not designed to move the story line forward, so fans of the series will have to wait for the next book to learn about future develo

A Winning Formula!

College student Stacey Brown has been having nightmares about Maura, the little girl she used to babysit, even though it's been about six years since the child was murdered. In Stacey's dreams, she can almost smell Maura's strawberry candy-scented breath and hear the giggle of her laughter. Although the dreams are more nostalgic than disturbing, they still leave Stacey feeling guilty and haunted. After all, years ago Stacey had had premonitions of something terrible happening to Maura but had kept her fears to herself. Had she shared her concerns with someone, perhaps Maura would have lived. But the anonymous note that Stacey wrote to the police was never mailed. Or was it? Stacey turns to the nature-based religion known as Wicca to help her understand her disturbing dreams. She casts a pouch spell for sweet dreams and a moon-bathed bracelet spell for awareness in her attempt to learn what her dreams really mean and why they are occurring all these years after Maura's death. Stacey's friends also try to help --- Drea suggests journaling as a way to unravel the mystery of her troubling dreams, and Amber recommends talking the situation over with someone close. Unfortunately, neither the spells nor the journaling have been helping, and, unlike Amber, it isn't as if Stacey has a doting boyfriend like PJ to listen to her. Jacob LeBlanc, the one guy Stacey had truly cared for, is now far away and has no memory of her. Jacob's own nightmares had drawn him across the long miles from Colorado to Stacey's side at Hillcrest Boarding School in Massachusetts. At Hillcrest, Jacob had struggled to understand his premonitions about Stacey while convincing her to trust him. Slowly, with the aid of a henna spell, Stacey and Jacob had started to surrender to their mutual attraction and to recognize a soul mate in each other. But destiny had intervened, causing Jacob to nearly lose his own life in the attempt to save Stacey's. While he had survived, Jacob was left with large holes in his memory...especially his memories of Stacey. Now Jacob is back home in Colorado with his ex-girlfriend and childhood playmate, Kira. She helps him remember stories from a simpler time in his life, such as the gummy worm sandwiches they ate together or the time he split his pants doing the electric slide. Slowly but surely, Kira weaves her way back into Jacob's life during a time when he is especially vulnerable. But now that Stacey has decided to come to Colorado to pay Jacob a surprise visit, will she find herself being the one (un)pleasantly surprised, or will the two young lovers finally heal the rift between them? This black-and-white graphic novel was conceived as a companion piece to the Blue is for Nightmares series of paranormal young adult mysteries. Thus, it reiterates the plot from the other books in the series in a condensed format. It is not designed to move the story line forward, so fans of the series will have to wait for the next book to learn about future devel

great book

I loved it, it was wonderful I love and own every book she has written. This book is great follow up to red is for remembrance even though it is in graphic novel form you still have the characters, Whether it is the sexual innuendos between amber and Pj or Drea's love affair with chocolate and Chad. The characters that made me fall in love with the series are not lost in this format. It tells what happens the summer after Jacob's accident how he gets his memory back it was a great book and I think the perfect filler between red and the next novel she writes in the series I hope there will be more.

Good Book

Bought this book for my daughter she likes it and read it about 2 times already